Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961)[1] is an English actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer. He is associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen in the 21st century series.
Briggs is also the executive producer of Big Finish Productions, for which he has produced, directed and written several audio plays, as well as acting in many of them.
Some of Briggs' earliest Doctor Who-related work was as host of The Myth Makers, a series of made-for-video documentaries produced in the 1980s and 1990s by Reeltime Pictures in which Briggs interviews many of the actors, writers and directors involved in the series. When Reeltime expanded into producing original dramas, Briggs wrote some stories and acted in others, beginning with Wartime, the first unofficial Doctor Who spin-off, and Myth Runner, a parody of Blade Runner showcasing bloopers from the Myth Makers series built around a loose storyline featuring Briggs as a down on his luck private detective in the near future.
In the late 1980s, Briggs also provided the voice of a future incarnation of the Doctor for a series of unofficial audio dramas by Audio Visuals (a forerunner of Big Finish Productions). This version of the Doctor also appeared in "Party Animals", an instalment of the Doctor Who comic published in Doctor Who Magazine issue 173, cover date 15 May 1991. Briggs also provided the model for the face of the supposed "Ninth Doctor" for Doctor Who Magazine in the late 1990s, when the magazine's comic strip ran a storyline in which the Eighth Doctor apparently regenerated, only for it to later be revealed that the whole thing had been a massive deception (see Shayde and Fey Truscott-Sade).
Briggs wrote and appeared in several made-for-video dramas by BBV, including the third of the Stranger stories, In Memory Alone opposite former Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. (In Memory Alone would be the last of the Stranger series to have any similarity to Doctor Who, which had inspired it.) He also wrote and appeared in a non-Stranger BBV production called The Airzone Solution (1993)[5] and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).[6]
Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide ( ISBN0-563-48600-7, published by BBC Books 2002).[7]
Briggs also voiced the Cyber-Controller and Professor Osborn in the 2002 webcast audio series Real Time.
Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Briggs has provided the voices for several monsters, most notably the Daleks and the Cybermen. Briggs also voiced the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode "Rose", and recorded a voice for the Jagrafess in the 2005 episode "The Long Game". He also provided the voices for the Judoon in both the 2007 and 2008 series as well as the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, and did the voice of the Ice Warrior Skaldak in the 2013 episode "Cold War".
Briggs with Bernard Cribbins at the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebration Weekend in 2013
On 9 July 2009, Briggs made his first appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood in the serial Children of Earth, playing Special Government Advisor Rick Yates.[8][9][10]
Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productionsaudio plays, and has provided Dalek, Cybermen, and other alien voices in several of those as well. He has also written and directed the Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish. In 2006, Briggs took over from Gary Russell (who had been producer of Big Finish since 1999) and became co-executive producer of the company.[11] In 2007, he guest starred in the Sapphire and Steel audio drama Water Like a Stone.
Briggs voiced the Daleks in a charity theatre production of The Daleks' Master Plan and briefly appeared on stage playing a regenerated Doctor.[12] Briggs also recorded a short cameo, as the Daleks for the live Dr Who podcast stage show, 50 Years of Doctor Who: Preachrs Podcast Live 2.[13] He appeared in this alongside a mix of modern and classic Doctor Who actors including; Peter Davison, Richard Franklin, Simon Fisher Becker and Terry Molloy.
Briggs also directed, created the sound design and composed the incidental music for all three series of the BBC Radio 4 science fiction comedy Nebulous, written by Graham Duff and starring Mark Gatiss.[16]
Outside the realm of science fiction, Briggs has appeared on stage at Nottingham's Theatre Royal since 1997, including a run as Sherlock Holmes in Holmes and the Ripper by Brian Clemens and The House of the Baskervilles, adapted by Briggs himself.[17]
Briggs also appeared in the films Adulthood and 4.3.2.1, both written and directed by fellow Doctor Who actor Noel Clarke. Briggs became the presenter of Radio 7's Seventh Dimension, daily science fiction segment in 2011. As of 15 April 2013, he is part of a rotating line-up of hosts of the 7th Dimension on BBC Radio 4 Extra.[18]
Briggs hosts the Big Finish podcast, a promotional podcast for Big Finish Productions[19] and The Benji and Nick show, a podcast that where he and fellow Big Finish sound designer Benji Clifford discuss old cult television shows with regular guest appearances from Shelley Dean and Jamie Anderson.[20]
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 Doctor Who serial The Daleks, in casings designed by Raymond Cusick.
BBV Productions is a UK-based video and audio production company founded in 1991, specialising in science fiction drama. The company has expanded to include publishing of novels and scripts associated with its productions.
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include Doctor Who, the characters Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog from 2000 AD, Blake's 7, Dark Shadows, Dracula, Terrahawks, Sapphire & Steel, Sherlock Holmes, Stargate, The Avengers, The Prisoner, Timeslip, and Torchwood.
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter of the Doctor and original companion of their first incarnation, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season. Ford reprised the role for the feature-length 20th anniversary episode The Five Doctors (1983) and the 30th anniversary charity special Dimensions in Time (1993).
The Audio Visuals were an unlicensed series of Doctor Who audio dramas made by British fans in the 1980s. Featuring Nicholas Briggs as the Doctor, twenty-eight audio plays were recorded and distributed on audio cassette between 1985 and 1991.
Reeltime Pictures Ltd is a British film, television and video production company and a distributor of the films of other companies, founded in 1984 by Keith Barnfather.
Revenge of the Cybermen is the fifth and final serial of the 12th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 19 April to 10 May 1975. It was the first to feature the Cybermen since The Invasion (1968) and the last until Earthshock (1982).
A number of officially licensed audio productions based upon the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who have been produced over the years.
Peter Miles was an English actor. He played many television roles including several different characters in Z-Cars and Doctor Who. His other television work also included Blake's 7, Survivors, The Sweeney, Dixon of Dock Green, Moonbase 3, Poldark and Bergerac. His film credits include roles in Made (1972), The Whistle Blower (1986) and Little Dorrit (1988).
Alan Barnes is a British writer and editor, mainly related to cult film and television.
Terry Molloy is an English actor. He is known predominantly for his work on radio and television, especially his portrayal of Davros, creator of the Daleks, in the BBC television science fiction series Doctor Who.
The Auton trilogy is a series of direct-to-video spin-off productions based on the long running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who. The three films in the series are Auton (1997), Auton 2: Sentinel and Auton 3. They were produced by the independent BBV company and are sequels to the Third Doctor stories Spearhead from Space and Terror of the Autons. All three films have been reissued on DVD.
Jamie Robertson is an English film score composer.
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games is an episodic adventure video game based on the BBC television series Doctor Who and developed by Sumo Digital.
The Four Doctors is a Big Finish Productions full cast audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was originally free to subscribers of The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories, but can now be selected with any Big Finish subscription.
The Five Companions is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is free to subscribers and released with Army of Death.
Dalek Empire is an audio play series made by Big Finish Productions about the Daleks. This series ties in elements from the Dalek Empire arc in the Doctor Who: The Monthly Range, a storyline containing the releases The Genocide Machine, The Apocalypse Element, The Mutant Phase and The Time of the Daleks.
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