Nicholas Briggs
| Nicholas Briggs | |
|---|---|
 Briggs in 2008 | |
| Born |
29 September 1961 Lyndhurst, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Nick Briggs, Arthur Wallis |
| Occupation | Actor, voice actor, writer, director, sound designer, composer |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Website | www.nicholasbriggs.com/ |
Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961 in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England)[1] is a British actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen.
Career
Doctor Who
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 installment 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).
He 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)[2] and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).[3]
Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide (ISBN 0-563-48600-7, published by BBC Books 2002).[4]
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".
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.[5]
Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productions audio 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.[6] 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.[7]
In 2010 he starred in Doctor Who Live as Winston Churchill.
In 2012, his Doctor Who novel The Dalek Generation was published by Random House/BBC Books.
In 2013 the BBC began production of a docudrama depicting the creation and early days of Doctor Who, called An Adventure in Space and Time, to be shown as part of the programme's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Briggs has a cameo role in the drama playing actor Peter Hawkins, who was the original voice of the Daleks in 1963.[8] In November 2013 he also appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.[9]
Other
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.[10]
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.[11]
Briggs has also been playing Sherlock Holmes in an acclaimed series of audio dramas for Big Finish Productions since 2011. Productions include dramatised adaptations of Conan Doyle stories such as The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Final Problem and The Empty House, as well as original stories such as The Adventure of the Perfidious Mariner, The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes and The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes.
He 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.[12]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Actor | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Myth Makers Vol. 7: Myth Runner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Myth Runner Himself | Direct-to-video |
| Wartime | Yes | Soldier | Also assistant director Video short | |||
| 1989 | Myth Makers Vol. 6: Sarah Sutton/Peter Grimwade | Yes | Interviewer | Direct-to-video | ||
| Myth Makers Vol. 19: Colin Baker | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1991 | The Corridor Sketch | Yes | Reporter | Short | ||
| 1993 | The Stranger: In Memory Alone | Yes | Yes | Minor | Direct-to-video | |
| The Airzone Solution | Yes | Yes | Sam Flint | |||
| 1994 | The Stranger: The Terror Game | Yes | Yes | Raven | Also composer Direct-to-video | |
| Myth Makers Vol. 7: Wendy Padbury | Yes | Interviewer | Direct-to-video | |||
| Myth Makers Vol. 30: Caroline John | Yes | |||||
| Myth Makers Vol. 12: Ian Marter | Yes | Presenter | Video short | |||
| Breach of the Peace | Yes | Yes | Evans | Direct-to-video | ||
| 1995 | Myth Makers Vol. 32: Peter Purves | Yes | N/A | |||
| Eye of the Beholder | Yes | Yes | Soldier | |||
| 1996 | Myth Makers Vol. 16: Richard Franklin | Yes | N/A | |||
| 1997 | Auton | Yes | Yes | |||
| 1998 | Auton 2: Sentinel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mike | |
| 1999 | Auton 3 | Yes | Credited as Arthur Wallis Direct-to-video | |||
| 2008 | Adulthood | Yes | Max | |||
| 2010 | 4.3.2.1 | Yes | Barry | |||
| 2011 | Cleaning Up | Yes | Ted | Short film |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Doctor Who: Real Time | Cybercontroller Professor Osborn | TV mini series |
| The League of Gentlemen | Garden Centre Worker | Episode: "The Medusa Touch" | |
| 2004 | Coupling | Dalek | Episode: "Nightlines" |
| 2005–present | Doctor Who | Daleks Cybermen Judoon Ice Warriors Nestene Consciousness Jagrafess Zygons | |
| 2006 | Tardisode | Dalek | Episode: "Doomsday" |
| 2009 | Doctor Who Prom | The Dalek | TV movie |
| Lewis | Solicitor | Episode: "Counter Culture Blues" | |
| Torchwood | Rick Yates | Episode: "Children of Earth: Day Four" | |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures | Captain Tybo | Episode: "Prisoner of the Judoon" | |
| 2010 | BBC Proms | Dalek Dialogue | Episode: "Doctor Who Prom" |
| 2013 | An Adventure in Space and Time | Peter Hawkins Daleks | |
| The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot | Himself |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death | Judge Death | |
| 2010 | Doctor Who: The Adventure Games | Daleks Cybermen Oswald Fox | Episodes: "City of the Daleks" "Blood of the Cybermen" "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada" |
| 2015 | LEGO Dimensions | Daleks Cybermen |
Bibliography
- Doctor Who (in Doctor Who Magazine #218–220, 1994)
- The Dalek Survival Guide (ISBN 0-563-48600-7, published by BBC Books 2002)
References
- ↑ "Behind The Voice Actors – Nicholas Briggs". Retrieved 4 April 2014.
- ↑ "The Airzone Solution". Doctor Who Reference Guide. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
- ↑ "The Stranger: In Memory Alone". Doctor Who Reference Guide. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
- ↑ "The Dalek Survival Guide (Dr Who) by Nicholas Briggs". AbeBooks.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
- ↑ Torchwood Magazine. December 2008. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Big Finish Changes..". Doctor Who Magazine (373): 5. 13 September 2006.
- ↑ http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/entertainment/Watch-out--the-Daleks.3387437.jp Watch out – the Daleks are coming
- ↑ Foster, Chuck (21 February 2013). "An Adventure in Space and Time: The Voice of the Daleks". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
- ↑ "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", BBC programmes, retrieved 26 November 2013
- ↑ "Nebulous: Us and Phlegm – David Tennant Audio". Retrieved 3 July 2014.
- ↑ "Stage: Classic Thriller Season". Derby Evening Telegraph. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ↑ "BBC Radio 4 Extra". Retrieved 15 April 2013.
External links
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