Nicholas Briggs

Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961) is an English actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer.^[1] He is known for his association with the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, particularly for voicing the Daleks and Cybermen since 2005. Briggs is also the executive producer of Big Finish Productions since 2006, for which he has produced, directed, written and acted in licensed Doctor Who audio dramas.

Briggs was born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire on 29 September 1961 and grew up in a housing estate in Totton. He described his upbringing as having a "working-class mentality".^[2][3] His father worked in the car industry and his mother was a secretary. His older brother Colin was a broadcaster who presented BBC Look North for two decades.^[3][4]

Briggs' first public acting role was in the Nativity musical Follow the Star in his final year of school. He went on to technical college to take his A-levels and a drama diploma.^[3] He studied at Rose Bruford College with Barry Killerby, known for portraying Mr Blobby.^[3][5] Briggs graduated in 1983 with a degree in theatre arts.^[3]

Briggs grew up fascinated by the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He did not immediately find acting work following his graduation, so he became involved with a group of fans who produced unlicensed Doctor Who audio dramas called the Audio Visuals.^[3][6] Fueled by Doctor Who's 1985 hiatus, four seasons were released between 1985 and 1991 starring Briggs as the Doctor.^[a] He also wrote, directed, composed and sound designed many of them under pseudonyms such as Arthur Wallis, Samuel Flint and Erica Galloway.^[7][3] The Audio Visuals were highly popular with fans and circulated amongst fan clubs in the 1980s.^[6] Brigg's incarnation of the Doctor appeared in licensed comics published in Doctor Who Magazine: in the 1991 comic story "Party Animals", and later as the supposed "Ninth Doctor" in a 1998 storyline where the Eighth Doctor seemingly regenerated.^[8][9]

From 1985, Briggs hosted Myth Makers, a series of direct-to-video documentaries produced by Reeltime Pictures, in which he interviewed various cast and crew members of Doctor Who.^[10][3] According to Briggs, "Myth Makers gave me an outlet for performance that I wasn’t getting otherwise." He also appeared in the Blade Runner parody Myth Runner as a private detective on the run from his android double—the storyline was a framing device to showcase bloopers from the Myth Makers series.^[10] Briggs had an uncredited role as a soldier in Reeltime's direct-to-video film Wartime (1987), the first independently-produced licensed Doctor Who spin-off.^[11][12]

Briggs performed occasionally in London fringe theatre, before becoming an editorial assistant at the publishing company Visual Imagination in 1988, working on the magazines Starburst and TV Zone. In 1995, he became editor of the magazine Film Review.^[3] Briggs continued to work on Doctor Who fan productions, writing various direct-to-video science fiction films produced by BBV Productions, which were inspired by Doctor Who and featured actors from the series.^[12] He wrote four films in The Stranger series (1993–1995) starring Colin Baker as an ersatz version of the Doctor.^[3][13] Briggs also wrote The Airzone Solution (1993), which starred former Doctor Who leads Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.^[3][12]

Briggs directed the documentary film Stranger than Fiction (1994).^[14] He also wrote for the Channel 5 soap opera Family Affairs in the late 1990s.^[9]

Briggs wrote the Auton trilogy (1997–1999),^[3][15] a direct-to-video film series which licensed the Autons from the estate of their creator Robert Holmes. On the Auton films, Briggs stated "they are by no means perfect, in fact they're horribly flawed. But I wrote and directed both of them under fairly impossible budgetary and time constraints, with a lovely team of actors".^[12]

The Audio Visuals team, which included Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellary, evolved into Big Finish Productions. In 1998, Big Finish, having obtained a license from Virgin Publishing, began producing audio dramas centered on the Doctor Who spin-off character Bernice Summerfield. Briggs directed many episodes of the series.^[16][7][9] Later the same year, Big Finish obtained a license for Doctor Who from the BBC, allowing them to officially produce audio dramas based on the series.^[7] Briggs and Russell convened a meeting with several writers to present their plans for Big Finish and invite pitches for new audio dramas. The meeting was contentious, with almost every writer objecting to Briggs being selected to write the company's debut Doctor Who drama.^[17][7] Undeterred, Briggs wrote and directed The Sirens of Time (1999), the first of Big Finish's monthly Main Range series.^[7][9]

During his early work at Big Finish, Briggs continued to act on stage. He played Sherlock Holmes in London fringe theatre, and also directed a provincial production of Noël Coward's play Private Lives.^[9]

At Big Finish, Briggs wrote and directed four series of Dalek Empire, a Dalek-centered spinoff.^[9] He co-wrote the 2002 Doctor Who book The Dalek Survival Guide.^[18] Briggs voiced the Cyber-Controller and Professor Osborn in the 2002 webcast audio series Real Time.^[19][20]

A revived series of Doctor Who entered development in 2003.^[21] In a 2003 Doctor Who Magazine article, Briggs detailed the technology behind the Dalek voice, such as the Moogerfooger and the ring modulator. This article, as well as Briggs's previous performances as the Daleks on audio, led Doctor Who's new executive producer Russell T Davies to cast Briggs as the voice of the Daleks on television.^[9][12]

"[Davies] had me in mind from the moment he'd decided he was bringing the Daleks back – not just because he thought I was good at doing Dalek voices, but because he was aware that I had the technical know-how to recreate them... In the absence of a BBC Radiophonic Workshop, I was the sort of total solution."^[12]

Briggs has voiced the Daleks—considered Doctor Who's most iconic monsters—in the revived series since their debut in "Dalek" (2005).^[22][9] He stated that his performance draws "on all the greats of the past, like [previous Dalek performers] Peter Hawkins, David Graham, Roy Skelton and Michael Wisher",^[23] though his favourite is Hawkins.^[24] Briggs typically performs the voice on-set during production.^[23][25]

Briggs has also voiced the Cybermen since their debut in the revived series in "Rise of the Cybermen" (2006).^[9] Other vocal roles include the Nestene Consciousness in "Rose", the Ice Warrior Skaldak in "Cold War" (2013),^[9] and the Judoon in both Doctor Who^[26] and its spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures.^[27][28] Briggs also performs many of the monsters' voices for toys.^[24]

In 2006, Briggs replaced Gary Russell as executive producer at Big Finish.^[29][7] He subsequently "nudged the BBC... very regularly" about obtaining a license to produce audio dramas based on the revived series.^[7]

Briggs made a physical appearance in a BBC Doctor Who production when he played parliamentary adviser Rick Yates in the 2009 Torchwood serial Children of Earth.^[30][9]

Briggs wrote and directed the Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish.^[29] In 2007, he guest starred in the Sapphire and Steel audio drama Water Like a Stone. In 2007 he appeared on The Weakest Link.^[9]

Briggs appeared in Noel Clarke's films Adulthood (2008) and 4.3.2.1 (2010).^[9]

In 2010, Briggs starred in Doctor Who Live as Winston Churchill.

Briggs voiced the Daleks in a charity theatre production of The Daleks' Master Plan and briefly appeared on stage playing a regenerated Doctor.^[31] 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.^[32]

In 2012, Briggs's Doctor Who novel The Dalek Generation was published by Random House/BBC Books.

He wrote and directed the first series of the Doctor Who audio drama Dark Eyes (2012), which won the Audio Drama 2014 Award for Best Online or Non-Broadcast Drama.^[9]

Briggs wrote and directed the Doctor Who audio drama The Light at the End (2013), which commemorates the television series' 50th anniversary.^[9]

Briggs portrayed Dalek voice actor Peter Hawkins in the BBC docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time (2013), which depicted the development of Doctor Who.^[33][9] He also made a cameo appearance as a Dalek operator in the Doctor Who-related comedy short film The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.^[34][9]

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.^[35]

Briggs acted in The League of Gentlemen (2002).^[9] In 2009, he appeared in the television series Lewis.^[9]

Briggs has also been playing Sherlock Holmes in a series of Big Finish audio dramas since 2010.^[9] 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. Richard Earl co-stars as Dr. Watson.

At Big Finish, he wrote and directed The Prisoner (2016–2017).^[9] Briggs presented Radio 7's daily science fiction segment Seventh Dimension since 2010.^[9] As of 15 April 2013, he is part of a rotating line-up of hosts of the 7th Dimension on BBC Radio 4 Extra.^[36]

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.^[37][9]

Briggs hosts the Big Finish podcast, a promotional podcast for Big Finish Productions^[38] 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.^[39]

With Theatre Royal, Nottingham, Briggs played roles including Count Dracula and Sherlock Holmes from 2010. In 2016, he directed a touring stage adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.^[9]

Briggs voiced Nyder, Davros's assistant originated by Peter Miles, in the minisode Destination: Skaro.^[40]

As of 2017, Briggs lives in Dorset with his wife and son.^[9]

• Doctor Who (in Doctor Who Magazine #218–220, 1994)
• The Dalek Survival Guide (ISBN 0-563-48600-7, published by BBC Books 2002)
• The Dalek Generation (2012)

• Eames, Tom; Jeffery, Morgan (30 June 2019). "Nicholas Briggs Interview Special". Two Geeks Two Beers (Podcast).
• Rees, Dylan (2025). Doctor Who Myths and Legends: The Reeltime Pictures Story. Telos Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1845832469.
• "BBC – Doctor Who – Dalek Empire III [interview with Nicholas Briggs]". BBC News. 8 July 2004. Archived from the original on 10 January 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2010.

• Official website
• Nicholas Briggs at IMDb