Nicholas Briggs

{{Infobox person

| name = Nicholas Briggs

| image = Nick Briggs Dalek Master.jpg

| caption = Briggs in 2008

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|9|29|df=y}}

| birth_place = Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| other_names = Nick Briggs
Arthur Wallis

| alma_mater = Rose Bruford College

| occupation = Actor, writer, director, sound designer, composer

| years_active = 1987–present

| known_for = Voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen in Doctor Who

| spouse =

| domesticpartner =

| website = [http://www.nicholasbriggs.com/ www.nicholasbriggs.com/]

}}

Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961){{cite web |url=http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Nicholas-Briggs/ |title= Behind The Voice Actors – Nicholas Briggs |access-date= 4 April 2014}} 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.

Education

Briggs studied at Rose Bruford College with Barry Killerby, who is known for portraying Mr Blobby.{{Cite web|last=Russell|first=Gary|date=3 April 2000|title=Nick Briggs interview|url=http://justyce.org/nick-briggs-03-april-2000.html|access-date=22 July 2020|website=justyce.org}}{{Cite web|title=Actor – Nicholas Briggs|url=https://nicholasbriggs.com/career/actor/|access-date=22 July 2020|website=Nicholas Briggs|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|title=European Graduates {{!}} Rose Bruford College, Dartford, United Kingdom|url=https://graduates.name/rose_bruford_college-2632-6#id153417603|access-date=22 July 2020|website=European Graduates}}

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 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){{cite web |url=http://www.drwhoguide.com/airzone.htm |title= The Airzone Solution |publisher= Doctor Who Reference Guide |access-date= 5 July 2014}} and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).{{cite web |url=http://www.drwhoguide.com/stranger3.htm |title= The Stranger: In Memory Alone |publisher= Doctor Who Reference Guide |access-date= 5 July 2014}}

Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide ({{ISBN|0-563-48600-7}}, published by BBC Books 2002).{{cite web |url=http://www.abebooks.com/Dalek-Survival-Guide-Dr-Who-Nicholas/12563631927/bd |title= The Dalek Survival Guide (Dr Who) by Nicholas Briggs |publisher= AbeBooks.co.uk |access-date= 7 April 2014}}

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".

File:Nicholas Briggs and Bernard Cribbins in 2013 (cropped).jpg 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.{{Citation |date=December 2008|title=Torchwood Magazine}}{{cite web | url=https://hub.londonbookfair.co.uk/5-minutes-with-nick-briggs/ | title=5 Minutes with Nick Briggs | the Hub by the London Book Fair | Publishing News | date=22 March 2018 }}{{cite web | url=https://winteriscoming.net/2019/05/09/doctor-who-nicholas-briggs/ | title=Doctor Who actor spotlight: Nicholas Briggs – Voice of the Daleks and other monsters | date=9 May 2019 }}

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.{{cite journal| date = 13 September 2006| title = Big Finish Changes..| journal = Doctor Who Magazine| issue = 373| pages = 5}} 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.https://archive.today/20120909153907/http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/entertainment/Watch-out--the-Daleks.3387437.jp Watch out – the Daleks are coming 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.preachrspodcast.net/history |title=History | Preachrs Podcast |website=www.preachrspodcast.net |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812063303/https://www.preachrspodcast.net/history |archive-date=12 August 2020 |url-status=dead}} 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.

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

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

In 2013, Briggs portrayed the Dalek voice actor Peter Hawkins in the BBC docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time, which depicted the inception of Doctor Who.{{cite news|url=http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2013/02/nicholas-briggs-200213213008.html|title=An Adventure in Space and Time: The Voice of the Daleks|work=Doctor Who News|first=Chuck|last=Foster|date=21 February 2013|access-date=21 February 2013}} In November 2013 he also appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot."[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03lv3mj The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot]", BBC programmes, retrieved 26 November 2013

=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.{{cite web |url=http://davidtennantradioplays.webs.com/nebuloususandphlegm.htm |title= Nebulous: Us and Phlegm – David Tennant Audio |access-date= 3 July 2014}}

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.{{cite news |title=Stage: Classic Thriller Season |url=http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/entertainment/Stage-Classic-Thriller-Season/article-246014-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912193055/http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/entertainment/Stage-Classic-Thriller-Season/article-246014-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 September 2012 |work=Derby Evening Telegraph |date=1 August 2008 |access-date=1 August 2008 }}

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. Richard Earl co-stars as Dr. Watson.

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4extra/7th-dimension/ |title= BBC Radio 4 Extra |access-date= 15 April 2013}}

Briggs hosts the Big Finish podcast, a promotional podcast for Big Finish Productions{{Cite web|title=The Big Finish Podcast - Ranges - Big Finish|url=https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/v/big-finish-podcast?sort_ordering=date_desc&search_product_type=&search_availability=all|access-date=2021-07-02|website=www.bigfinish.com}} 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.{{Cite web|title=Podcasts – Nicholas Briggs|url=https://nicholasbriggs.com/nbpodcasts/|access-date=2021-07-02|language=en-GB}}

Filmography

=Film=

Year	Title	Director	Screenwriter	Actor	Role	Notes
class="wikitable"
1987	Wartime			{{yes}}	Soldier	Also assistant director Video short
1991	The Corridor Sketch			{{yes}}	Reporter	Short
rowspan=2\|1993	The Stranger: In Memory Alone		{{yes}}	{{yes}}	Minor	rowspan=2\|Direct-to-video
The Airzone Solution		{{yes}}	{{yes}}	Sam Flint
rowspan=2\|1994	The Stranger: The Terror Game		{{yes}}	{{yes}}	Raven	Also composer Direct-to-video
Breach of the Peace		{{yes}}	{{yes}}	Evans	rowspan=4\|Direct-to-video
1995	Eye of the Beholder		{{yes}}	{{yes}}	Soldier
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
2017	The Lego Batman Movie			{{yes}}	Daleks	Theatrically-released film

=Television=

Year	Title	Role	Notes
class="wikitable"
rowspan=2\|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" (voice only)
2005–present	Doctor Who	Daleks Cybermen Judoon Ice Warriors Nestene Consciousness Jagrafess Zygons The Vlinx Omega \| Voices only
2006	Tardisode	Dalek	Episode: "Doomsday"
rowspan=4\|2009	Doctor Who Prom	Dalek	TV film
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"
rowspan="3" \|2013	An Adventure in Space and Time	Peter Hawkins Daleks
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot	Himself
BBC Proms \|Dalek Dialogue \|Episode- 'Doctor Who at the Proms'
2015	The Big Fat Quiz of the Year	Dalek
2018	Gerry Anderson's Firestorm	R.E.M.U.S.	(voice) / main role
2020 \|Daleks! \|Daleks \|Voices; main role
2024 \|BBC Proms \|Dalek Dialogue The Vlinx \|Episode-Doctor Who at the Proms

=Video games=

Year	Title	Role	Notes
class="wikitable"
2003	Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death	Judge Death
2010	Doctor Who: The Adventure Games	Daleks Cybermen Oswald Fox	Daleks in "City of the Daleks" Cybermen in "Blood of the Cybermen" Oswald Fox in "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada"
2015	Lego Dimensions	Daleks Cybermen CyberKing Dalek Emperor Rusty the Friendly Dalek	Uncredited
2022	Eve Online	Daleks	Voice role