Mike Skinner

Mike Skinner played the Security Guard in the Doctor Who story The Time of Angels. 

He is better known as a British rapper, musician and record producer from Birmingham, United Kingdom, best known for the rap project The Streets.

By the time he was a tender five years old, Mike Skinner had begun playing with keyboards. At the age of seven he began experiencing symptoms of epilepsy, which worsened in his early teens. He began writing hip-hop and garage music in his home in West Heath and would later build a sound booth within his bedroom, using a cupboard and a mattress. In the mid-1990s, following secondary education at Bournville School, Skinner became a student at Sutton Coldfield College, in Sutton Coldfield, and was working in fast-food jobs while trying to start his own independent record label and sending off demos.

Although born in Birmingham, Skinner uses a Mockney accent in many songs. He can be heard speaking in his normal accent at the beginning of the song "Fake Streets Hats". He describes his background as "Barratt class: suburban estates, not poor but not much money about, really boring." Skinner has however always identified himself with Birmingham and he is a keen supporter of Birmingham City. He has worn the club's replica shirt on stage. He also wore it in the music video for his remix of Bloc Party's single "Banquet".