The writer Russell T Davies breathed new life into Doctor Who and created two spin-off series, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Now, a series of Torchwood dramas are to be broadcast on Radio 4. As he prepares to cut his ties with the Doctor and head for the States, he looks back on the success of his creations and ahead to the new five-part TV series of Torchwood.

Katherine Jenkins, OBE is a Welsh lyric mezzo-soprano, singer and songwriter. She is a popular classical-crossover singer who performs across a spectrum of operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns.

After winning singing competitions in her youth, Jenkins studied at the Royal Academy of Music, modelled and taught voice. She came to wide public attention in 2003 when she sang at Westminster Cathedral in honour of Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee. Since 2004, she has released numerous albums that have performed well on British and foreign charts. In both 2005 and 2006, her albums received Classic Brit Awards as Album of the Year. She has also been seen widely in concert, including concerts for British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; she has also sung at sporting events, on television shows and in support of many charities. In Spring 2012, she competed on the US television show Dancing with the Stars, finishing in second place, behind NFL Super Bowl champion Donald Driver.

Jenkins was born in Neath, Wales, where she and her sister Laura were raised by their parents Selwyn John and Susan.

She attended Alderman Davies Church in Wales Primary School in Neath and later Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School, received A grades in GCSEs and A Levels and participated in productions such as Calamity Jane and Guys and Dolls. She attended singing lessons with John Hugh Thomas and passed her Grade 8 examinations with distinction in both singing and piano.

Between 1991 and 1996, Jenkins was a member of the Royal School of Church Music Cathedral Singers and passed the St Cecilia Award, the highest RSCM award for female choristers. She was also a member of the National Youth Choir of Wales for three years, won the BBC Radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year contest (twice), and the BET Welsh Choirgirl of the Year competition. She was also awarded the Pelenna Valley Male Voice Choir Scholarship for the most promising young singer. At the age of 17 she won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with honours and receiving a music teacher's diploma.

After working as a freelance singing teacher, a tour guide on the London Eye and as a model, she entered a modelling competition and became the Face of Wales 2000. She then decided to follow a musical career. Universal Classics and Jazz heard her demo and she was invited to an interview at which she sang Rossini's "Una voce poco fa". Universal offered Jenkins a six-album deal, the most lucrative in the United Kingdom's classical recording history, reportedly worth £1 million.

Six out of seven of Jenkins's studio albums reached number one in the UK classical charts between 2004 and 2008, selling a total of more than 4 million copies. After her first album, Premiere, made her the fastest-selling mezzo-soprano to date she became the first British classical crossover artist to have two number one albums in the same year. She is the first female artist to win two consecutive Classical BRIT Awards: her second album, Second Nature, reached number 16 in the UK Albums Chart, and was Album of the Year in the 2005 BRIT Awards.

Jenkins first came to public attention when she sang at Westminster Cathedral honouring Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee in October 2003 and then supporting Aled Jones on tour. At the Rugby World Cup in 2003 she made her Sydney Opera House debut as a guest of fellow Welshman, Max Boyce and, in August 2004, her first USA appearance, supporting Hayley Westenra at Joe's Pub in New York City.

Jenkins was the first person to perform the Home Nations anthem "The Power of Four" and began to appear regularly to sing the Welsh national anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" at Welsh international rugby union matches, singing with Bryn Terfel at the 2005 Wales vs. England Six Nations match at the Millennium Stadium. She is now the official mascot for the Wales rugby union team.

In the 2010 Christmas Special of Doctor Who, "A Christmas Carol", in which she played Abigail Pettigrew—her first major acting role.

Her father, Selwyn, died of lung cancer at age 70 when she was 15. She has dedicated each award she received to him. Jenkins, a Christian, says she believes "in heaven. I believe my dad is somewhere doing something nice." While Jenkins was studying at the Royal Academy of Music, at 19 years of age, she was attacked, beaten and robbed by an unknown assailant who attempted to rape her, but she fought the man off.

After Jenkins and Dame Vera Lynn were together at centre stage at the 60th Anniversary of VE Day in 2005 during the song "We'll Meet Again", the newspapers dubbed Jenkins "the new Forces' Sweetheart", a nickname given to Lynn during World War II. Lynn had said to Jenkins that she ought to "go out and entertain the troops," which Jenkins promised she would. In December 2005 and 2006 Jenkins travelled to Iraq to entertain the soldiers for Christmas. On her first visit to Iraq in 2005, when travelling to Shaibah, the largest British base in Southern Iraq, the helicopter she was travelling in was targeted by missiles. Anti-missile flares were deployed and the group landed safely.

In November 2008 Jenkins revealed to the Daily Mail that when she was a student she had taken class A drugs (cocaine and ecstasy) and cannabis. She noted that she was introduced to them by people she socialised with at the time and that she stopped taking them after signing her record deal in 2003. In the article Jenkins said "taking drugs is the biggest regret of my life".

Jenkins's autobiography, Time to Say Hello, was released on 28 January 2008, and was also serialised in The Mail on Sunday.

At the start of 2007 Jenkins made her first appearance in the British young people's Sunday Times Rich List which ranked her as the sixty-second richest young person in Britain with an estimated wealth of £9 million. In 2010, the Sunday Times Rich List placed her at joint 11th in the Top 20 Young Millionaires list alongside Leona Lewis and Charlotte Church with an estimated wealth of £11 million.

In April 2013, Jenkins attended the funeral of Baroness Thatcher in St Paul's Cathedral. It was believed she was invited because of her charity work with the armed forces.

Jenkins ran the 2013 London Marathon, raising £25,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of her father. She finished the course in 5 hours 26 minutes.

Jenkins was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to music and for charitable services.

In July 2010, Jenkins was reported to have bought a house with TV presenter Gethin Jones. In February 2011, they became engaged, but on 30 December 2011, Jenkins and Jones announced that they were no longer together. In February 2014, she began dating American artist and film actor-director Andrew Levitas. Jenkins and Levitas later announced their engagement in April 2014. The couple married at Hampton Court Palace on 27 September 2014. Later, a religious blessing was held in Jenkins' hometown of Neath. On 13 April 2015, Jenkins announced that she was expecting her first child with her husband Levitas.

Biography from the wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA

MAUREEN O'BRIEN is an accomplished actor and author who has starred on stage in the West End and throughout the country and on television where her roles range from Vicki in Doctor Who to Elektra in the Oresteia. She has twice won the Sony Best Actress award for her work on radio and also has awards for audiobooks of which she continues to record a huge range. In 1987, encouraged by the production of a radio play Going On, she wrote her first novel Close Up on Death, and since then she has combined both careers.

O'Brien directed Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle at Ottawa University, Canada, in the '70s and in the '80s she taught acting workshops in the USA and directed shows on the London Fringe. Her production of Mike English's Getting In in 1986 was Time Out's Critic's Choice.

Her play The Cutting (Bush Theatre) was nominated Best Play (London Fringe Awards) and Best Newcomer (Evening Standard Drama Awards) and is about to become a feature film. Her last novel, Unauthorised Departure, was published in January 2003 by Little, Brown in the UK and by St Martin's Press in New York, and her latest novel, Every Step You Take, was published in December 2004 by Time Warner.

Close Up on Death has been published in French as Les fleurs sont faciles à tuer by HB Editions.

Website

Actor who appeared as a Robot (playing V16, V19 and V68) in the 1977 story The Robots of Death.

Also appeared in The Bill, Harbour Lights, Casualty, The Life and Crimes of William Palmer, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, A Life for a Life, Band of Gold, Wilde, Wycliffe, Bugs, Anna Lee, To Play the King, Mr Don & Mr George, Stay Lucky, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Agatha Christie: Poirot, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, A Sense of Guilt, CBS Summer Playhouse, Piece of Cake, Rockliffe's Babies, George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation, Constant Hot Water, Sorry!, We'll Meet Again, Open All Hours, Made in Britain, ITV Playhouse, Grange Hill, Crossroads

Tommy Wright played the Guard Master in the Doctor Who serial The Creature from the Pit.

Also worked on Home Farm Twins, Soldier Soldier, Frankenstein, Chaplin, Drop the Dead Donkey, Under Suspicion, Casualty, Never the Twain, The Phantom of the Opera, Agatha Christie: Poirot, The Bill, Boon, The Sign of Four, Bread, Up the Elephant and Round the Castle, Singleton's Pluck, Mitch, The Boys in Blue, Young at Heart, Jackanory Playhouse, The Dick Emery Hour, The Elephant Man, The Professionals, The Enigma Files, Minder, The Dick Francis Thriller: The Racing Game, A Moment in Time, Robin's Nest, The Quiz Kid, Accident, Z Cars, The Onedin Line, Target, The Liver Birds, The Prince and the Pauper, Mr. Big, Sykes, Bill Brand, Escape from the Dark, Play for Today, Upstairs, Downstairs, Journey Into Fear, The Brothers, Dixon of Dock Green, Frightmare, Dial M for Murder, Barlow, Softly Softly: Task Force, The Optimists of Nine Elms, Sex Farm, The Mini-Affair

Helen Griffin is a Welsh actress, playwright and screenwriter. She has appeared regularly in Welsh theatre and television and wrote and starred in the 2005 film Little White Lies. 

She appeared in the 2006 Doctor Who episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel".

Griffin studied at nursing college with comedienne Jo Brand and worked as a psychiatric nurse until 1986, when she became an actress

Griffin has appeared in many plays, television programmes and films both in Wales and throughout the United Kingdom. On television, she has been seen in the cult comedy Satellite City, Wycliffe, Life Force, Holby City and Doctor Who. Griffin's film work includes Twin Town, Solomon a Gaenor and Human Traffic.

In 2003, Griffin performed a one-woman show, Caitlin, based on the life of Caitlin Macnamara, wife of Dylan Thomas; the Western Mail praised her "finely-honed and perceptive performance".

In 2005, Griffin won acclaim for her role as Karen in Little White Lies, which she also wrote. Her performance won the Best Actress prize in the 2005 BAFTA Cymru awards, defeating expected favourite Billie Piper.

Griffin's first short play, Killjoy, was written for Theatre West Glamorgan (subsequently renamed Teatr na n'Og) and was first performed in 1993 Two more short plays, The Change and A Generation Arises, were performed in 1994. In 1997, Griffin collaborated with Jo Brand on a short play, Mental, which was based on their shared experiences as psychiatric nurses; the two performed an updated version at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Griffin's first full-length play, Flesh and Blood, which deals with racism in Welsh society, debuted at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff in 2000, and later moved to the Hampstead Theatre in London.[1][9] In 2002, Teatr y Byd in Newport debuted another play by Griffin, I Love You Superstar.

Griffin adapted her script for Flesh and Blood into the screenplay for Little White Lies, which was filmed on location in Cardiff and Swansea and premiered in the UK on January 10, 2006.

John Abineri was an English actor.

Born in London, he attended the Old Vic drama school.

His extensive television performances included a regular role in Survivors (as Hubert Goss) and four performances on Doctor Who - in Fury from the Deep, Death to the Daleks, The Power of Kroll, and, most notably, as the misguided General Carrington in The Ambassadors of Death. He also appeared in the Blake's 7 episode Hostage, taking over the role of Ushton after the sudden death of the actor Duncan Lamont, his co-star in the aforementioned Death to the Daleks.

He also appeared as Herne the Hunter in HTV's Robin of Sherwood.

He received an Emmy nomination for his performance as Chingachgook in the TV adaptation of Last Of The Mohicans (1971) and Hawkeye, The Pathfinder (1973). He also played the butler in the original Ferrero Rocher Ambassador's reception advert.

He was the father of actors Sebastian and Daniel Abineri.

wikipedia

Declan Mulholland was a Northern Irish character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, his first role was in the 1962 British film H.M.S. Defiant as Morrison. Mulholland acted as Jabba the Hutt in a deleted scene of the original Star Wars (1977). The scene was later placed back into the movie for the film's twentieth anniversary re-release in 1997 replacing Mulholland with a computerized Jabba. He had a substantial part in the 1975Amicus Productions film The Land That Time Forgot.

His many TV appearances included the Doctor Who stories The Sea Devils (1972) and The Androids of Tara (1978), The Bill, The Onedin Line, To the Manor Born and Quatermass (TV serial).

Mulholland died of a brain tumor in June 1999.

_{Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA}