26 Actors who have been in Brookside and Doctor Who
This list contains actors who have appeared in multiple episodes of Brookside and significant roles in Doctor Who. If they only appeared in a small role in just one episode, then we’ve not counted them in this list.
If there’s anyone we may have missed, get in touch!
1. Ray Dunbobbin – The Time Warrior (1973)
2. Mary Tamm – The Key to Time season (1978-79)
Mary Tamm is probably best known for playing the first regeneration of Time Lady Romana alongside Tom Baker in The Key to Time season in 1978-1979.
She then appeared as ‘Penny Crosbie’ a relation of David and Jean Crosbie (Patricia Farnham’s parents) in Brookside between 1993-1995.
3. David Yip – Destiny of the Daleks (1979)
David Yip played the role of Veldan in Tom Baker story ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ and has also appeared in several of the Big Finish audios.
He appeared in Brookside as Michael Choi moving into Number 7 with his wife Caroline and daughter Jessica in 1989 and stayed on the Close for just two years.
4. Kenneth Cope – Warrior’s Gate (1981)
Kenneth Cope appeared in Warrior’s Gate, a story in Tom Baker’s final season as the Doctor as Packard, one of the spaceship crew.
He then turned up in Brookside towards the end of its run as Ray Hilton living in the bungalow with Jessie Shadwick.
5. David Banks – Various 80’s Cybermen stories
For most of his Doctor Who appearances, David Banks was in costume as the Cyber Leader in Earthshock, The Five Doctors, Attack of the Cybermen and Silver Nemesis raising his fist and wanting to destroy everyone AT ONCE!
However he also briefly became ‘The Doctor’ for two performances of The Ultimate Adventure stage play whilst Jon Pertwee was ill.
David appeared in Brookside in the early 90’s in the role of Graeme Curtis who was wrongly convicted of murder of Sue and baby Danny falling from a building on the parade.
6. Michael J Jackson – The King’s Demons (1983)
Michael J Jackson appears in the 2 part historical during the Fifth Doctor era as Sir Geoffrey. The most memorable part of the story was probably the introduction of Kamelion who was meant to be a ground-breaking robot companion, but ended up just disappearing once the prop stopped working as hoped.
Michael then appeared in Brookside as Ollie Simpson, the father of the family which included the incestuous brother and sister Nat and Georgia.
7. Philip McGough – Resurrection of the Daleks (1984)
After battling the Daleks alongside Rodney Bewes and Peter Davison, Philip McGough went on to appear as two different roles in Brookside.
First was Charlie Dawson, a drug-dealer friend of Nicholas Black in 1986 before returning to play Dr Ian Tripp for one episode in 2003.
8. Faith Brown – Attack of the Cybermen (1985)
Comedy actress Faith Brown was well known for her impressions before appearing unrecognisably as a Cryon in Sixth Doctor story Attack of the Cybermen.
Faith then turned up as Anne Bradley, the mother of Jules who Nat Simpson was supposedly in a relationship with, but actually was more interested elsewhere.
9. Dicken Ashworth – Timelash (1985)
Dicken Ashworth played the part of Alan Partridge (no connection to the Steve Coogan character) in between 1983-1984 with some hilarious awkward moments.
Then before ticking off roles in Corrie and Emmerdale, he appeared in the Colin Baker Doctor Who story ‘Timelash’. Whilst we have a soft spot for the Bandrils, it’s not a fan favourite.
10. Tony Scoggo – Terror of the Vervoids (1986)
Tony Scoggo has already made regular appearances at Matty Nolan in Brookside – close friends with the Grants.
According to the DVD extras, Ricky Tomlinson was originally approached for this story but turned it down. Tony’s appearance is quite minor though, so whether Ricky’s was the same or a different role it’s unclear.
11. Malcolm Tierney – Terror of the Vervoids (1986)
Not one but two Brookie regulars in this segment of The Trial of a Timelord.
Malcolm Tierney played gangster Tommy McArdle in the early years of Brookside, but appears here as scientist experimenting on plant life that doesn’t exactly go to plan.
12. Stuart Organ – Dragonfire (1987)
Stuart Organ appeared sporadically throughout the late 80’s in Brookside as Kevin, the son of Harry Cross. He then managed to squeeze in this appearance in Sylvester McCoy’s first season before taking the reigns as headmaster Mr Robson in Grange Hill.
Stuart sadly passed away in February 2024.
13. Angela Douglas – Battlefield (1989)
In her only appearance in Doctor Who, Angela played the important role of the Brig’s wife – Doris who encourages him to return to UNIT for one last time to help the Doctor battle the Destroyer.
Angela then turned up in Brookside in the late 90’s as Lady Hilary Cuddington, the posh mother of Nathan, who for some reason decided to live on a flat in Brookside Parade rather than their stately home.
14. Marcus Hutton – The Curse of Fenric (1989)
Marcus played Nathan Cuddington, the aristocrat who dated Jacqui Dixon for a while before the whole relationship was called off.
Before that he appeared as a young soldier in the Seventh Doctor story The Curse of Fenric.
15. Gabrielle Glaister – Various Big Finish Audios
Apart from playing ‘Bob’ alongside Blackadder, Gabrielle Glaister is probably best known as Patricia Farnham – first wife to Max and appeared on the show for over 7 years.
Since then she’s lent her voice to the Whoniverse in various audios for the Big Finish range, including Bernice Summerfield spin-offs, Star Cops and Blake’s 7.
16. Philip Olivier – Various Big Finish audios
‘Tinhead’ made his mark on Brookside from his first appearance in 1996 right through to the show’s final episode in 2003, and even appeared in one of DVD spin-offs. The character got involved in lots of dodgy gangland storylines over the years.
Afterwards he became ‘Hex’ a companion to the Seventh Doctor in the Big Finish audio range appearing in many audios from 2004 up until recently, and also in printed form in some of their Short Story book range.
17. Alan Rothwell – The Twilight Kingdom (audio) (2004)
Another Brookside actor to make the leap into the Big Finish audio range is Alan Rothwell, who appears in this Eighth Doctor adventure.
Alan had also been in Corrie, before joining Brookside in 1984 as Nicholas Black, second husband to Heather Haversham, but is short-lived when she discovers his drug addiction and eventual death from an overdose two years later in 1986.
18. Danny Webb – The Impossible Planet & The Satan Pit (2006)
Going right back to the early days of Brookside, Danny Webb only appeared in the show for 3 months, playing Gavin Taylor, who spent a lot of time dealing with cookers much to the frustration of Petra. However, the character suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage in episode 28, the second person to die in the series.
Danny has appeared in lots of TV and Hollywood films over the years, and appeared in this two part 10th Doctor story as Mr Jefferson which saw the Doctor and Rose battle against ‘The Beast’.
19. Marcia Ashton – Doctor Who Companion Chronicles (2007)
Marcia appeared in Brookside as a semi-regular character for 5 years as Patricia Farnham’s mother Jean Crosbie, who was often seen in the flower shop on the Parade.
She voiced the role of Karna in ‘The Beautiful People’ one of the Companion Chronicles audio series produced by Big Finish.
20. Sunetra Sarker – Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (2012)
Before working as a Doctor in Holby City Hospital, Sunetra Sarker appeared in Brookside as Nisha Batra, a schoolgirl friend of Sammy Rogers when they first appeared on the Close at the end of 80’s.
The character then made a reappearance when Sammy returned to the soap in the year 2000.
Sunetra then turned up in Matt Smith’s final series playing the leader of the Indian Space Agency in the far future.
21. Suzanne Packer – The Tsuranga Conundrum (2018)
Another Casualty/Brookside crossover here as Suzanne is probably best known as playing nurse manager Tess Bateman.
Her first acting role was playing Josie Johnson, first wife to Mick in Brookside during the 90’s and mother to Mick’s children Leo and Gemma.
Suzanne’s appeared in a story during Jodie Whittaker’s first season as a Neuro Pilot General from the 67th Century.
22. Paul Broughton – Flux (2021)
Eddie Banks arrived with wife Rosie settling into Number 9. He was most proud of his motorbikes and prize ‘Bendy Bully’, especially as his sons caused nothing but trouble for the family.
Probably the most memorable moment was when Eddie discovered Trevor Jordache’s body under the patio next door.
Paul then turned up alongside fellow Brookie co-star (see below) as Neville – father to John Bishop’s character during the ‘Flux’ mini-series.
23. Sue Jenkins – Flux (2021)
Sue Jenkins is best remembered for playing Jackie Corkhill for over 10 years in the soap. She was married to the legendary Jimmy, but they had their ups and downs (mainly due to Jimmy’s schemes), but ended up leaving the soap following a weird storyline where she had a lesbian affair, despite never showing any feelings that way before.
Sue then appeared alongside Paul Broughton in Jodie’s last Doctor Who series ‘Flux’ as the mother of John Bishop’s character.
24. Susan Twist – Season One (2024)
Who is Susan Twist? That’s been the biggest question of the most recent series of Doctor Who.
Despite playing Rosie Banks for several years in the 90’s, everyone seems to have forgotten the actress until she started making mysterious cameo appearances in every episode of Ncuti Gatwa’s first season. It turns out Susan Triad has connections with an old enemy last seen in a 4th Doctor story with more revelations due to be revealed in the series finale. As they say, there’s always a Twist at the end!
Notable mentions
25. Ken Campbell
Ken Campbell didn’t actually appear in any Doctor Who episodes, but he originally auditioned for the role of the 7th Doctor, but lost out to Sylvester McCoy. According to reports Ken’s interpretation had been ‘too dark’ for what they were looking for at the time.
Ken appeared in several episodes of Brookside in 1993 playing Oscar Dean, who is originally interested in buying Barry Grant’s Spanish flat, but ends up getting involved in the running of the La Luz nightclub.
26. Did Colin Baker appear in Brookside?
The answer is – sort of! Whilst the actor who played the Sixth Doctor, never made an appearance in the soap, contrary to what some other websites would have you believe, there was however a character called Colin Baker, who was played by the actor Mark Fletcher, not the other way around.