Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961), sometimes credited under the pseudonyms David Sax or Arthur Wallis, wrote, directed and performed in various media. Most of all, he participated in many ways in the production of Big Finish audio stories as well as writing and performing in licenced spin-off videos for BBV Productions. In the revived series of Doctor Who as well as Big Finish Doctor Who, he voices the Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors and a variety of one-time aliens.
Briggs has the distinction of being the only actor to have regular roles in the revived TV series for the BBC and Big Finish Productions (guest stars from the revival have appeared in the audios, but none of the other regulars appear in both, including Elisabeth Sladen who ended her Big Finish Sarah Jane Smith series when she began reprising the role on TV).
He also took part in The Weakest Link: Doctor Who Special but was voted out early on.
Career
1980s and 1990s
Briggs was one of several actors/writers/directors (Mark Gatiss and Gary Russell among them) who cut their teeth on fan-made Doctor Who-related/inspired productions and who later got to work on the official series. As well as under his own name, Briggs has also written for video and audio under the pen-names Arthur Wallis and Martin Peterson.
Prior to his work on the revived TV series, Briggs played an active role in Doctor Who fandom since the 1980s. He portrayed a future incarnation of the Doctor in a series of unofficial audio dramas by Audio Visuals, the forerunner of Big Finish Productions. He also worked with Reeltime Pictures, hosting Myth Makers, a long-running series of made-for-video interview documentaries featuring cast and crew of Doctor Who. He also played the title role in Myth Runner, a parody of Blade Runner built around bloopers from the Myth Makers series.
His writing included productions such as Auton 2: Sentinel for BBV Productions and two entries in The Stranger series, one of which, In Memory Alone, co-starred him with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. He also wrote independent science fiction-dramas such as The Airzone Solution, also produced by BBV Productions which starred all of the actors who had played the Doctor, with the exception of Tom Baker.
2000s
Briggs is the executive producer of the Big Finish audio dramas line. Among his notable works for Big Finish has been writing and directing the Dalek Empire series of audio dramas.
Since the return of Doctor Who in 2005, Briggs has been the "go to guy" for voices for various alien races. Besides the Daleks and Cybermen, Briggs has also given voice to the Nestene Consciousness and the Judoon, also providing the voice of the latter for an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
In 2009, Briggs made his on-screen debut in a BBC Doctor Who franchise production when he appeared as Rick Yates in Torchwood Children of Earth: Day Four, also his first work for the Torchwood spinoff.
2010s
Besides reprising the Cybermen and Daleks for series 5, his voice can be heard as the narrator of the National Museum video Amy Pond watches in The Big Bang.
In the 2010 stage play The Monsters Are Coming!, Briggs portrayed Winston Churchill, as well as voicing the Daleks, Cybermen and Judoon.
As of 2011[update], Briggs became the host of the BBC Radio 4 Extra radio anthology series 7th Dimension, which has broadcast a number of Doctor Who audio dramas over the past few years.
In 2013, he played Peter Hawkins in the docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time; Hawkins, like Briggs, provided Dalek voices for Doctor Who. The film was written by his longtime colleague, Mark Gatiss.
In the DWU
- Briggs has a cameo appearance as himself in the audio story Legend of the Cybermen, a story set in the Land of Fiction.
Acting credits
Television
Doctor Who
- Day of the Daleks - Dalek voice (DVD Special Edition)
- Rose - Nestene Consciousness voice
- Dalek - Dalek voice
- The Long Game - Jagrafess voice
- Bad Wolf - Dalek voice
- The Parting of the Ways - Dalek voices
- Rise of the Cybermen - Cybermen voice
- The Age of Steel - Cybermen voice
- Army of Ghosts - Dalek and Cybermen voices
- Doomsday - Dalek and Cybermen voices
- Smith and Jones - Judoon voice
- Daleks in Manhattan - Dalek voice
- Evolution of the Daleks - Dalek voice
- The Stolen Earth - Dalek and Judoon voices
- Journey's End - Dalek voice
- The Next Doctor - Cybermen voice
- The End of Time - Judoon voice
- Victory of the Daleks- Dalek voice
- The Pandorica Opens - Dalek, Cybermen and Judoon voices
- The Big Bang - Dalek voice and National Museum Pandorica video narrator
- A Good Man Goes to War - Cybermen voice
- Closing Time - Cybermen voice
- The Wedding of River Song - Dalek voice
- Asylum of the Daleks - Dalek voice
- Cold War - Grand Marshall Skaldak (voice)
- Nightmare in Silver - Cybermen voice
- The Day of the Doctor - Zygon and Dalek voices
- The Time of the Doctor - Dalek and Cybermen voices
- Into the Dalek - Dalek voices
- Death in Heaven - Cybermen voices
The Sarah Jane Adventures
- Prisoner of the Judoon - Captain Tybo (voice) and Judoon voices
Torchwood
Other
- An Adventure in Space and Time - Peter Hawkins
- The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot - Dalek operator
Video
BBV Productions
Reeltime Pictures
- Wartime - Soldier
Tardisodes
- Tardisode 13 - Dalek voice [1]
Webcasts
Audio
BBV Audio
- Homeland - Captain
Big Finish Doctor Who main range
- The Sirens of Time - the Temperon
- Phantasmagoria - Henry Gaunt
- The Genocide Machine - Prink / The Daleks
- The Apocalypse Element - The Daleks
- The Mutant Phase - The Daleks
- Sword of Orion - The Cybermen
- Minuet in Hell - Gideon Crane
- Seasons of Fear - The Daleks
- Embrace the Darkness - Cimmerian voice
- The Time of the Daleks - The Daleks
- Spare Parts - The Cybermen / Commander Zheng
- Bang-Bang-A-Boom! - Continuity announcer
- Jubilee - The Daleks
- Creatures of Beauty - The Koteem / Morgue Attendant / Police Officer / Security Guard / Forleon Control / Captain Delarphim / Pilot
- The Twilight Kingdom - Fraxin
- The Harvest - The Cybermen
- The Juggernauts - The Daleks / The Mechanoids
- The Next Life - The Daleks (uncredited)
- Terror Firma - The Daleks
- The Nowhere Place - Trevor Ridgely
- The Reaping - The Cybermen / Commander Zheng / Alan-56
- The Gathering - The Cybermen / Alan Fitzgerald
- Renaissance of the Daleks - The Daleks
- Frozen Time - Arakssor / Kelly / Pilot / First Officer
- The 100 Days of the Doctor - The Assassin
- The Girl Who Never Was - The Cybermen
- The Bride of Peladon - Zixlyr
- Kingdom of Silver - The Cybermen
- Keepsake - Examiner 1
- Brotherhood of the Daleks - The Daleks
- The Judgement of Isskar - Isskar
- Enemy of the Daleks - The Daleks
- Patient Zero - Etheron / The Daleks
- Paper Cuts - Prefect / The Red Emperor
- The Eternal Summer - Geoff
- Plague of the Daleks - Cricketer / Dobson / The Daleks
- Legend of the Cybermen - The Cybermen
- The Crimes of Thomas Brewster - Ticket collecter (uncredited)
- The Silver Turk - The Cybermen
- The Curse of Davros - The Daleks
- Daleks Among Us - The Daleks
- Masters of Earth - The Daleks / Roboman
Bonus releases
- Last of the Titans - Vilgreth
- Real Time - Cyber-Controller / Professor Osborn
- Return of the Daleks - The Daleks
- Cuddlesome - Newsreader
- The Four Doctors - The Daleks
- The Five Companions - The Daleks
Special releases
- UNIT: Dominion - Time Lord (uncredited)
50th Anniversary
- The Light at the End - The Vess
Eighth Doctor Adventures
- Blood of the Daleks - The Daleks
- No More Lies - Peter (uncredited)
- Human Resources - The Cybermen
- The Beast of Orlok - Lugner
- Deimos - The Ice Warriors, Security Leader
- The Resurrection of Mars - The Ice Warriors
- Lucie Miller / To the Death - The Daleks / The Dalek time controller
Dark Eyes
- The Great War - The Daleks
- Fugitives - The Daleks / The Dalek time controller / Voice Synthesising Artificial Intelligence 001
- Tangled Web - The Daleks / The Dalek time controller
- X and the Daleks - The Daleks / The Dalek time controller
- The Traitor - The Daleks / The Dalek Time Controller / Control / Auto-Voice
- Time's Horizon - The Dalek Time Controller
- Eyes of the Master - The Dalek Time Controller
Fourth Doctor Adventures
- Energy of the Daleks - The Daleks
- The Dalek Contract - The Daleks / The Dalek Supreme / Pilot
- The Final Phase - The Daleks / The Dalek Supreme
- The Evil One - The Salonu / Andor / Auto-Announcer
Companion Chronicles
- Fear of the Daleks - The Daleks
- The Blue Tooth - The Cybermen
- The Prisoner of Peladon - The Ice Warriors
Lost Stories
- Mission to Magnus - Brorg / Vedikael / Grand Marshall / Ishka
- The Destroyers - The Daleks
- Thin Ice - Hhessh
- The Elite - The Daleks
- Lords of the Red Planet - Aslor/Risor/The Ice Warriors
Short Trips
- Museum Peace - reading
- Seven to One - reading, with William Russell
The Stageplays
- The Ultimate Adventure - The Daleks / The Cybermen
- Seven Keys to Doomsday - The Daleks
- The Curse of the Daleks - The Daleks
Unbound
- Auld Mortality - Gold Usher
- Exile - Previous Doctor
- Masters of War - The Daleks
Destiny of the Doctor
- Night of the Whisper - reading
- The Time Machine - Creevix
Dalek Empire
- Invasion of the Daleks - The Daleks / Ernst Tanlee
- The Human Factor - The Daleks
- "Death to the Daleks!" - The Daleks / Ernst Tanlee
- Project Infinity - The Daleks / Ernst Tanlee
- Dalek War: Chapter One - The Daleks
- Dalek War: Chapter Two - The Daleks
- Dalek War: Chapter Three - The Daleks
- Dalek War: Chapter Four - The Daleks
- Death and the Daleks - The Daleks
- The Exterminators - The Daleks
- The Healers - The Daleks / Crewman Antani
- The Survivors - The Daleks / Crewman Antani
- The Demons - The Daleks
- The Warriors - The Daleks
- The Future - The Daleks
- The Fearless: Part 1 - The Daleks
- The Fearless: Part 2 - The Daleks / Ernst Tanlee
- The Fearless: Part 3 - The Daleks / Ernst Tanlee
- The Fearless: Part 4 - The Daleks / Ernst Tanlee
Cyberman
- Scorpius - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner / Journalist / Guard
- Fear - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner / Journalist
- Conversion - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner / The Cyber-Leader
- Telos - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner
- Outsiders - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner
- Terror - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner
- Machines - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner
- Extinction - The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner
I, Davros
Bernice Summerfield
- Oh No It Isn't! - Prince Charming
- Death and the Daleks - The Daleks / Crofton
- Silver Lining - The Cybermen / Lynton Jellis
- The Crystal of Cantus - The Cybermen
- Many Happy Returns - Curator
- Good Night, Sweet Ladies - The Daleks
- The Lights of Skaro - The Daleks
Sarah Jane Smith
- Comeback - Hedges
- Snow Blind - Gideon Munro
Gallifrey
- Pandora - Gold Usher
- Imperiatrix - Gold Usher
- Arbitration - The Daleks (uncredited)
- Extermination - The Daleks
- Ascension - The Daleks/Dalek Supreme
Kaldor City
- Death's Head - Sheen
New Series Adventures
- The Clockwise Man - reading
- Judgement of the Judoon - reading
- Prisoner of the Daleks - reading, the Daleks
- Nuclear Time - reading
- The King's Dragon - reading
- Paradox Lost - reading
- Plague of the Cybermen - The Cybermen
- The Dalek Generation - reading, the Daleks
- Engines of War - reading, the Daleks
Puffin eshort
- A Big Hand for the Doctor - reading
Video games
Adventure Games
- City of the Daleks - The Daleks
- Blood of the Cybermen - The Cybermen / Alan Watts (uncredited)
- Shadows of the Vashta Nerada - Oswald Fox
Browser games
- The Doctor and the Dalek - The Daleks, Lumpy, Cybermen
Production credits
Video
BBV Productions
- Auton - writer
- Auton 2: Sentinel - writer
- Auton 3: Awakening - writer, credited as Arthur Wallis, co-written with Paul Ebbs
Prose
Novels
- The Dalek Generation - writer
Short Trips
- One Small Step... - writer, in Short Trips: Past Tense
- Kalendorf - writer, in Short Trips: Dalek Empire
Doctor Who Storybook
- No One Died - writer
- The Iron Circle - writer
Comics
Doctor Who Magazine
- Food for Thought - writer
Audio
Doctor Who main range
- The Sirens of Time - writer, director, music and sound design
- Phantasmagoria - director
- Whispers of Terror - music
- The Land of the Dead - music and sound design
- The Genocide Machine - music and sound design
- The Apocalypse Element - music and sound design
- The Mutant Phase - writer, director, music and sound design
- Sword of Orion - writer, director, music and sound design
- Minuet in Hell - director, sound design
- Embrace the Darkness - writer, director
- The Time of the Daleks - director, music
- Neverland - music
- ...ish - director
- Jubilee - co-director, music and sound design
- Creatures of Beauty - writer, director, music and sound design
- Something Inside - director
- The Nowhere Place - writer, director, music and sound design
- Frozen Time - writer
- 100 - director
- The Condemned - director
- The Dark Husband - director
- Kingdom of Silver - director
- Keepsake - director
- The Raincloud Man - director
- Patient Zero - writer and director
- Paper Cuts - director
- Blue Forgotten Planet - writer and director
- City of Spires - director
- Legend of the Cybermen - director
- The Crimes of Thomas Brewster - director
- The Feast of Axos - director
- Industrial Evolution - director
- Robophobia - writer and director
- The Wrong Doctors - director
- The Seeds of War - writer, with Matt Fitton
- 1963: The Space Race - director
- Antidote to Oblivion - director
- The Brood of Erys - director
- Scavenger - director
- Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories - director
- Masters of Earth - director and music
Doctor Who bonus releases
- Last of the Titans - writer, director
- Return of the Daleks - writer
- Return of the Krotons - writer, director, and music
- An Earthly Child - director
Special Releases
- UNIT: Dominion - writer, with Jason Arnopp, director
- The Worlds of Doctor Who - music, with Howard Carter
Eighth Doctor Adventures
- Blood of the Daleks - director
- Human Resources - director
- Sisters of the Flame - writer and director
- The Vengeance of Morbius - writer and director
- Orbis - co writer with Alan Barnes and director
- Wirrn Dawn - writer and director
- The Scapegoat - director
- The Eight Truths - director
- Worldwide Web - director
- Situation Vacant - director and producer
- Nevermore - director
- Lucie Miller - writer and director
- To the Death - writer and director
Dark Eyes
- The Great War - writer and director
- Fugitives - writer and director
- Tangled Web - writer and director
- X and the Daleks - writer and director
- The Traitor - writer and director
- The White Room - director
- Time's Horizon - director
- Eyes of the Master - director
Fourth Doctor Adventures
- Destination: Nerva - writer and director
- Energy of the Daleks - writer and director
- The Sands of Life - writer and director
- War Against the Laan - writer and director
- The Dalek Contract - writer and director
- The Final Phase - writer and director
- The King of Sontar - director
- White Ghosts - director
- The Crooked Man - director
- The Evil One - writer and director
- Last of the Colophon - director
- Destroy the Infinite - writer and director
- Zygon Hunt - writer and director
- The Exxilons - writer and director
Novel Adaptations
- The Romance of Crime - director
- The English Way of Death - director
Companion Chronicles
- Solitaire - director
Short Trips
- Short Trips: Volume 1 - director, with Ken Bentley, music
- Short Trips: Volume 2 - director, with Ken Bentley
- Short Trips: Volume 3 - director, with Ken Bentley
- Short Trips: Volume 4 - director, with Ken Bentley
Unbound
- Auld Mortality - director
- Deadline - director, post-production
- Exile - writer
Dalek Empire
- Invasion of the Daleks - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Human Factor - writer, director, post-production, music
- "Death to the Daleks!" - writer, director, post-production, music
- Project Infinity - writer, director, post-production, music
- Dalek War: Chapter One - writer, director, post-production, music
- Dalek War: Chapter Two - writer, director, post-production, music
- Dalek War: Chapter Three - writer, director, post-production, music
- Dalek War: Chapter Four - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Exterminators - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Healers - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Survivors - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Demons - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Warriors - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Future - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Fearless: Part 1 - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Fearless: Part 2 - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Fearless: Part 3 - writer, director, post-production, music
- The Fearless: Part 4 - writer, director, post-production, music
Cyberman
- Scorpius - writer, director, post-production, music
- Fear - writer, director, post-production, music
- Conversion - writer, director, post-production, music
- Telos - writer, director, post-production, music
- Outsiders - director
- Terror - director
- Machines - director
- Extinction - director
Bernice Summerfield
- Oh No It Isn't! - director
- Birthright - director, producer
Counter-Measures
- Threshold - music
- Artificial Intelligence - music
- The Pelage Project - music
- State of Emergency - music
- Manhunt - music
- The Fifth Citadel - music
- Peshka - music
- Sins of the Fathers - music
- Changing of the Guard - music
- The Concrete Cage - music
- The Forgotten Village - music
- Unto the Breach - music
Charlotte Pollard
- The Lamentation Cipher - director
- The Shadow at the Edge of the World - director
- The Fall of the House of Pollard - director
- The Viyran Solution - director
I, Davros
- The Davros Mission - writer and director
BBV
- Homeland - director
Other audio
- The Dalek Conquests - a faux documentary on the history of the Daleks produced by BBC Radio.
