David Banks

David Banks studied drama at Manchester University and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Stage roles encompass Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Andrew Aguecheek, Falstaff, Mowgli, Aslan the Lion, Gandalf the Wizard, Karl in Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure – and briefly, when John Pertwee fell ill – the Doctor himself.

As CyberLeader throughout the 1980s he was destroyed by a succession of Doctors. As singing teacher Ray, in Melvyn Bragg’s A Time to Dance (BBC TV), he was described by Simon Hoggart as ‘the ugliest man on television’. He was ‘axe murderer’ Dennis Smalley in Going Under (BBC TV), ‘suspected murderer’ Graeme Curtis in Brookside (Channel 4) and, as Max Armstrong in L!ve TV’s ambitious soap Canary Wharf, he was finally annihilated by aliens.

Plays he has written and directed include Severance, an intimate story of Heloise and Abelard, and Five Marys Waiting, a tragicomedy of grief and belief. He directed Jimmie Chinn’s Talking to John, Simon de Deney’s Between the Lines and, most recently, Four Quartets by TS Eliot. His production of Alan McMurtrie’s The Prisoner’s Pumpkin (Old Red Lion).won LNPF Best Play award.

His voice work embraces radio, commercials, video narration and many audiobooks (including JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings). Recently re-inhabiting the CyberLeader in the Big Finish audio plays Hour of the Cybermen and Warzone*Conversion, he was again destroyed by the Doctor. Twice.

His published books include Iceberg, Doctor Who: Cybermen and Not Somehow, the story of Mina Banks and her lifelong career in nursing.

His latest play is A New Way to Play an Old Game. David claims it was penned in 1674 by the spy Aphra Behn, the first Englishwomen to earn a living writing plays.