David Banks

Actor, author, playwright and director David Banks has played leading roles for the London West End, national and regional theatre companies, along with a prolific career as a TV actor with long-running portrayals in Brookside (1982), Canary Wharf (1996) and Doctor Who (1963), among other appearances. He was Karl in the UK theatre tour of 'Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure' and took over as the Doctor when Jon Pertwee fell ill. David Banks' books include the much praised 'Doctor Who - Cybermen' and the best-selling novel 'Iceberg'. His play 'Severance' tells the story of the medieval lovers Heloise and Abelard. 'Five Marys Waiting' depicts five strong women in search of a meaning. His latest is a supposedly found play by Aphra Behn called 'A New Way to Play an Old Game'. He has recently directed 'Between the Lines'', a play exploring the Great War and its poets, and T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets'. He has delivered his talk 'Life as an emotionless killing machine: Cybermen in a Strange State' at universities in the UK and Australia. His hypothesised history 'The Archive Tapes: Cybermen', first released on cassette in 1989, was re-released as a four CD box set in 2013 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who - an excellent demonstration of why resistance is useless. An audiobook of 'Iceberg' is in production.