Ian Brooker (actor)
Encyclopedia
Ian Anthony Brooker better known as Ian Brooker is a versatile character actor, with experience of theatre, television and film. However, it is in the medium of radio and audio drama that he is best known.
Ian is the ninth generation of a theatrical family that first went on stage in the mid eighteenth century. Relatives have included leading theatrical and literary figures such as Dame Madge Kendal
(Mrs Kendal in The Elephant Man) (1848–1935), dramatists such as Thomas William Robertson
(1829–1871) - author of the play Caste, the screenwriter Philip MacDonald
(1900–80) - author of the Boris Karloff film The Body Snatcher, and several Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films; Harry Duff (1895-1984) - the boy actor who played both Michael and John Darling in the original production and revival of the play Peter Pan; and Carol Robertson - producer of the BBC's Tales of Beatrix Potter and Oscar (starring Michael Gambon as Oscar Wilde).
have included: The Door in the Wall
based upon three short stories by H.G.Wells, the comedy cricketing series, Memoirs of a Twelfth Man (with Norman Rodway
), E. Nesbit
’s Five Children and It
and its sequel, The Story of the Amulet
, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
, Ellis Peters
' The Flight of a Witch, Rose Tremain
’s One Night in Winter, David Pownall
’s Façade (with David Tennant
), Watership Down
, Mr Foster’s Good Fairy, and "The Day They Wouldn't Take It Any More". He played Gaius Flavius Hilaris in the adaptation of Lindsey Davis
’ first Falco story The Silver Pigs
.
On Radio 3
, he has appeared in Peter Tinniswood
’s translation of Eduardo de Philippo’s The Monument, and Lizzie Hopley
’s play Salome.
Since 1999 he has made occasional appearances as Wayne Foley of Radio Borsetshire in Radio 4’s The Archers
. He has also supplied the voices of Elgar and Berlioz for Radio 4’s Married to the Music, and Thomas Hardy in Ramblings.
(1990), and Saint Dominic in the Channel 4 series, Gnostics (1986). More recently, he has appeared as an abusive father, Peter Case, in BBC 1's Doctors and Malcolm Hammond - an ineffectual father of a schizophrenic girl in BBC 1's Casualty. Films have included the historical drama, Chasing the Deer (1994) and the spoof horror film, I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1988)
’s Doctor Who
range including ROSM in Embrace the Darkness, Minister Voss in The Last, the torturer, Twyst in Something Inside, Surus the Elephant in Auld Mortality, Sydney the Juliet Bravo fan in Deadline (with Sir Derek Jacobi
), the Shewstone in A Storm of Angels, Romilly and the Krotons in Return of the Krotons, the President of Earth in An Earthly Child, and was the briefest of all the Doctor Whos in Full Fathom Five. He has often worked with director/writer Nicholas Briggs
on his four Dalek Empire
and two Cyberman
series. In 2004 he played the archaeologist, Professor Golightly, in Noise Monster Productions series Space: 1889
for producer John Ainsworth. In 2007, he guest-starred in Sapphire and Steel: The Mystery of the Missing Hour
. In 2009 he played Sir Robert Anderson, the Assistant Commissioner of Police in the Big Finish Sherlockian drama by Brian Clemens, Holmes and the Ripper and Sir Francis Walsingham in the Sixth Doctor Lost Story, Point of Entry by Marc Platt; and in 2010 played the veteran actor, Sir Jack Merrivale, star of the 1970s portmanteau movie, Doctor Demonic's Tales of Terror; or The Devil's Whisper in which he appeared as Doctor Demonic and Professor Bromley, in a Fifth Doctor story Special Features written by John Dorney as part of the CD collection The Demons of Red Lodge.
Ian is the ninth generation of a theatrical family that first went on stage in the mid eighteenth century. Relatives have included leading theatrical and literary figures such as Dame Madge Kendal
Madge Kendal
Dame Madge Kendal GBE , born as Margaret Shafto Robertson, was an English actress of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, best known for her roles in Shakespeare and English comedies. Together with her husband, W. H...
(Mrs Kendal in The Elephant Man) (1848–1935), dramatists such as Thomas William Robertson
Thomas William Robertson
Thomas William Robertson , usually known professionally as T. W. Robertson, was an Anglo-Irish dramatist and innovative stage director best known for a series of realistic or naturalistic plays produced in London in the 1860s that broke new ground and inspired playwrights such as W.S...
(1829–1871) - author of the play Caste, the screenwriter Philip MacDonald
Philip MacDonald
Philip MacDonald was an English author of thrillers.-Life and work:...
(1900–80) - author of the Boris Karloff film The Body Snatcher, and several Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films; Harry Duff (1895-1984) - the boy actor who played both Michael and John Darling in the original production and revival of the play Peter Pan; and Carol Robertson - producer of the BBC's Tales of Beatrix Potter and Oscar (starring Michael Gambon as Oscar Wilde).
Radio
Productions for BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
have included: The Door in the Wall
The Door in the Wall
The Door in the Wall is a 1949 novel by Marguerite de Angeli that received the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1950.-Plot summary:...
based upon three short stories by H.G.Wells, the comedy cricketing series, Memoirs of a Twelfth Man (with Norman Rodway
Norman Rodway
-Early life:Rodway was born in Dublin to English parents, Frank and Lillian Rodway. He studied classics, graduating at Trinity College. He worked as an accountant, teacher, and university lecturer before acting.-Career:...
), E. Nesbit
E. Nesbit
Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television...
’s Five Children and It
Five Children and It
Five Children and It is a children's novel by English author Edith Nesbit, first published in 1902; it was expanded from a series of stories published in the Strand Magazine in 1900 under the general title The Psammead, or the Gifts. It is the first of a trilogy...
and its sequel, The Story of the Amulet
The Story of the Amulet
The Story of the Amulet is a novel for children, written in 1906 by English author Edith Nesbit.It is the final part of a trilogy of novels that also includes Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet . In it the children re-encounter the Psammead—the "it" in Five Children and It...
, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is a children's book by British author Roald Dahl. It is the sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, continuing the story of young Charlie Bucket and eccentric candymaker Willy Wonka as they travel in the Great Glass Elevator.Charlie and the Great Glass...
, Ellis Peters
Edith Pargeter
Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM , also known by her nom de plume Ellis Peters, was a British author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both...
' The Flight of a Witch, Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain CBE is an English author.-Life:Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on August 2, 1943 in London and attended Francis Holland School then Crofton Grange School from 1954 to 1961; the Sorbonne from 1961–1962; and graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1965 where she then...
’s One Night in Winter, David Pownall
David Pownall
David Pownall FRSL is a British playwright and author of novels and short stories. Some of his plays have been adapted as films, for instance, Music to Murder By , and others were written as radio plays.-Life and career:...
’s Façade (with David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
), Watership Down
Watership Down
Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...
, Mr Foster’s Good Fairy, and "The Day They Wouldn't Take It Any More". He played Gaius Flavius Hilaris in the adaptation of Lindsey Davis
Lindsey Davis
Lindsey Davis is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire.-Biography:...
’ first Falco story The Silver Pigs
The Silver Pigs
The Silver Pigs is a crime novel by Lindsey Davis. Set in Rome and Britannia during AD 70, just after the year of the four emperors, The Silver Pigs stars Marcus Didius Falco, informer and imperial agent....
.
On Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, he has appeared in Peter Tinniswood
Peter Tinniswood
Peter Tinniswood was an English radio and TV comedy scriptwriter, and author of a series of popular cricketing novels...
’s translation of Eduardo de Philippo’s The Monument, and Lizzie Hopley
Lizzie Hopley
Lizzie Hopley is a British actor and writer.She appears in several audio plays based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Her first appearance was as the Eighth Doctor’s companion Gemma Griffin in Terror Firma. She also portrayed the sister of Davros in the I, Davros...
’s play Salome.
Since 1999 he has made occasional appearances as Wayne Foley of Radio Borsetshire in Radio 4’s The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
. He has also supplied the voices of Elgar and Berlioz for Radio 4’s Married to the Music, and Thomas Hardy in Ramblings.
Television
On television, Ian appeared as the injured astronaut, Henry Carson in Andromeda TV’s Jupiter MoonJupiter Moon
Jupiter Moon was a science fiction television series first broadcast by BSB's Galaxy Channel from 26 March 1990 until December the same year. 150 episodes were commissioned, but only the first 108 were broadcast by BSB...
(1990), and Saint Dominic in the Channel 4 series, Gnostics (1986). More recently, he has appeared as an abusive father, Peter Case, in BBC 1's Doctors and Malcolm Hammond - an ineffectual father of a schizophrenic girl in BBC 1's Casualty. Films have included the historical drama, Chasing the Deer (1994) and the spoof horror film, I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1988)
Theatre
In theatre, he played Neville in an acclaimed production of Neville’s Island at Harrogate Theatre, and all seven male roles in Jim Cartright’s play Two performed at the Stara Prokhownia, Warsaw, Poland. In 2005, Ian appeared as George Silverlock, the Master of the Hastings Workhouse in Claire Luckham’s play Kitty and Kate – a co-production for the New Victoria Theatre, Stoke and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.Audio recordings
Since 2001 he has played many characters for Big FinishBig Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
’s Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
range including ROSM in Embrace the Darkness, Minister Voss in The Last, the torturer, Twyst in Something Inside, Surus the Elephant in Auld Mortality, Sydney the Juliet Bravo fan in Deadline (with Sir Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
), the Shewstone in A Storm of Angels, Romilly and the Krotons in Return of the Krotons, the President of Earth in An Earthly Child, and was the briefest of all the Doctor Whos in Full Fathom Five. He has often worked with director/writer Nicholas Briggs
Nicholas Briggs
Nicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer, predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Daleks. Briggs sometimes uses the pseudonym Arthur Wallis...
on his four Dalek Empire
Dalek Empire
The Dalek Empire refers to the sphere of influence of the Daleks, a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Dalek Empire is also a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, featuring the Daleks. The series begins in...
and two Cyberman
Cyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more...
series. In 2004 he played the archaeologist, Professor Golightly, in Noise Monster Productions series Space: 1889
Space: 1889
Space: 1889 is a role-playing game of Victorian-era space-faring,created by Frank Chadwick and originally published by Game Designers' Workshop from 1988 to 1991 and later reprinted by Heliograph, Inc...
for producer John Ainsworth. In 2007, he guest-starred in Sapphire and Steel: The Mystery of the Missing Hour
The Mystery of the Missing Hour
The Mystery of the Missing Hour is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Narrator — Colin Baker...
. In 2009 he played Sir Robert Anderson, the Assistant Commissioner of Police in the Big Finish Sherlockian drama by Brian Clemens, Holmes and the Ripper and Sir Francis Walsingham in the Sixth Doctor Lost Story, Point of Entry by Marc Platt; and in 2010 played the veteran actor, Sir Jack Merrivale, star of the 1970s portmanteau movie, Doctor Demonic's Tales of Terror; or The Devil's Whisper in which he appeared as Doctor Demonic and Professor Bromley, in a Fifth Doctor story Special Features written by John Dorney as part of the CD collection The Demons of Red Lodge.