British actor
David Banks
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Born
| (
1951-09-24
)
24 September 1951
(age 72)
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Occupation(s)
| Actor
,
writer
,
author
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David Banks
(born 24 September 1951) is an English actor, writer and author. He is best known for playing the Cyber Leader in the
Doctor Who
stories
Earthshock
(1982),
The Five Doctors
(1983),
Attack of the Cybermen
(1985) and
Silver Nemesis
(1988).
[1]
As a theatre actor, he has played many leading roles in London and throughout the UK. He is also the author of several published books.
Career
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Acting
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His numerous TV appearances include long-running portrayals in
Brookside
, playing the wrongly convicted murderer Graeme Curtis, and 181 episodes of
L!ve TV
’s drama series
Canary Wharf
as Max Armstrong, head of news, who was finally abducted by aliens. He also appeared in
EastEnders
in 1992, playing the photographer, Gavin, at
Michelle Fowler
's graduation ceremony.
During the 1980s, he was the
Cyber Leader
in the
science fiction
series
Doctor Who
in all stories featuring the Cybermen:
Earthshock
(1982),
The Five Doctors
(1983),
Attack of the Cybermen
(1985) and
Silver Nemesis
(1988). In 1989, he played the part of Karl the Mercenary in the stage play
Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure
, except for two performances when he appeared as
The Doctor
, replacing
Jon Pertwee
who had fallen ill.
He writes and directs and has worked extensively as a voice artist, recording over 100 audiobooks ? including an unabridged version of
J. R. R. Tolkien
's
The Lord of the Rings
(Talking Books, 2006). In 2007, he revived his portrayal of Karl the Mercenary in a
Big Finish Productions
audio adaptation of
Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure
with
Colin Baker
as
The Doctor
. In 2018, he reprised his role as the Cyber Leader for the Big Finish audio story Hour of the Cybermen
[2]
and again in 2019 for the audio story Conversion.
[3]
Writing
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Banks is the author of several published books. In 1988, he wrote
Doctor Who ? Cybermen
, illustrated by Andrew Skilleter (Who Dares Publishing, 1988),
[4]
which encompasses the history and conceptual origins of cybermen. He adapted the book into four audio cassettes, The ArcHive Tapes, which he also narrated.
[5]
(These were re-released on CD in 2013 with bonus material by Explore Multimedia.
[6]
) He later wrote the novel
Iceberg
(Virgin, 1993) for the
Virgin New Adventures
range of
Doctor Who
spin-off novels, which was set in 2006, when an inversion of the Earth's magnetic field is threatening to destroy human civilization, and featured the Cybermen and the investigative journalist Ruby Duvall. His play
Severance
, about the 12th century lovers
Abelard
and
Heloise
, was first performed in 2002. In 2008, he was invited to deliver a paper about cyber emotions entitled "Life as an emotionless killing machine: Cybermen in a Strange State"
[7]
by the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne. This paper references the recent reappearance of Cybermen on television after a long absence.
Filmography
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Television
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]
Notes
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External links
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International
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National
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Artists
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