Please Rewind Talent Wall

Alan Ruscoe

Alan Ruscoe is a British actor whose career is defined less by one signature part than by an unusual range of sharply different characters. His screen work has taken him through science fiction, television drama and soap, often asking him to create a distinct presence within limited screen time. Doctor Who offers the clearest view of that versatility. In the 2005 series, Ruscoe played the lead Auton in “Rose,” Lute of the Forest of Cheem in “The End of the World,” Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen across “Aliens of London,” “World War Three” and briefly “Boom Town,” and both the Anne Droid and Trine-E in “Bad Wolf.” The Anne Droid also returned in “The Parting of the Ways.” He later appeared in the 2009 special “The Waters of Mars” as Andrew Stone, a Mars colonist taken over by an alien lifeform. His connection to Doctor Who also extends to Big Finish audio dramas including The Veiled Leopard, The Settling, Gallifrey: Annihilation and Bernice Summerfield: Paradise Frost. Ruscoe’s film roles include Daultay Dofine, Bib Fortuna and Plo Koon in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, as well as the Mangalore Kino in The Fifth Element. He also appeared in Song for Marion alongside Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave and Gemma Arterton. Elsewhere on television, he played Baraquel, Sariel and Araquiel in the second season of Sky One’s Hex, the Poulterer in a 2004 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and Marcus in Emmerdale in 2013. His theatre work has been similarly varied, encompassing Whistle Down the Wind, The Rocky Horror Show, Scrooge and By Jeeves. Taken together, these roles show a performer comfortable moving between expansive fantasy worlds and more grounded drama, with character work always at the centre.