Hello.
My name is Toby. I am an actor, writer and comedian.
I was going to write this in the third person in order to give the impression that I have “people”. But I don’t. So, hello!
Here’s my latest news (January 2021):
Well, here’s to 2021 being a bit more jolly than 2020 eh? Pandemic or no pandemic, I’ll keep flinging mud at the wall and seeing what sticks. Maybe you’d like to get splattered with at least some of it.
I have my own show on Radio 4 Extra in the new year – Absent Friends. OK, so it’s only 15 minutes but so what? I will be paying tribute to those actors and actresses, writers and producers, technicians and artists from the world of science fiction and fantasy who have left us over the past 12 months. It’ll be available for a month if you miss the double broadcast – 1845 or 0045 on 2nd/3rd January. It’s online listing is here.
In a similar vein, my annual Doctor Who : In Memoriam video is up – please take a look here. It’s my way of paying tribute to those people who made my favourite show who we lost in 2020. Please watch and give the thumbs up .. ooh, and please subscribe to my You Tube Channel.
With Peter Craze and Jeremy Bulloch, two fine actors and great fellows who sadly both passed away at the end of last year. (Photo: Fantom Films)
Radio 3 have repeated my play Going, Going, Goon, part of a Spike Milligan celebration which also features contributions from Jessica Hynes, Mark Heap and Pippa Haywood. My partner and mum think it’s the best thing I have ever written, so have a listen here.
With fellow writer Jessica Hynes at the live performance of I Told You I Was Ill – the Spike Milligan celebration.
My podcasts are all up and away. 17,000 downloads in the first month (but that’s across all episodes and I did release quite a few!). They are all about Doctor Who : there’s Too Much Information (a fact-filled, episode-by-episode breakdown), Indefinable Magic (whimsical vocal essays inspired by some random aspect of the the show), and Happy Times and Places (commentaries with the aim of positivity). They are released under the blanket title of Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels. My Podbean podcast page is here.
I have read a short story for The Stranger Times podcast for may old mate, that brilliant writer and comedian Caimh McDonnell. Yes, Prime Minister is funny but also has a bit of the sort of science fiction and horror kinda stuff that make it clear why he asked me to read it for him: which I was honoured and flattered to do.
I has a right old natter with Martin Holmes on his excellent podcast Vision On Sound. I rattled on about Quatermass for quite a bit and people seem to have enjoyed it so if you fancy a bash… go here.
XS Malarkey will return on 12th January after our Christmas break, still giving you the best of the live circuit despite lockdown and the near paralysis of our industry. We have just become even more creative and have won awards and acclaim for being so – and crucially, we are providing comedians with an income and a locked down audience with access to funny people for a minimal financial outlay (in fact for free – the financial outlay is discretionary). In 2020 Marcus Brigstocke, Robin Ince, Josie Long, James Acaster, Nish Kumar, Nathan Caton, Colin Hoult, Mark Watson, Tom Allen, Jordan Brookes, Randy, Rob Rouse, Eddie Pepitone, Judah Friedlander, Hal Cruttenden, Zoe Lyons and many more came and gigged for us, and all really rose to the occasion. Find our channel here. The shows remain available for 14 days after broadcast but there are a load of clips and highlights there for you to access too.
It’s a gig, but not as we know it – XS Malarkey has been adapting to the brave new world we find ourselves in…
And here’s the general stuff about me if you’re interested (which I’m guessing you might be as you are here, so thanks!):
My one man show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe before embarking on a national tour, international dates and a West End run. The radio version was released on CD by the BBC and was nominated for a Sony Award. The follow up – My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver – joined its predecessor for a double bill at the Garrick Theatre in 2013. My radio work includes afternoon plays, a Fright Night presentation and topical comedy and has been nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award.
I am a regular performer at the Comedy Store, Manchester (New Stuff every second and last Sunday of the month), the 99 Club Leicester Square, and have been resident compere at the award winning XS Malarkey comedy club for 23 years.
I also like old TV and can spot a character actor in a crowd from space. I have written about such passions for national newspapers and magazines, and spoken about them on documentaries and TV news programmes. My podcast, Toby Hadoke’s Who’s Round, has run to over 250 episodes.
But I’m an actor really. I have appeared in Holby City, An Adventure in Space and Time, Phoenix Nights, The Forsyte Saga, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Casualty 1907, the forthcoming feature film Six Minutes to Midnight (2020) and dozens of radio plays. I also present the weekend science fiction hour, The 7th Dimension, on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Terrible swimmer though.
