Hello.
My name is Toby. I am an actor, writer and comedian. I have a Patreon Page here with all sorts of goodies.
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 (March 2023):
I’ve been patrolling the corridors of Hollyoaks High playing Mr Reid, the new head of governors at that troubled school in the popular soap. My episodes of Hollyoaks will be available for a few more weeks on the All4 website – they’re the ones dated 24th & 28th Feb and 1st March.
Mr Reid Means Business
I present a documentary called Time and Atlantis on the forthcoming BBC Doctor Who Blu-ray box set of Season 9. It features interviews with four people who have never spoken before about their work on Doctor Who and has me horsing about on location at Swallowfield Park with Katy Manning and John Levene.
With Steve Broster (director), Katy Manning and John Levene remembering The Time Monster at Swallowfield Park
I am taking February off to complete a workable draft of my long awaited Quatermass book which is hopefully being published in June by Ten Acre Films. The “hopefully” is down to whether I break the back of it or not : so no distractions please!!
I popped up in Mark Gatiss’ production of Count Magnus just before Christmas. If you missed it you cans till see it here – it’s great spooky fun with a fantastic cast including my old stage mucker Jason Watkins and the mighty Allan Corduner.
Moody Bergman-esque black and white and a false beard for Count Magnus.
My annual In Memoriam video for those from the world of Doctor Who who left us in 2022 has had a lot of viewers (60 thousand!) and some lovely feedback. It’s a bit of a tradition now, albeit a sad one. Check it out here.
I will be hosting The 7th Dimension again on Radio 4 Extra (Saturdays and Sundays, midnight and 4pm) at the end of February and beginning of March. There’s a lot of The War Doctor from Doctor Who and the brilliant Aliens in the Mind from Robert Holmes as well as various other horrific treats.
I will also be on the telly in the next month or so but I can’t tell you what I am in – it’s a few episodes though and a nice (well, quite nasty actually but nice to play) part.
I have been recording guest appearances on some lovely podcasts recently. So Hamster with a Blunt Penknife is here, Looks Unfamiliar (for a second time – it’s here), Something Who (talking about The Android Invasion here) and The Bad Wilf Podcast (here) all have me banging on right now.
XS Malarkey – my award winning, Manchester based comedy club – celebrated 25 years of mirth making at the end of September, meaning I’ve been MC there for over half of my life! We had James Acaster, Jordan Brookes, Helen Bauer, Will Duggan and Tadiwa Mahlunge for the birthday bash and Joe Lycett described us as the “best comedy club in the world”. There’s an article about the birthday here and we continue with the mirth making every Tuesday until the week before Christmas. Then we are back in the New Year.
Joe Lycett, Chris Kehoe and Sophie Duker are amongst the brilliant acts we have had at XS Malarkey recently
My podcasts are all up and away. They have clocked up over 300, 000 downloads across 200 episodes which I am told is very good (we launched two years ago this month – blimey)! 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. My Patreon Page is here.
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, and my new lot, Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels, have hit 50, 000 downloads.
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.
