Noel Clarke was an up and coming stage and TV actor before Doctor Who, having won a Laurence Olivier Award for "Most Promising Newcomer" in 2003. He has had aspirations as a writer, and as well as an episode of Torchwood, Combat, which was coolly received by critics, he wrote the screenplay and starred in the hard-hitting teen gang warfare film Kidulthood.

His most recent TV role is a minor character in "Jane Hall" a drama about working life in London Transport.