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Benjamin Harvey Bailey Smith (born 21 September 1977), professionally known as Doc Brown, is an English actor, comedian, rapper, screenwriter, songwriter, producer and voiceover artist. He portrayed DS Joe Hawkins in the television series Law & Order: UK. He is also known for portraying Nathan Carter in the CBBC television series 4 O'Clock Club from 2012 to 2015, and Imperial Security Bureau agent Lieutenant Supervisor Blevin in Andor.
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Doc Brown | |
|---|---|
 Brown in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Benjamin Harvey Bailey Smith |
| Born | 21 September 1977 Kilburn, London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2000–present |
| Website | docbrown |
He voiced a number of episodes of the popular show Funny Animals: Unleashed, aired via 4MUSIC.
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Doc Brown was born Benjamin Harvey Bailey Smith, son of a Jamaican born British citizen, Yvonne Bailey, and an Englishman, Harvey Smith, who was 30 years his wife's senior. Raised in the Willesden area of north-west London, Smith is the younger brother of novelist and essayist Zadie Smith;[1][2] they also have a younger brother Luke, who performs as a professional rapper under the name Luc Skyz.[3][4] Smith attended Hampstead School.[5] Explaining his stage name, he has said: "Doc Brown's been my nickname since school, after the scientist in Back to the Future, because I was gangly and geeky. When I started doing rap battles in my teens, it became my hip-hop handle and it's stuck."[6]
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Doc Brown began performing as a battle rapper in 2000, appearing at the Dingwalls nightclub in Camden Lock, and later at the "Jump Off" competition in Soho.[3] He released his debut album “Citizen Smith Volume 1” in 2004.[7] This was followed by “The Document” and “Citizen Smith: Volume 2: Nothing to Lose” released in 2005 and 2006 respectively, before he went on a hiatus in his solo musical career. He formed the British hip hop group Poisonous Poets alongside rappers Lowkey, Stylah, DJ Snips, Therapist and Tony D, releasing a mixtape in 2005.[8] In 2015 he released “Empty Threats”, his first album in a decade, this time solely based on comedy rap, a first in his discography.[9] He returned to his original rapping style on his fifth album “Stemma”, released in 2017. During the past two albums, he collaborated with Ricky Gervais on the soundtrack to the 2016 film David Brent: Life on the Road, performing alongside Gervais as David Brent on the tracks “Lonely Cowboy, “Equality Street”, “Ain’t no Trouble” and on his solo track “Cards We’re Dealt”.[10][11] Since then, Doc Brown has released collaboration material with Andy Burrows,[12] The Jazz Defenders,[13] Verb T and Romesh Ranganathan.[14]
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Smith appeared in the BBC series Rev and Miranda, as well as Channel 4's The Inbetweeners, and the CBBC series Big Babies. In 2013 he guest starred in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Derek as a young man sentenced to community service in a nursing home.[3]
He appeared in Ben Miller's film Huge, and co-starred in Other Side of the Game. He wrote music for the 2011 Joe Cornish film Attack the Block.[3]
Smith co-created a teen comedy-drama for the BBC called 4 O'Clock Club.[3] He starred in the show in series 1, and made guest appearances in series 2–4. Since series 5, his brother writes the raps. The show has currently run for 118 episodes.
Most recently, Smith has delved deeper into dramatic acting, starring in the Frank Spotnitz television show Hunted, a thriller for Cinemax. He went on to shoot an episode of Midsomer Murders and in 2014, he played DS Joe Hawkins in the final series of ITV's Law & Order: UK. He had a viral song, "My Propertea", on the TV show Russell Howard's Good News. He has also appeared in new Ann Summers series Brief Encounters.
In 2016, he guest-starred on the BBC One television film Damilola, Our Loved Boy as a taxi driver.[6] He also participated in the second series of the comedy game show Taskmaster, finishing fourth.
In February 2017, he appeared on Dave's Crackanory reading "Devil's Haircut" by Sarah Morgan. That October, he was a guest on Episode 100 of The Gaffer Tapes: Fantasy Football Podcast.[15] In late 2017, he played DS Evans in Sky One's Bounty Hunters.[16]
Smith has been a guest presenter several times on the BBC Radio 5 Live film review show hosted by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode.[17]
In 2018, he appeared in the Doctor Who episode "The Tsuranga Conundrum".[18]
In 2020, he played Richie Hansen, an abusive husband, in the second series of BBC TV drama The Split.
In 2022, he played Lieutenant Supervisor Blevin in five episodes of the first series of the Star Wars TV series Andor.[19]
In 2023, he played Simon Blake, in a four-part series of BBC TV drama The Sixth Commandment. His song “Smash That” featured in episode 3.[20]
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Ben Smith's children's picture book, I Am Bear, illustrated by Sav Akyüz, has been described as "a rap-style read-aloud story". It was published by Walker Books in February 2016.[21]
Smith was a regular guest presenter on the Wittertainment podcast, and has continued to guest-present its successor Kermode and Mayo's Take.
He also co-hosts the podcast Shrink The Box together with Nemone.
In April 2024, he appeared on the football trivia podcast Career We Go, and in October 2024 appeared on the Football Cliches podcast.
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Smith is a supporter of Crystal Palace F.C.[22] He has two daughters.[23]
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Citizen Smith: Volume One | Bust-A-Gut Productions |
| 2005 | The Document | Janomi |
| Poisonous Poetry (with Poisonous Poets) | Self-released | |
| 2006 | Citizen Smith: Volume Two: Nothing to Lose | Hiptones |
| 2008 | Another Way (unreleased) | Unreleased |
| 2015 | Empty Threats | |
| 2017 | Stemma | Bust-A-Gut Productions |
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Never Mind the Full Stops | Panel member | Game show |
| 2009 | Miranda | Hotel Receptionist | 1 episode |
| 2010 | Big Babies | Budge | 13 episodes |
| Rev | Ikon | 1 episode | |
| The Inbetweeners | Steve | 1 episode | |
| 2011 | Little Howard's Big Question | Plithy Nondeploom | 1 episode |
| 2012–2015 | 4 O'Clock Club | Nathan Carter | 23 episodes; also creator, writer and songwriter |
| 2012 | Hunted | Tyrone | 7 episodes |
| 2013 | Derek | Deon | 1 episode |
| Imagine | Himself | Credited as Ben Bailey Smith | |
| 2013–2014 | Strange Hill High | Mitchell | 26 episodes |
| 2014 | Midsomer Murders | Zach | Credited as Ben Bailey Smith, 1 episode |
| Law & Order: UK | DS Joe Hawkins | Credited as Ben Bailey Smith, 8 episodes | |
| The Football's On | Himself | Guest panelist | |
| Live at the Apollo | Himself | Performer, Series 10 Episode 2 | |
| Give Out Girls | Andy | 6 episodes | |
| Jack and Dean | Pedestrian | Episode: "Freaky Mouth Pizza" | |
| 2014-2017 | British Academy Children's Awards | Presenter | Four ceremonies |
| 2015 | Ghost Fighting Corporation | Detective Stoker | Pilot of unreleased series |
| The John Bishop Show | Himself | Performer, 1 episode | |
| 2016 | David Brent: Life on the Road | Dom Johnson | |
| Fleabag | Workshop Leader | 1 episode | |
| Taskmaster | Himself | 5 episodes | |
| Brief Encounters | Johnny | 6 episodes | |
| Film 2016[24] | Host | 1 episode | |
| 2017 | Bounty Hunters | DS Evans | 5 episodes |
| 2018-2020 | Thunderbirds Are Go | Jensen Hunt (voice) | 1 episode |
| 101 Dalmatian Street | Sid Squirrel, Spencer Sausage Dog (voice) | Recurring role | |
| 2018 | Doctor Who | Durkas Cicero | Episode: "The Tsuranga Conundrum" |
| 2019 | Cleaning Up | Blake | 6 episodes |
| Britannia | Rufus | 3 episodes | |
| Teddles | Blocks | Episode: "Tidy Up Time" | |
| 2020 | Silent Witness | Lt Col Ben Carmichael | 2 episodes S23 Ep9 & 10 "The Greater Good" |
| The Split | Richie Hansen | 6 episodes | |
| Des | DC Brian Lodge | 3 episodes | |
| 2021 | Cinderella | Town Crier | |
| 2022 | Persuasion | Charles Musgrove | |
| Andor | Lieutenant Supervisor Blevin | 5 episodes | |
| 2023 | The Sixth Commandment | Simon Blake | 4 episodes |
| Boiling Point | Darren | 1 episode | |
| Significant Other | Damien | [25] |
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