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 CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

television series '' 4 O'Clock Club'' from 2012 to 2015, and Imperial Security Bureau agent Lieutenant Supervisor Blevin in '' Andor''. He voiced a number of episodes of the popular show ''Funny Animals: Unleashed'', aired via

4MUSIC 4Music was a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. Launched on 15 August 2008, the original incarnation, replacing The Hits television channel, showed a mix of music and entertainment pr ...

Early life

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 Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...

area of north-west London, Smith is the younger brother of novelist and essayist

Zadie Smith Zadie Smith (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She became a tenured professor in the ...

; they also have a younger brother Luke, who performs as a professional rapper under the name Luc Skyz. Smith attended Hampstead School. Explaining his stage name, he has said: "Doc Brown's been my nickname since school, after the scientist in ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...

'', 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."Hogan, Michael (14 April 2013)
"Doc Brown: 'I'm an accidental comedian. That makes me dangerous'"
''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

''.

Career

Music

Doc Brown began performing as a battle rapper in 2000, appearing at the

Dingwalls Dingwalls Dancehall (original name at time of opening) is a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden in London. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings which were put to new use in the 20th centur ...

nightclub in Camden Lock, and later at the "Jump Off" competition in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

. He released his debut album “Citizen Smith Volume 1” in 2004. 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 Kareem Dennis (born 23 May 1986), better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from London. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music busi ...

, Stylah, DJ Snips, Therapist and Tony D, releasing a mixtape in 2005. In 2015 he released “Empty Threats”, his first album in a decade, this time solely based on comedy rap, a first in his discography. 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 Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, television producer and filmmaker. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003) ...

on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

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”. Since then, Doc Brown has released collaboration material with Andy Burrows, The Jazz Defenders, Verb T and

Romesh Ranganathan Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan (born 27 March 1978) is a British comedian, actor, and presenter. His style of comedy is deadpan and often self-deprecating. Ranganathan has made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows and has been a ...

Film and television

Smith appeared in the BBC series '' Rev'' and '' Miranda'', as well as

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''

The Inbetweeners ''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 to 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager Willi ...

'', and the CBBC series '' Big Babies''. In 2013 he guest starred in the

comedy-drama series '' Derek'' as a young man sentenced to community service in a nursing home. 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 Joseph Murray Cornish (born 20 December 1968) is an English comedian and filmmaker. With Adam Buxton, he forms the comedy duo Adam and Joe. In 2011, Cornish released his directorial debut ''Attack the Block''. He also co-wrote ''The Adventures ...

film ''

Attack the Block ''Attack the Block'' is a 2011 British Science fiction film, science fiction comedy horror film written and directed by Joe Cornish and starring John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, and Nick Frost. Its storyline centres on a teenage street gang who ha ...

''. Smith co-created a teen comedy-drama for the BBC called '' 4 O'Clock Club''. 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 Frank Charles Spotnitz (born 1960) is an American television writer and film producer, producer. He is best known for his work on the series ''The X-Files'' (1995-2002) and its spin-off The Lone Gunmen (TV series), ''The Lone Gunmen'' (2001), an ...

television show '' Hunted'', a thriller for

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...

. He went on to shoot an episode of ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

'' 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 ''Russell Howard's Good News'' is a British comedy and topical news television show which was broadcast on BBC Three between 2009 and 2014, and on BBC Two between 2014 and 2015. Hosted by comedian Russell Howard, it offered his commentary on th ...

''. He has also appeared in new Ann Summers series '' Brief Encounters''. In 2016, he guest-starred on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

television film '' Damilola, Our Loved Boy'' as a taxi driver. 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''. In late 2017, he played DS Evans in Sky One's '' Bounty Hunters''. Smith has been a guest presenter several times on the

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

film review show hosted by

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

and

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter, author and podcaster. He is the co-presenter (with Ellen E. Jones) of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Screenshot'', and co-presenter ...

. In 2018, he appeared in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' episode " The Tsuranga Conundrum". 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 ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' TV series '' Andor''. In 2023, he played Simon Blake, in a four-part series of BBC TV drama ''

The Sixth Commandment ''The Sixth Commandment'' is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring William Faversham. Plot John Brant, a devoted minister, is in love with Marian Calhoun, but must keep it a secret because she is engaged to ...

''. His song “Smash That” featured in episode 3.

Other work

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 Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

in February 2016. 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 with

Nemone Nemone Metaxas (born 3 November 1972 in Chester, Cheshire), often billed simply as Nemone, is an English DJ, radio presenter and television presenter/producer. She is also a trained psychotherapist practising in West and Central London. She is ...

. In April 2024, he appeared on the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

trivia podcast ''Career We Go,'' and in October 2024 appeared on the ''Football Cliches'' podcast.

Personal life

Smith is a supporter of Crystal Palace F.C. He has three daughters.As told to Rich Pelley (18 July 2022),

Discography

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Doc 1977 births Living people 20th-century English comedians 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English comedians 21st-century English male actors Actors from the London Borough of Brent Actors from the London Borough of Camden Alumni of the University of East Anglia Black British male rappers British male rappers Black British male comedians Black British comedians Comedians from the London Borough of Brent Comedians from the London Borough of Camden English comedy musicians British comedy rappers English male comedians English male film actors English male television actors English male voice actors English people of Jamaican descent Male actors from London Rappers from the London Borough of Brent Rappers from the London Borough of Camden People from Kilburn, London