BlogtorWho takes a look at Matthew Gravelle, who’ll be starring as the voice of Kerblam in this week’s episode of Doctor Who, ‘Kerblam!‘.
Born in Porthcawl in 1976, Welsh actor Matthew Gravelle has become a familiar face on British television over the past two decades, as well as lending his voice to a number of video games.
Take a look back at some of his career highlights below!
Broadchurch
Although viewers might not immediately recognise his voice in this week’s episode of Doctor Who, they’ll certainly recognise his face. Matthew Gravelle‘s most well-known role to date is that of Joe Miller, who he portrayed in ITV’s Broadchurch from 2013 to 2017. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, you’ll no doubt immediately remember Gravelle‘s Joe Miller as being (spoiler alert!) Daniel Latimer’s killer.
Broadchurch also starred a number of other former Doctor Who actors, including David Tennant (Tenth Doctor), Olivia Colman (‘The Eleventh Hour’), David Bradley (‘Twice Upon A Time’), Eve Myles (Torchwood), and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams). ‘Kerblam!’ co-star Julie Hesmondhalgh also appeared in the third series of Broadchurch as Trish Winterman. In addition, current Doctor Jodie Whittaker starred as Beth Latimer, the mother of murdered Daniel, so Gravelle‘s role in ‘Kerblam!‘ will make for an interesting crossover.
Torchwood
This isn’t Matthew Gravelle‘s first appearance in the Doctor Who universe. He had a minor role in the finale of the first series of Torchwood, ‘End of Days’ (2007), which was written by current Doctor Who head writer Chris Chibnall. Gravelle starred as a modern-day doctor struggling to treat an outbreak of the bubonic plague caused by the appearance of a 14th century victim of the Black Death.
As well as this, Gravelle also featured in two of the Torchwood radio dramas which aired prior to the television show’s third series in 2009, namely ‘The Dead Line’ and ‘Asylum’. In ‘Asylum’, he played a security guard, and in ‘The Dead Line’ he played Bob, a man put into a trance after answering a call from a mysterious phone number from thirty years ago.
S4C and BBC Wales
Over the past two decades, Matthew Gravelle has become a familiar face in the world of Welsh-language television. His first appearance on S4C was in 2005’s Con Passionate. He later went on to star in S4C‘s Y Pris (‘The Price’) (2007) in the lead role as Lyn Edwards, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru award for Best Actor.
Since then, Gravelle took on a leading role in the first series of 35 Dwirnod (’35 Days’) in 2014 as Patricia. He also featured in another lead role as Harri James in S4C’s Byw Celwydd (‘Living A Lie’).
Over on BBC Wales, Gravelle also had a starring role in English-language series Baker Boys (2011) as Rob alongside Torchwood‘s Eve Myles, who played Sarah.
Most recently, Matthew Gravelle appeared alongside Eve Myles again in 2017’s Keeping Faith, in which he played Constable Terry Price.
Video Games
If you count yourself as a fan of video games, it’s likely you’ll recognise Matthew Gravelle‘s voice in this week’s episode of Doctor Who. Prior to becoming the voice of Kerblam, Gravelle has lent his voice to a number of well-known video game series. He provided the voice of elf Abelas (and various others) in 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition. He also voiced assassin Ewald Borsodi in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone. Beyond this, he has provided voices for several of the Ni no Kuni, Dragon Quest Heroes, and Hitman games.
‘Kerblam!’
In this week’s episode of Doctor Who, Matthew Gravelle stars as the voice of Kerblam. We already know that Kerblam is the galaxy’s largest retailer, and judging by the trailer for this week’s episode, Gravelle‘s could well end up being a rather sinister role…
Doctor Who continues this Sunday 18th November with ‘Kerblam!‘ on BBC One and BBC America.
“Delivery for the Doctor!” A mysterious message arrives in a package addressed to the Doctor, leading her, Graham, Yaz and Ryan to investigate the warehouse moon orbiting Kandoka, and the home of the galaxy’s largest retailer: Kerblam! Guest starring Julie Hesmondhalgh and Lee Mack. Written by Pete McTighe. Directed by Jennifer Perrott.
