Ben Bailey Smith
Benjamin Harvey Bailey Smith, 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. He also voiced a number of episodes of the show Funny Animals: Unleashed, aired via 4MUSIC.
Early life and education
Doc Brown was born Benjamin Harvey Bailey Smith, son of a Jamaican-born British woman, 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. They also have a younger brother Luke, who performs as a professional rapper under the name Luc Skyz.Smith attended Hampstead School. He said that he'd acquired the nickname "Doc Brown" at school, after the scientist in the film Back to the Future, because he was "gangly and geeky". When he started doing rap battles as a teenager, it became his hip-hop handle
Career
Music
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. 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, 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 this time he also 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".
Since then, Doc Brown has released collaboration material with Andy Burrows, The Jazz Defenders, Verb T, and Romesh Ranganathan.
Film and television
Smith appeared in the BBC series Rev and a 2009 episode of 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.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.
Smith co-created a teen comedy-drama for the BBC called 4 O'Clock Club.
He starred in the 2012 Frank Spotnitz television show Hunted, a thriller for Cinemax, and went on to shoot an episode of Midsomer Murders. In 2014, he played DS Joe Hawkins in the final series of ITV's Law & Order: UK.
In 2013 he appeared as a guest musician in The Horne Section.
In 2016, he guest-starred on the BBC One television film Damilola, Our Loved Boy as a taxi driver.
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.
In 2018, he appeared in the Doctor Who 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 TV series Andor.
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.
Radio and podcasts
Smith has been a guest presenter several times on the BBC Radio 5 Live film review show hosted by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode.He has co-hosted the podcast Shrink The Box 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.