Born: 9th April 1972 (as Carol McIntosh)
Episodes Broadcast: 2010-2014

Carol McIntosh was born in Paisley, Scotland, and developed an abiding fondness for Doctor Who during her childhood. At an early age, she was interested in show jumping, but her thoughts turned to the stage during her teenaged years. McIntosh joined the Edinburgh Youth Theatre, but she was forced to reconsider her plan to move into design when her application to an art college was rejected. Instead, she attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, from which she graduated in 1994. While there, McIntosh made her television debut with a non-speaking role in a 1993 episode of Taggart. Other early parts came in Noah's Ark, plus the movies The Leading Man starring singer Jon Bon Jovi and Plunkett & Macleane with Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller. She was now working professionally as “Neve McIntosh” in order to avoid confusion with an actor called Carl McIntosh.

McIntosh's first starring role was in 1999's Psychos. There she met cameraman Xandy Sahla; they were married the following year, only to separate in 2006 and ultimately divorce in 2009. The stage remained a focus for McIntosh, and she worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company on multiple occasions, beginning with David Greig's Victoria in 2000. The same year, she starred in the fantastically macabre Gormenghast, based upon the novels of Mervyn Peake. Other television appearances during the decade included Trial & Retribution, Sea Of Souls, and as part of the main cast of Bodies. Amongst occasional movie roles was the lead in the horror film Salvage.

McIntosh's first appearance for Big Finish Productions was as an agent of the Daleks in 2016's The Shadow Vortex

In 2010, McIntosh made her first appearance in Doctor Who, playing Alaya and Restac in The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood. Although the Silurian sisters were antagonists to Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, McIntosh's performance paved the way for her to rejoin Doctor Who as an ally. Madame Vastra, a Silurian active during the Victorian era, debuted in 2011's A Good Man Goes To War. McIntosh returned to play Vastra on several occasions over the next three years, the last coming in Deep Breath, Peter Capaldi's first adventure as the Twelfth Doctor. She also narrated Jenny Colgan's novel Dark Horizons for BBC Audio in 2012. Although her association with televised Doctor Who had come to an end, McIntosh soon became involved with the audio dramas from Big Finish Productions. She made her first appearance for the company as an agent of the Daleks in 2016's The Shadow Vortex. McIntosh then began reprising Madame Vastra starting with 2019's Heritage 1, the first installment of a new range entitled The Paternoster Gang which focussed on Vastra, her wife Jenny, and their Sontaran colleague Strax.

Away from Doctor Who, McIntosh remained busy on other television projects during the 2010s. They included Single Father with Tenth/Fourteenth Doctor David Tennant, Critical, Lucky Man and Shetland. Amongst McIntosh's work during the early Twenties were episodes of Moving On and Tin Star.