Born: 5th May 1957 (as Richard Grant Esterhuysen)
Episodes Broadcast: 2012-2013

Richard Esterhuysen was born in Mbabane, in what is now the kingdom of Eswatini. At the time, the country was known as Swaziland and was a British protectorate; Esterhuysen's father was a government minister. As a teenager, his regular excursions to the drive-in theatre inspired a passion for the cinema. Esterhuysen went to South Africa for his post-secondary education, studying English and drama at the University of Cape Town. He became involved with the theatre as both an actor and director, and the stage initially remained his focus when he relocated to England in 1982; it was at this time that he adopted the professional name “Richard E Grant”, inverting his middle name and his last initial. He married voice coach Joan Washington in 1986, and the union included a stepson, Tom. A daughter, Tiffany, sadly died shortly after her birth, but the family would later grow to include a second daughter, Olivia, in 1989.

Grant's television debut had come in 1983, in an episode of the sitcom Sweet Sixteen. But it wasn't until he appeared in the 1987 cult classic film Withnail & I, co-starring future Eighth Doctor Paul McGann, that his screen career really took off. Grant was soon appearing regularly in Hollywood movies, beginning with 1990's Henry & June and going on to include films such as Dracula starring Gary Oldman, Robert Altman's The Player and The Age Of Innocence from Martin Scorsese. He could also be seen in British pictures, including Trevor Nunn's star-studded version of Twelfth Night or What You Will and the Spice Girls vehicle Spice World. Grant also starred in Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life, an Academy Award-winning short film directed by Peter Capaldi, who would later play the Twelfth Doctor. Amongst his occasional television credits were Hard Times, Karaoke, The Scarlet Pimpernel and an episode of Absolutely Fabulous. Grant's first brush with Doctor Who came in 1999, when he played a short-lived Doctor for the Comic Relief charity special The Curse Of Fatal Death. The same year, he published the satirical By Design: A Hollywood Novel.

In 2003, Grant briefly became the Doctor when BBC Online attempted to relaunch Doctor Who as a series of webcasts

Following the turn of the century, Grant's movies included The Little Vampire, Gosford Park, Bright Young Things and Penelope. He also wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical Wah-Wah, released in 2005. Amongst Grant's television projects were Posh Nosh, Above And Beyond, Dalziel And Pascoe, and an installment of the American sitcom Frasier. In 2003, he briefly became the Doctor again when BBC Online attempted to relaunch Doctor Who as a series of webcasts. However, the project was soon scuppered by the announcement that the show would be coming back to television; as a result, only Paul Cornell's The Scream Of The Shalka was ever made.

Grant finally joined the cast of Doctor Who proper with the 2012 Christmas special, The Snowmen. Here he initially took the role of the taciturn Dr Simeon, and then the same character as possessed by the nefarious Great Intelligence. Over the course of 2013, Grant made two more appearances in opposition to Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, latterly falling to defeat thanks to the self-sacrifice of companion Clara Oswald in the season finale, The Name Of The Doctor. Other television during the decade included shows like Downton Abbey, Dig, the 2015 version of Jekyll And Hyde, and A Series Of Unfortunate Events. On the silver screen, Grant could be seen in a variety of high-profile movies like The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep, acclaimed super-hero film Logan, action-adventure The Hitman's Bodyguard, and as a villain in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in 2018's Can You Ever Forgive Me?. In 2014, Grant and his daughter launched a perfume business.

Grant's work during the Twenties included movies such as the romance Persuasion and television programmes like Dispatches From Elsewhere, Loki and The Outlaws. Sadly, his wife passed away in 2021, following a battle with lung cancer.