Noel Anthony Clarke is an English actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. Rising to prominence for playing Mickey Smith in Doctor Who (2005–2010), he received critical acclaim for writing, directing, and starring as Sam Peel in the films Kidulthood (2006); Adulthood (2008); and Brotherhood (2016) and for starring in, co-creating, and writing Bulletproof (2018–2021), which all depicted black working-class characters in London.
Clarke in 2008
Noel Clarke at the BAFTA Film Awards 2015
Mickey Smith is a fictional character in the BBC One science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by British actor Noel Clarke and was the show's first televised black companion. The character is introduced as the ordinary, working class boyfriend of Rose Tyler, a London shopgirl who becomes a travelling companion to the Ninth and Tenth incarnations of an alien Time Lord known as the Doctor. Mickey first appears in the first episode of the 2005 revival, "Rose". Initially someone who struggles in the face of danger, Mickey nevertheless acts as an Earth-based ally to the Doctor and Rose. In the second series he joins the pair as a second companion of the Doctor's, though he leaves during the 2006 series to pursue his own adventures. He returns to aid the Doctor and Rose in the series finale later that year, and then again for the 2008 finale "Journey's End," as well as fleetingly in 2010 in the Tenth Doctor send-off "The End of Time".
Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith
The plastic Mickey prop, on display at the Doctor Who Experience
Clarke dressed as Mickey Smith on the Doctor Who set, March 2008.