Claim: Doctor Who has a writer named Toby Whithouse.

Toby Whithouse -LSB- ˈwɪthaʊs -RSB- is an English actor , stand-up comedian and screenwriter . His highest-profile work has been the creation of the BBC Three supernatural television series Being Human . He also created the Channel 4 television drama series No Angels -LRB- 2004 -- 06 -RRB- , and has written for BBC One 's Hotel Babylon and Doctor Who . One of his Doctor Who episodes , titled `` School Reunion '' , featured the return of the robot dog K-9 and 1970s companion Sarah Jane Smith .   After initially attending art college in his home town of Southend , Whithouse decided to drop out of the course and turn to acting as a profession . He was a regular in the early 1990s BBC One drama series The House of Eliott and had a small role in the 1993 film Shadowlands . He also appeared on stage in the West End , co-starring with Gene Wilder in Laughter on the 23rd Floor by Neil Simon in 1997 .   Frustrated at what he perceived as a lack of quality in many of the scripts he was sent to read , Whithouse took to writing in his spare time between acting roles , eventually writing a play Jump Mr. Malinoff , Jump which won the Verity Bargate Award . The play was performed as the opening production of the Soho Theatre in Dean Street , London . Following this , he gained his first television work , writing an episode for the ITV drama series Where the Heart Is .   He then became associated with the independent production company World Productions , for whom he worked on the BBC Two drama series Attachments . When Channel 4 approached World with a view to a new drama series commission , the company came up with the idea of a series concerning the lives of four nurses in the North of England , and Whithouse was given the task of fleshing out and formatting the show which became No Angels . The series was a success , running for three series on Channel 4 from 2004 to 2006 .   Already being a friend of Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner , Whithouse was invited to contribute to the series in 2005 , eventually writing the third episode of the second series , `` School Reunion '' , transmitted on 29 April 2006 . He went on to write for the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood , with his episode -- `` Greeks Bearing Gifts '' -- transmitted on 26 November 2006 . Whithouse returned to Doctor Who in 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2015 and 2017 .   In 2008 the pilot of Being Human , created and written by Whithouse , was shown on BBC Three . At first it was not part of BBC 's line-up for new commissioned series , but after positive public feedback including a petition for its return , it returned on BBC Three as a 6-part series in early 2009 . The first episode debuted on 25 January 2009 . The series went on to run for five seasons before it ended in 2013 .   As an actor , he appeared in the role of Alistair in the film version of Bridget Jones 's Diary in 2001 . Since then his appearances have been less frequent , although he appeared in a small role in his own episode of Hotel Babylon in February 2006 , and made a cameo appearance in the last ever episode of No Angels , transmitted on Channel 4 in April 2006 . He also played the Home Secretary in the final series of Being Human in 2013 .   Toby Whithouse is also a stand up comedian and has played several gigs under the `` Laughing Horse '' banner .