Rick Yates

Rick Yates MP was the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary in the administration of Prime Minister Brian Green.

Biography
Yates was summoned to a meeting of COBRA on Day Four of the 456 incident to discuss the 456's demands for 10% of the children on Earth. Yates was first asked for sixty children to be sacrificed as a compromise offer. When the 456 rejected it, Yates suggested alphabetical order for the random 10% from Britain. The idea was ridiculed by Denise Riley, who suggested he favoured this idea because his surname was near the end of the alphabet. Yates said he had no children. He also spoke in favour of the sacrifice to Green as a response to meet population rises. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Four, Day Five)

Behind the scenes

 * Yates is played by Nicholas Briggs, making his on-screen debut in an official Doctor Who franchise production. Although best known to viewers for providing many of the show's alien voices, including the Daleks, Cybermen, Nestene Consciousness and Judoon since 2005, Briggs is well-known in Who fandom, playing the Doctor in the fan-made Audio Visuals audio dramas of the late 1980s (which later evolved into Big Finish Productions). He has appeared in, written and directed many of the independent spin-off video productions of the 1990s. He hosted the long-running Myth Makers interview series. His appearance in this episode means he has now worked on both official televised Doctor Who spinoffs.