Alexei Sayle

Alexei Sayle played the DJ in the Doctor Who television story Revelation of the Daleks. A comedian, actor and author, he was born Alexei David Sayle in, England. He was a central figure in the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He has written several novels and television series and has made many television and film appearances.

He has starred in the TV series and films, such as. He is probably best know for his work on with Christopher Ryan and Nigel Planer, as well as many other stand-up comedy series. He also co-wrote many programmes, including six series of his own stand-up/sketch shows (three series of (1988-91), two series of  (1994-95) and one series of  (1998)). He was credited with providing "additional material" for The Young Ones. One of his nicknames is the "fat bastard" which is heard in his skits to refer to him; the opening credits for Stuff featured various characters asking "Who is that fat bastard?" as he passed by. Sayle's trademark costume is a suit and tie a size or two too small for his body and a shaved head.

Much of Sayle's humour is in the tradition of and Monty Python with riffs on an absurd premise. Political themes are also prevalent. One particular piece of political satire on Stuff involved then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher using the TARDIS to take first a tour of a medieval hospital, a squalid, septic, ill-managed hovel with patients moaning in agony, then of a hospital in the near future following her proposed reforms to the National Health Service, which turned out to be a nearly identical squalid, septic, ill-managed hovel with patients moaning in agony.

Sayle alternates his comedic work with performances as a character actor, ranging from serious (Golodkin in ) to humorous (the Sultan in ). In a column for a British tabloid newspaper around the same time as his appearance in "Revelation of the Daleks," Sayle indicated that he wanted to become the "first Socialist Doctor".

Sayle has written several novels and short story collections and a graphic novel (Geoffrey the Tube Train and the Fat Comedian). Sayle has also tried his hand at recording, scoring a minor international hit with the song "Didn't Ya Kill My Brother?" (for which he also made a music video). He also recorded the album The Fish People Tapes, which begat the single "Allo John Got a New Motor?", the flipside of which consisted of Sayle swearing to the song's backing track for about seven minutes.

He has been married to since 1974. In 1995, he was awarded an honorary professorship at the Thames Valley University.

Sayle has also written motoring articles for the newspapers The Independent and The Telegraph.

He also contributed to the charity reference book Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who.

Within the DWU
In the novel The Book of the Still, a character is described as doing a dance that "would have made Alexei Sayle look sedate."