Andrew Hayden-Smith (born Andrew John Smith in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England) played Jake Simmonds in Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel and Doomsday, as well as providing his voice for the online game Cyber Assault. He was a well known CBBC presenter on weekday BBC One television, leaving the position on 7 July 2006, only a day before his last Doctor Who episode aired. He also took part in The Weakest Link: Doctor Who Special. He later played Mortan Hardak in the Big Finish Bernice Summerfield audio story Vesuvius Falling.
Background
Hayden-Smith is an actor and well-known former CBBC on-air presenter. Hailing from the North East of England, he has become a popular member of the on-air team and has a long list of other TV presenting and acting credits. Hayden-Smith played Ben in the CBBC drama Byker Grove. Due to his popularity with viewers, CBBC recruited him onto its presenting team.
During his time on CBBC, Hayden-Smith was once "gunged" (or "slimed" as it is known in the US) in the studio after a phone-in deciding which presenter should get gunged in honour of the gameshow Get Your Own Back. With 63% of the votes, Hayden-Smith had a bucket of pink gunge and a bucket of green gunge poured directly over his head.
Hayden-Smith announced he was gay in Attitude, February 2005. He gave another interview to the magazine in May 2006. In the latter interview he says, "I must have been five when I realised I was gay." He also spoke about his role in Doctor Who. In another interview in a gay newspaper, he claimed that his character of Jake Simmonds was originally intended to be gay, and that a gay kiss would be included in The Age of Steel, but was written out. [1]
Following his work on Doctor Who, he became a continuity announcer for ITV for a number of years.
In 2013, he partnered up with Nicola Bryant in the Doctor Who edition of Pointless Celebrities, aired on 23 March. Later in the year, he appeared among various actors for Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty, which followed the 50th anniversary special on 23 November.