Nicola Bryant was trained in acting
at the famous Webber Douglas
Academy. She holds a dual
American/British passport, having spent
a great deal of her life on both
continents, and swaps accents
whenever it suits her. Nicola grins as she
explains that she gets the best of both
worlds as she could conceivably play
Americans in Britain and Britons in
America, having quite a range of dialects
and accents from both places.
She is also very musical, and holds an
ambition to write an Andrew
Lloyd-Webber like musical, get it
produced on a London stage and retire
gracefully: Her range of parts played on
stage whilst at drama school is diverse
and interesting as everything from Miss
Neville in She Stoops to Conquer
through to the main role of Eliza
Doolittle in Shaw's Pygmalion. It was by
playing Nanette in No, no Nanette that
someone suggested she audition for the
role of Perpugilliam Brown, the young
botany student destined to become the
sixth Doctor's travelling companion. Her
agent sent in a photograph to Doctor
Who producer John Nathan-Turner and
he agreed to see her. After a total of four
auditions competing with actresses who
had flown over from America and
Canada, she was given the role. I talked
to Nicola towards the end of the studio
videotaping sessions for the fourth story
of next season, The Two Doctors, just a
few days before she was due to fly to
America for a couple of weeks before
returning here to start work on the third
story, Mark of the Rani.
I asked Nicola how her first few days
on Planet of Fire had been.
"We had just one day's rehearsal
before we went off to Lanzarote - just a
read through of the script where I got to
meet every body: It is difficult to rehearse
film scenes though, as you have no
actual idea where things will be. You
can't say we'll stand on this rock or climb
that mountain until you get to a location
and see what it is like. Then we got on a
plane and went to Lanzarote and the
very first day's work was the drowning
sequence - which took nearly all day and
included a German nudist!" She then
explained that as she was acting,
floundering around in the water, a
German tourist on a nearby beach
thought she really was drowning and
heroically leapt in to save her.
I wondered how much, if any, of
Nicola Bryant is in the character of Peri.
"I was lucky that I had such a long
break between getting the part and
actually starting. I just spent all day
thinking about Peri, who she was, how
she would react to things - the kind of
situations that you knew companions
got into and so I felt like I really know her.
When I first watched the video - John
said to me come and see Planet of Fire
before it goes out because it'll probably
be a bit of a shock - I got a shock! Then
once you get over that feeling of 'Oh
gosh, that's really me?' you felt 'Hey
that's not me, that's Peri. It's my best
friend; somebody I know very well'."
Apart from the fact that Peri was a
student with a mother and step-father,
was Nicola given any other brief about
the character?
"No. But I knew exactly what she was
from day one; I think you've got to. I
don't think it's one of those parts that
you can go into thinking 'Oh I'll see how
she comes out' otherwise you can get
yourself in all sorts of difficult situations.
It's difficult to say how much of me is in
Peri - the moment I started to read for
the part I said 'I know this girl - I know
her she's me'. So I started to think that
there was a lot of me in the part as it was
written. That's why I felt sure I could play
her. But in the event I couldn't say really
that there's more than half of me in
Peri."
Stage to Screen
Bearing in mind that her first television experience had been film,
how different did she find work in a
studio to location work or stage?
"Completely. For a start I didn't know
what this technical stuff like close up and
medium close up was - it was all written
as MCU, etc, so I thought, 'Right, just say
the lines - mean it, and it'll be alright'. I
was glad that I had all that time before
because I knew the script backwards so I
knew exactly where I had come from and
where I was going to. Normally you
never have to, if you're in a stage play
you start and do it from beginning to end
but here in the studio it was 'Oh
goodness, I've played the scene
immediately before and after on film, so
now I've got to make sure they link
together'.
"I feel very happy in the studio now,
because I've got used to it - the same
faces there and you know you're all
working for the same product but then I
felt happier on film because it was my
first week and it was the only bit I felt I
knew at all! Right now I prefer studio and
I'm more nervous about doing film
because you don't know what external
things are going to affect you - like if it's
below zero and you're playing on what is
supposed to be a very hot planet."
Choice of Costume
Taking this wry comment to it's
natural end, I asked for an example of
this. With a grin at the memory she said,
"Well, we filmed The Caves of
Androzani in Devon, in the same place
the BBC did Beau Geste, where it was
supposed to be hot. But it was so cold we
had no way of wrapping up because my
costume was in direct continuity from
the last story, wearing the clothes I wore
in Lanzarote! I remember the cameramen
saying, 'Slap your face, love, you're
going blue' and then I got frost bite, and
then I got pneumonia and then Peter fell
ill to - it was a pretty rough shoot. Fun,
eh?"
As she had brought the subject of
clothing up; I asked Nicola how much
choice she got in what she wore.
"Oh about 0.1 percent. Yes, that much.
I might get a favourite colour if I'm lucky.
In Attack of the Cybermen I start in a
shocking pink leotard and shorts, then
get into a sort of red jumpsuit. That
wasn't my choice at all - we were aiming
for a completely different color and the
jumpsuit was sent away to be made by
the same people who did the Cybermen
but it came back big enough for two
Peris! So we had to rush out and grab
something off the peg. That wasn't that
easy because they had stipulated that it
had to be symmetrical, and most
jumpsuits only have one breast pocket
so we had to give up on that. You see
they wanted to reverse one shot so at
five to seven we just grabbed the last
one we could and took it from there.
Then in Varos I have a blue leotard and
shorts. You see John Nathan-Turner
said right at the start of this season, 'I
want her in shorts and leotards.' That's
how we started and that's how we'll
probably end! They went out first and
bought the shorts - first pink, then
turquoise and even a yellow pair and
then tried to find matching leotards. But
in The Two Doctors I wear a psychedelic
thing that glistens nicely in the sun but in
Seville where we filmed it reached 102
degrees and it felt like a thermal blanket
- I felt like a roast chicken. I could have
used that in Devon!"
Filming in Spain
Mention of the recent filming in sunny
Spain prompted me to ask what it was
like, and how they coped with the local
people.
"We were ten days over there and all
got 'Spanish Tummy'. We were filming
nearly every day from the moment you
woke up right until the night, when we
grabbed food and collapsed into bed.
Fairly long days with fairly long
journeys! You see in Lanzarote if we
changed location it was maybe a 45
minute drive across the island. But in
Spain it was nearly two hours drive
anywhere. And we went everywhere.
Peter Moffatt, our director, was
wonderful - he had a saying about our
locations: 'Does it say Spain?' and so
there's a lot of Spain. I've seen some of
the film of episode three and you can
certainly tell that it is Spain. We were
mostly out in a beautiful farmhouse out
of the way for five or six days. It was only
when we went into Seville to film that
became difficult - mostly because of
American tourists! People will keep
quiet for one shot but by take two are
bored and start whispering to each other
which can easily be picked up on sound.
The Spanish were very friendly to us -
we had two policemen who went
everywhere with us and made sure
things were okay."
Making Movies
Nicola suddenly paused and broke
into giggles as she remembered one incident.
"We were filming in an alleyway when this rather large American tourist wandered past and
yelled out: 'Gee, are you making movies?
You must be from Hollywood,' and Colin
Baker just shouted back, 'No, we're
better than that, we're British !' And we
did a bit of filming for the Cybermen
story in the London streets, and there we
were watched a lot. It was supposedly a
deserted street but everybody was
there, watching and I suddenly realised
that this was the first time I'd been in the
public eye whilst working and it certainly
felt a bit strange."
Nicola, after only shooting six stories,
has worked with three different Doctors.
When Colin Baker joined the series, I
wondered if he'd asked Nicola for any
help or advice.
"No, he didn't. I felt there was no way I
could say anything because I was so
inexperienced. We're the very best of
pals now - and one day over lunch he
said, 'Why didn't you say this is how we
do that and that is how we do this,' and I
said, 'How can I, an actress of all of two
months, come to you an actor of how
ever many years and say 'Hey, no, Colin
this is what we do here.' I thought it
would be all very big-headed and come
out wrong but he thought I was being
snobbish and snubbing him by not
talking."
Next I asked whether filming and
recording on such a short amount of
time was exhausting. Nicola nodded,
adding: "I think only at the end of a three
day studio session do I come away
thinking 'Where's my bed.' Most of the
time the adrenaline keeps pumping. It's
not until you actually stop, like last
February when the break between
seasons occurred. The day after we
finished, I couldn't get up, even if I
wanted to. I just couldn't move because
I'd told myself it was time to rest. But
that's the only time you ought to,
because you're in such a big team, like a
football team, you just keep going until
they blow the final whistle."
Moving onto the story she was near to
completing, and the one which had
given her such a glowing sun tan, I asked
about the various familiar faces in The
Two Doctors. "Well, when John said,
'We're bringing back the Sontarans,' I
said, 'Gimme the videos!' Not that it
really matters a lot to me because I have
to look at them from Peri's point of view.
I've had a lot of questions about how
much research into the past I'd done
about Peri, etc, but Peri is Peri, she's not
part of another character and she's not
part of the Doctor. She's completely new
and everything is new to her unless it's
from her immediate past, like the
Master. But with the Sontarans I thought
I'd like to watch them because they
would be something interesting to see -
I like the old programmes! Yet I didn't
watch any of Patrick Troughton's stories
because I thought it would be better to
see how he played it in our rehearsals.
And I didn't know anything about
Fraser's part because I think Fraser must
have been in it before I can remember."
That seemed to automatically lead
onto the next, perennial question - how
long has Nicola watched the show?
"Ever since I can remember. A
Saturday tea time thing which I would
drag my sister to watch as well. She
hated it - we were both petrified of it, her
more than me. So I, being ever the good
sister, forced her to watch it. We had a
sofa with carved wooden legs, so we
kept our feet tucked right up, thinking
the Daleks were underneath. My mother
used to come in at the end and tell us to
come for tea but we wouldn't leave the
sofa until two more programmes had
finished in case they were still there. It's
addictive viewing."
Bearing in mind that it has been on
almost as long as Nicola has been alive, I
posed her the question of the
programme's survival.
"I understand there can be 13 Doctors,
so as long as they can find reasons for
the change, I don't see why it should
ever stop. Another reason is because it is
big in the States. You look at the
American market and they've got Dallas,
Star Trek and they've even got those
terrible commercial breaks and that's it -
so Doctor Who fills a very big gap in the
market. It won't peter out now, not now
it's got started, and so those people who
watch it will always stay. As a per capita
percentage of all Americans, there's not
many viewers but it is at least as many
fans as over here. I think it will grow, not
diminish. A lot depends on whether it
goes onto Network TV or stays on the
PBS channels."
My next question concerned her time
in between seasons - the gap between
last February and the start of the new season's work last May.
"Well, I had a horrible time with the
press! First of all it was 'How's it like to
be the new companion?' and soon that
was over. Phew, I thought, but almost
immediately 'What's it like to be in Peter
Davison's last story?' and then, phew,
that was over. And then, just as Colin's
first story went out and he had literally
just left the country to do The Mousetrap
in Sweden, it was, 'What is it like to be
with Colin Baker?' and it never stopped.
It wasn't just one paper but all of them,
one after another. I just wasn't prepared
for it. I thought, 'Wow! Now I can rest
and watch the old black and white
matinee films,' but no chance!
Eventually I had to pull out all the phone
plugs. It wasn't so much the photocalls,
but I did do interview on top of interview
and I just got so exhausted. These
interviewers wouldn't agree to a big
block interview they could all attend,
they wanted an individual one every
time! And as well as the Dailies there
were the Sunday Papers. In fact, one
Sunday paper got me to do a four hour
photographic session next to Putney
Bridge in the freezing cold. Then there
was the Boat Race disaster so they never
used them - then they rang me up and
suggested re-doing another session the
following weekend. But I'm afraid I just
said 'No way! Use what you've got'."
Pressing Photo-Calls
Mention of the Sunday papers and
their photo sessions brought me onto
the question of what a photo session
actually involved. Did Nicola feel that the
sort of pin-up style photos she was
expected to do were more exploitation
of her femininity than a presscall about
Peri? Even the official BBC postcard that
is sent to fans is guilty of that, with the
off-the-shoulder top and
hitched-up-to-the-thigh skirt.
"I think that's one of the unfortunate
things that comes with the part. They
always want something extra that isn't
just: 'This is blah playing blah in blah'.
There's nothing I can do to escape that,
and I'm not in a position to do so. Other
actresses who come into the show often
say, 'Why don't you put your foot down
and say, No'. And all I say is, 'Look, I'd
rather be playing Peri and wear that than
not play Peri.' There's just no point in
jumping up and down screaming about
it. One hopes that a few people will look
beyond all that, at the face and the acting
and take it for what it is rather than just
the outward appearance."
Fan Mail by the Box
What about the fan reaction to the
addition of Peri to the regular cast of
Doctor Who?
"I have so much fan mail that it's
almost depressing. By that I mean
because I cannot cope and we're going
to have to print a standard letter soon. I
should think I've now got down to about
500 a week and I feel guilty about it
because I want to reply - and my agent
thinks it's silly but I want to reply to them
all, albeit a scrawl. So John suggested
they type up this letter and I said only if
I can fill in every name and sign every
one personally and enclose an
individually signed postcard with each,
because that might at least take me back
to square one. You see, there was a long
delay with my colour postcard and so I
had all this mail building up and I'd
hurriedly write back to people saying,
'Awfully sorry I don't yet have a
postcard, write again'. And it got to the
stage when I had so many writing a
second time, as well as the first askers,
that I had a huge backlog before I could
even start.
"Reaction has been fairly good, touch
wood, I haven't yet seen a bad letter.
Maybe my agent holds those ones back!
I now get boxes of the things through the
post. Just the other day a huge box
marked 'Photocopy Paper' arrived and I
thought that I hadn't ordered any
photocopying paper and when I opened
it, 'Wow!' I thought, there were loads
and loads of letters. What takes so long
is that firstly letters are sent to the Doctor
Who production office where John's
secretary sorts them out and posts them
off to my agent who in turn bundles
them off to me.
"I had a sweet letter recently which
goes back to what we were saying earlier, from a lad who said, 'All these
sexist photos I've seen you in, do you
enjoy doing them or are you forced to?'
and then in brackets: 'Not that I don't
adore them!' So people have noticed
that, and I think there's hope yet!
Another one from a youngster who had
read that I'm a great music lover and had
filled in this competition with all the right
answers and put my name on so that I
could win a trip to Venice! And sadly, I
didn't get it until after the competition
had closed. They write and say: 'Can you
come to such and such?' in two weeks
and by the time I've got the letter three
months have passed."
Looking Ahead
I asked Nicola what her plans for the
future were with the series, would she
go after just one season like Sarah
Sutton or Mark Strickson or stay for
sometime like Janet Fielding?
"I don't know. They have another
option on me. Will I take it up? Oh, it's
not my choice. You've got to remember
that they started out with this fresh
drama student for an important role who
still might have been awful, or worse, so
they had an option on me after three
stories, then this season and now the
next season. It's entirely John's option -
he just rings and says that they're taking
it up. I think after the next season that'll
be it, because there are no more options.
And one presumes that by next year,
they will be fed up with seeing me!
That'll be 2 1/2 years - any longer and I
might have outlived one or two Doctors!"
It's hard to believe that it is almost
four years since Peri was apparently
blasted from our screens by a crazed
King Yrcanos in the closing episode of
Mindwarp, her body used as the final
stage in the scientist Crozier's mind
transference experiments.
Nicola Bryant, who played the role of
Perpugilliam Brown for three years, has
since worked extensively in the theatre,
both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Her recent theatre credits include So
Long On Lonely Street under director
Lou Stein at the Palace Theatre,
Watford and on tour; Jeeves, Twelfth
Night and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
all at the Gateway Theatre, Chester.
Over the 1989 Christmas period, her
more dedicated fans could see her
playing Eva in Absurd Person Singular
at the English-Speaking Theatre of
Vienna.
"I found that really good fun," she
says. "It was a brilliant part and we were
there for nine weeks. I was amazed that
an English play could sustain itself for
that amount of time. Let's face it, a
German speaking play in London's West
End would probably manage a week
maximum. In that time it would probably
have covered all the German speaking
people in London. It was incredible that
we were able to run for so long. It was
also good to get out of this country and
get a breath of fresh air."
Nicola originally set her sights on
becoming a dancer, an ambition which
was frowned upon by her parents who
regarded the career as unsafe. However
as she progressed through boarding
school, she found she enjoyed acting and
musicals and resigned her dancing to be
used in plays and musicals if needed. She
trained at the Weber Douglas Academy
of Dramatic Art and the Royal College of
Music. "After three years of that, you
really must know that you want to be an
actor", she jokes. In her final year Nicola
was spotted by perspicacious theatrical
agent Terry Carney, who is not only
Mark Strickson's agent, but also the
manager/agent and son-in-law of the late
first Doctor, William Hartnell. Carney
saw Nicola as Nanette in a production of
No, No, Nanette, telephoned her and
told her he would like to put her forward
as the new Doctor Who assistant in the
wake of outgoing companion Tegan,
played by Janet Fielding.
Nicola mistook the call as a prank, but
eventually went to meet John Nathan-
Turner, and after four auditions and
interviews got her first television
assignment literally fresh out of drama
school. "The auditioning process was
held up a little because John (Nathan-
Turner) wanted to see if I could get my
Equity Card. I felt after the second
interview that as I had a chance of
getting the role of Peri I had better make
the effort to get my card. I had
previously done a lot of dancing jobs, so
I took my contracts into Equity. They
told me that as they were non-Equity
contracts I couldn't get my card so, I did
a lot of cabaret, taking my own contracts
to pubs, clubs and parties. Eventually I
did get my card that way."
When Nicola joined the team in the
penultimate Peter Davison story, Planet
of Fire, was she aware that a regeneration
was imminent?
"Not at all. It was strange because the
three months between getting the job
and starting filming in Lanzarote I had
worked out a background for Peri and
formulated all these reasons why she
was going off with this particular Doctor,
only to find out that he was going to
change! I didn't know that Peter was
leaving when I joined and I saw no
reason why Peri would stay if the new
Doctor became a less amicable character,
which is what happened.
"Peter and Mark Strickson were very
helpful and sweet when I joined. I
missed Peter when he left but Colin was
great fun to work with. It was good
building up a rapport and I enjoyed being
with him. We were great buddies and
still see each other occasionally. I would
like to work with him again."
FAVOURITE ENEMY
Her years with the programme saw Peri
pitted against the Master, the Cybermen,
the Daleks and the Sontarans. Did
she have a favourite enemy or monster?
"I thought that Sil was a very good
character and Vengeance on Varos was
one of my top favourite stories. I found
it very strange working with the Daleks
in Revelation of the Daleks I really had to
take a step back because I could not
believe I was working with them.
Obviously, having watched the show
when I was younger the Daleks were
the monsters I remembered most
vividly. That was one of my favourite
stories along with The Caves of Androzani.
There wasn't a lot of dialogue for
me, but I felt it was a great vehicle for
Peri and it was a very good story."
And a least favourite story? "Timelash
(laughs). I spent most of that story
tied to a pole. It was so small minded. I
have spoken to some of the other
assistants and we all suffered from that
problem. I found it incredible that Doctor
Who has come so far and all they could
find for me to do was tie me to a pole!"
In the Trial series the turbulent
relationship with had existed between
the Sixth Doctor and Peri stemming
from The Twin Dilemma seemed to
have been softened, was this intentional?
"Yes. When we came back after so
long we felt we couldn't have the same
relationship. We would have parted
company on bad terms - either I would
have left or he would have dropped me
off. The relationship settled down and
we had to establish that although they
may have their differences they still
cared for each other. Looking back I
think the constant bickering and fighting
was taken too far."
Nicola's views on the eighteen month
hiatus of the programme are well
documented but how did she react to the
criticism that Doctor Who had become
too violent?
"It didn't make any sense to me. I
didn't think the show was too violent. I
think it should scare people, as it has
always done. There was some great
work from Graeme Harper at that time
and I thought the criticisms were unjust.
There is more violence on the six o'clock
news!"
Was she satisfied with her exit from
the programme?
"Oh yes. I loved my violent end. I told
John Nathan-Turner I wanted to go out
with a bang and I certainly didn't want a
tearful "Goodbye Doctor" scene or be
married off to some hunky Martian. I
was disappointed that the ending was
negated but I can see that they wanted
to soften it because they were getting
complaints from mothers wanting to
know what to do with their distressed
children, who were all Peri fans. The
production office received lots of upset
letters too. Letters and fan mail were
always a problem because of the backlog
I always had."
Doctor Who companions have a
tendency to be idolised with many of the
male viewers and this was certainly
apparent with Peri. Does Nicola like
being idolised?
"I never thought or think
of myself as idolised. Recently I was
turning out some stuff from my home
and I came across some old fan mail
which I didn't know I had. It still amazes
me, I guess."
INTO THEATRE
Since leaving the programme, Nicola has
worked extensively in the theatre. Was
the move to the theatre where there is
less chance of being typecast a
conscious decision?
"Well, yes. I had done three years of
solid television with no variety. My
major premise was to get out and do
something different and to maintain
some variety in what I did. I guess
typecasting was never something I sat
worrying about. I did get stuck with the
screaming thing for a short while. My
sister jokingly came to see a show and
said 'Have you ever done anything in
which you don't scream?' At which point
I definitely took her to task and pointed
out all the things I have done in which I
haven't!
"I have been fairly lucky, in the sense
that the roles I have taken have been
fifty per cent British and fifty per cent
American. That is a great typecast
break. When I consider the parts I have
played recently, I have gone from a
screaming nineteen year old to a thirty-
five year old suicidal, depressive maniac.
I have been fairly lucky not only in the
age range, but also in the variety of the
roles I have played.
"I did Blackadder's Christmas Carol a
couple of years ago. That is the only real
television work I have done for some
time, apart from commercials. That also
was a very good experience. Rowan
(Atkinson) is a total perfectionist and
very good to work with. Unfortunately
he was rather depressed at the time
because his girlfriend had just left him.
He is perfectly happy now he's married."
Now, having had much theatre experience,
is there any kind of theatre that
Nicola particularly enjoys?
"I enjoyed musicals, but I haven't
done one for years. I enjoy pantomime
too - I'm doing one this year in
December, in Camberly, Surrey which
will be fun. I don't suppose I have had
any preferences recently. I simply enjoy
working with good people and doing
something I feel positive and productive
about. I must admit, there's only one
show I have been in which was hell,
that's out of the thirty five shows I have
done.
"Although typecasting wasn't a problem,
if I could do anything I would like
to have five different Equity cards. Each
of them would be under a different name
and I would just keep working as
different people! There is a narrow-
mindedness in this business about how
different the powers that be will let
artists be. I think if I was five different
people I would not have any problems at
all. That aside, I think I am pretty
satisfied with the roles I have been
playing. I like variety."
In that case does Nicola find the strict
regime of theatre monotonous?
"There's no monotony because every
night you are trying to improve on what
you did or didn't do the night before. I
always feel as though the audience is
different every night, they react to
different things. I do know of actors who
get to feel trapped. I suppose seven
months was the longest show I have
ever been in, that was in a Whodunnit,
Killing Jessica, and even then I used to
decide every night whether I had
murdered the victim or not. Every night
I would play the role differently. Brian
Forbes, the director, gave me permission
to do that and thought it was a
pretty fun thing to do. There was only
one line that would vary from night to
night, the line would not be changed,
just the emphasis."
Despite her usually busy schedules,
Nicola still finds time to visit the
occasional Doctor Who convention and
make a personal appearance.
"I don't do many now", she admits,
"so they are much easier to cope with.
They are almost refreshing but while I
was on the show they did get a little
tedious and exhausting. It felt as though
the show was dominating your entire
life: working on it by day, filming in the
evening and at weekends, conventions
on Sunday. You were lucky if you had a
chance to read a script by the time you
were finished. I don't mind going back
now and talking about the show, as it
isn't the dominant part of my life.
"Looking back, I have done an awful
lot of commercials this year and a lot of
photographic and model work. I did a
front cover for a magazine in Switzerland,
along with a lot of commercials
abroad. Work has been nice because it's
been quite varied and given me more
time to myself, which for personal
reasons I have needed and wanted. It is
very easy not to take enough time for
yourself, you keep going and going, end
up either on the floor or in a hospital
bed. I have seen so many people do that
to themselves."
Concluding, I asked whether Nicola
was still a fan of the show she has so
many happy memories of.
"I guess I am, although I don't get a
chance to see it now. I haven't seen any
of Sylvester McCoy's stories. But when
you do get a glimpse of them you always
want to go back."
Interview by Paul Smith and Carl
Lawrence, with thanks to Nicola Bryant
for her time.
If ever there was a
controversial choice for a
Doctor Who companion, it
was former child star Bonnie
Langford as Melanie Bush.
Richard Marson talked to her
about her past career, her role
in the series as a computer
programmer, and about the
world of Doctor Who in
general...
Bonnie, bouncy and bright-eyed,
alternately loved and loathed
by TV and the popular press, is
the epitome of the showbiz kid.
Winning Hughie Green's Opportunity Knocks at the age of four,
training at the Italia Conti school and
featuring on This is Your Life before
she had hit her quarter of a century
are only some of the achievements in
a sparkling career. Others include
playing Violet Elizabeth Bott in the
LWT children's show Just William,
starring on stage in musicals such as
Cats and The Pirates of Penzance and
bringing a new dimension to the title
role of Peter Pan.
Bonnie made time to talk to DWM
during rehearsals for the latest addition to her long list of successes and
came across as interesting and unassuming, completely the opposite to
the image projected by the press, and
indeed by Bonnie's effervescent performances. Had her career begun
with the starstruck notions of a little
girl? "I don't remember ever making a
conscious decision to do anything.
I'm not very good at making decisions
and thank God, I didn't really have to
make a decision about all of that; it
just happened.
"My family are a very strange and
wonderful sort of group. We're a
complete unit and I think whatever
any of us would have done we're just
supportive to one another and to
where our talents lie. It wasn't just
because I went into the business that I
was particularly encouraged. It's just
that as a youngster, I got some
extraordinary opportunities offered to
me - things just came my way - and
that was that.
''Things haven't ever happened
immediately for me. You know how
people say, 'Oh, I became an
overnight success'. Well, in fact it's
nearer when they say, 'Oh, it took me
ten years to become an overnight
success!' My intention - and I know
my parents' intention - was never
particularly for me to go on stage as a
child. Certainly not to be a child
performer because they had heard the
awful stories about that as well. The
majority of them are stories - they're
not real things that go on, not
nowadays. But it's more dramatic and
people love scandal."
It would be hard to see her as a bank
clerk, or in any similar profession: "Er...No! Though funnily enough, I am
quite a methodical person. I always
believe that there are two words to
show business - and business is the
longer one. People are always surprised at the amount of paperwork
there is, quite honestly."
Bonnie went on to talk about the
difference between the normal child
and the child performer: "Usually
child performers are more disciplined, whereas people would probably feel
the reverse and think they
were absolute monsters. I always get
comments like, 'You must have been
a monster,' and 'I bet you were
always getting up on the table and
dancing at home.'
"But the last thing I would do
would be to show off to anybody. I'd
just die. I wasn't one of those kids and
I'm not one of those people. You
know how people can go to a party
and then get up and do a sort of party
piece? Well, I just hide in a corner. I
can't bear it.
"Show business is a word which is
often misused - people always think
razzle dazzle - but if you're involved
in acting, or singing, or dancing you
often use that to hide behind. In a
funny way; you're hiding behind a
mask. You often find it's one of the
hardest things to get an actor to say
their name on stage, or to go and be
themselves. You say, 'What is myself?'
"It's difficult to be precise about
this. I love the excitement and the
adrenalin of theatre, and of songs and
dances and I'm a high energy person.
I'm best when I'm using every bit of
energy that's inside me. When I'm
having to do a lot, I find that I can do
a lot. When I'm in an inactive mood,
forget it - it's like trying to raise the
dead!
"I'm able to channel my energies - and it often gives other people
inspiration and energy. It's very
difficult in some ways, because
people will often turn round and say,
'Oh, God, you're so cheerful - why
are you so bright and breezy all the
time?' and of course I don't want to be
a one-dimension person. I don't want
to do just one thing.
"People want the energy but they also
like to be able to turn round and put
you down for it. They often also feel
that you're like that all the time, or
that if you don't want to be like that
any more, then you must be desperately ashamed of what you've done in
the past.
"For instance having done Just
William ages ago, people always say,
'I bet you want to forget that.' Well, I
don't want to forget it, because I
loved it and it was great fun. I was
only in a few episodes but it just
caught the attention of everybody. It
was very exciting and I was completely surprised by it. But I don't want to
do that any more, I want to move on.
Bonnie has worked solidly since
Just William. "Well, I think a lot of it
has been luck. The majority of it has
been luck - being in the right place at
the right time. I was worried that the
bubble would burst and I didn't do
any more Just William - I could have
continued doing Violet Elizabeth. I
could have done commercials, I
could have done movies and all sorts
of things - but they were all as a
precocious six-year-old child. I stopped and I didn't, because I knew that
when I was sixteen or whenever, I
might turn round and say, 'Hang on, I
don't want to be playing a six-year-old any more!' and by then there
would've been too big a jump, and it
would be a very, very difficult bridge
to get over.
"I stopped doing any kind of work
for a long time - I really did. I just did
pantomime - I was about the
youngest Cinderella there's been, at
fourteen - and the odd charity show
just to keep me happy, and in that
time I did my 'O' levels.
"That's why I went to stage school in
the first place. So many people go to
stage school, just for one reason - to
do work in theatre and commercials
and so on, but you don't get that
much money in the bank as a child.
You'd be surprised. You don't get that
much money as an adult, either!
"I went to stage school to train - experience is something that's very
important and valuable, but there's
the right and the wrong kind of
experience. That's why I did the work
that I did - my parents for my sake
couldn't turn down things like going
to America for a year and doing
Gypsy on Broadway. They had hard
decisions to make because they didn't
want me to turn round when I was
sixteen and say, 'Look, I'm on the
dole now and I'm never going to get a
job. If only you'd allowed me to do
my work when I was a child, I'd be all
right now.'
"Often decisions were made for me
by the fact that you're restricted to
working forty days a year under the
age of thirteen and then after thirteen
to eighty days a year. It's terrible to
have to say, 'No, I can't do that
because I haven't got enough days.'
You don't know what's round the
corner - you might be offered a
wonderful job and have to say, 'No, I
can't.'"
Which of Bonnie's performing talents stretched and interested her
most? "Physically, I suppose dancing.
It takes the energy, the strength, the
stamina, and all that. I know that I feel
best in every sphere when I'm fit in
my dancing, because it kind of keeps
my whole mind in tune as well. But I
wouldn't want to just dance and I find
acting and singing mentally stimulating. That's what I need, too. There's
no way I could do just one. When
you're dancing there's a distance -
and that's where the singing and
acting comes in, because people like
to have vocal contact with you."
Public recognition has been a
major feature of Bonnie's life. Does
this bother her? "I get a lot of it from
building sites! And lorry drivers -
you'd be amazed. Occasionally I do
think, 'Oh, please don't look at me,'
but it is lovely really and there are far
more benefits from meeting people.
"People are very friendly and very
nice. I do have 'I'll scream and
scream' every so often - I had one
today in fact - but that's extraordinary
in itself, because it's eleven years ago
that I did that show. It's frightening to
think that it's eleven years ago - but
I'm still here."
Doctor Who fans are more protective
than most and Bonnie was well aware
of general opinion about her arrival:
"I was quite a shock to their system, I
think! I was aware vaguely what
happened, because my agent is also
Colin Baker's, but I didn't realise they
were quite so protective and possessive about their programme.
"They care very deeply about it,
which is wonderful. And it is their
programme. I think that they are
restricting themselves in many ways - they should be a little more open and
they shouldn't pre-judge things sometimes. They often put their opinions
first and say, 'Oh, I'm not going to
like that,' before they've sampled it.
And this is what I got a little bit before
I joined the programme.
"I got, 'Oh God, she's going to turn
it into 42nd Street,' which is silly,
because something like this, which
has been going on for twenty-four
years now, is not going to be changed
for me coming along. I wouldn't want
them to, that's not what I'm about.
I've been hired to play a part. It meant
that all I could - and can - do is what
I feel is my best and try and prove
them wrong. I never think I've done
my best - I'll always watch something
and think I could have done that
better. Sometimes I can be a bit
self-destructive.
"I hated my first episode as Mel - and
I had to watch it at the press call. I
was sitting at the back and I loathed it.
My first couple of scenes were me
bobbing around with a skipping rope
and I thought, 'Oh no, they're all
going to think I'm going to be doing
aerobics all the time.' But that kind of
started it off - they wanted energy and
they wanted kind of a strong character. They wanted a character who
wasn't dissimilar to me in some
respects and at first, until one could
get into the thing, I knew people
would be saying, 'Oh, she's just being
her,' - until the storyline was established and I could participate in that.
"It was especially difficult, as the
character I played suddenly bounced
out of nowhere. There was no
explanation. I'm just a computer
programmer from Pease Pottage who
suddenly appears in the TARDIS! I
don't actually know much about
computers, except I tried to do a bit of
research to find out about that.
"Funnily enough, a lot of the
American fans wrote to me, saying
that this character wasn't so much
about the fact that she was a
computer programmer but that they
tend to be very dedicated people. A
computer programmer will stay up for
days and nights just to get some sort of
program right. In many ways, I as
Bonnie am similarly dedicated in my
job, so I used that."
Bonnie outlined how the part
arose: "I remember meeting John
[Nathan-Turner] ages ago now at a
restaurant a lot of people go to called
Joe Allen's. I'd been chatting to Faith
Brown, who'd just been in a Doctor
Who and I said, 'I'd love to do one of
those, that'd be fun,' and obviously
some seeds were sown there. Literally
a year or so later, I got this phone call
from my agent, saying John Nathan-
Turner would like me to meet him in
his office.
"I went down there and he showed
me this sort of character analysis of
Mel and he said, 'What do you think?'
I said, 'That's a nice character, sounds
fun.' So he said, 'Well, would you
like to do it?' And that was it, really.
That was November/December and I
really didn't think much more about
it, because I was opening at the end of
the week in Peter Pan. John came to
my opening night and a month or so
later the press suddenly started to turn
up at the stage door. I thought, 'What
have I done?' and then there was this
sudden panic to do a press call for
Doctor Who.
"Doctor Who isn't as strenuous a
timetable as a show and I can live at
home in London with my family. After
the first episodes, I did more Peter Pan
and then John phoned me and said,
'We're going to do another series,
does it fit in?' And it did, it all fitted in
and it was fine."
Bonnie has a typically methodical
approach to her part: "What I do is to
write out in very precise form the lines
that I have, together with each scene
and what is happening. It helps me to
learn it and it helps as the scripts are
often quite hard to work out. I find
that I get lost - for example with this
block, we're doing the last scene first,
the last scene of the whole season and
next block, we'll do the beginning of
the third and fourth story. It's a case
of, 'Which planet are we on now and
where are we going?'
"You don't want every beginning
and end of a story to be the same and
they so easily could be. If I write it
out, I find that when they say, 'We're
doing episode two, scene twenty-
one,' and I think, 'Well, what's that in
English?' I can sit back and check and
then I can say, 'Ah - I've met this
monster by then, I'm trying to work
out here how to go along this
corridor. I've lost the Doctor so I'm a
bit panicked.' I use that to keep a
through line, though a lot of it is
mental notes, too."
And what of working with two
different Doctors? "I haven't consciously thought, 'Oh, he doesn't play
it the way Colin does.' I suppose
they're different. At first I think he's
some kind of nut!' But then I think a
rapport just kind of builds up. I'd
worked with both Colin and Sylvester
before and they're great friends of
mine, so I didn't think, 'Oh, I've got
to change the way I play that.' Things
just happen and I hope we can
automatically build a rapport that isn't
restricted. I wouldn't say I'd noticed a
difference, but then again I hope there
is a difference."
What about Kate O'Mara's imitation
of Bonnie. Had this caused laughs?
"Oh, it was wonderful. She made me
do lines and say her lines and then
she'd copy them. It was quite, quite
weird and one of the weird things was
I was standing off the set and there she
was in my costume and with a wig
and everything saying, 'But Doctor...' and it really made me giggle.
"She was doing a scene as me and
they were trying to work out these
different moves she was doing and the
cameras as well, and one of the
cameramen turned round and said,
'Well, when Bonnie goes up here...' and I was saying, 'It's not
Bonnie, I'm here. That's Kate!'
"We were having rather a hoot and
it was very strange, because it was
like looking in a mirror. We have a lot
of fun, but there's an element of
seriousness running underneath it,
too. It's no good guffawing your way
through the show. Those are your
mind games.
"There are some great out-takes.
We had a party the other day and they
showed them. Sylvester and I have a
hoot sometimes. The episode that
Kate was in there was a scene in this
brain chamber and it was quite a
climactic scene. Kate had this milelong speech to do, all about chronons
and stratospheres and God alone
knows what else. She had learnt it all
wonderfully.
"Sylvester has this terrible way of
being able to look at you and then
you just crease. He was just kind of
looking at her, desperately serious - he wasn't doing anything, but we
couldn't help bursting into giggles.
We tried so hard to get through that
scene. Sylvester and Kate had this
great deep discussion that was getting
desperately technical and after about
an hour of not having anything to say,
I had to pipe up with the line, 'The
cretacious age'. It just set us all off - it
was impossible, because once you
get the giggles, it's very hard to stop."
What about the costumes worn by
Mel?
"The designers say, 'This is the
idea,' and then we try things. Mel is
quite fashionable and quite practical
and the Doctor has a very big
wardrobe, so we assume that Mel has
overtaken his wardrobe somewhat.
"Every time I go out to film it pours
with rain and I end up in a puddle - we had a lovely week in Wales where
the weather was gorgeous but other
than that, it's been freezing cold, wet,
miserable. I have shivered. Horrendous. No costumes can protect you.
"The worst was on location in a
swimming pool for the second story. I
mean, the temperature was like a bad
joke - I was turning blue. The
difficulty was I had to stay there,
because of continuity of shots and the
need to do everything from different
angles, so it wasn't just a case of in
and out. That would have been
bearable - but this was like a
nightmare, made worse by the fact
that in the script I had to be saying
lines like, 'It's lovely when you're in,'
and you couldn't say them through
gritted, chattering teeth, shivering
away. It had to look convincing. That
was a lot of acting, I can tell you."
Every Doctor Who companion has
to deal with special effects. "They're
very good, the visual effects guys, and
they explain everything to you, but it
can still be a bit hairy. In the first story
I had to do this bit in a bubble, and it
had to spin around. That might not
sound very daring but in fact it could
be very dangerous, especially as all
there was to support you was a flimsy
pole.
"I was worried when we came to
do this that it would collapse and I'd
be hurt. They kind of dismissed this as
they wanted to get it done, but
eventually it was tried and it did go
wrong, which was alarming. Normally though, they know what they're
doing and you can rely on that."
Sadly, in these days of shorter
Doctor Who seasons, it seems we
won't be able to enjoy the talents of
the programme's regulars for as long
as in the past. After appearing in 20
episodes, Mel will have been and
gone, already a part of the programme's history.
Bonnie finished by talking about
leaving the series: "There are limitations to the part and I don't want to go
on doing it forever. Sometimes it's
quite difficult, actually - it's a lot
harder often to say a short line. Lines
with four words in them are excruciating - you sort of pop up and say, 'But
Doctor...' and it's quite hard.
"You keep thinking, 'People are
going to be so sick of this loon with
the red hair running around saying,
'Doctor!'' and I don't want the
character to be like that. I don't want
to be just a funny old sidekick.
"It's been a very happy series for
me. I wouldn't point out one that I've
enjoyed most - they've all been great
fun in their different ways. I didn't
especially want Mel married or killed
off - I think what they've got is quite
inventive."
After Doctor Who, Bonnie went
straight back into live theatre with the
lead role in a production of Charley
Girl: "That takes me through to
February/March and after that I don't
know. I don't really like to plan too far
ahead - of course, I like to think I'll
have security, but I like the wandering
element, too, which is why the press
always seize on me not having a
boyfriend. I'm a career girl, and
though that doesn't overrule my
personal life completely it's still very
much my priority. There's a lot I still
want to do!"
Kate O'Mara is a popular
British actress who made
her name in TV series,
including Triangle and The
Brothers. Her first
appearance as the Rani
during Colin Baker's era
was a great success; and she
recently returned to the
series to film a Rani story
for the new season, and to
take a break from Dynasty.
She talked to Richard
Marson about her career.
Kate O'Mara belongs to the
fifth generation of a long
established theatrical family,
so her decision to act seemed the
natural thing to do: "I started very
young and I've been at it ever since.
I went very briefly to stage school
but I don't really consider my career
to have properly started until my
early 20s. I wasn't committed properly until I got going in rep. and
then television.
"Working so quickly in rep. was
terribly important - it's great if you
get a lovely script, but a weak one
forces you to use your imagination
more. Doing plays so quickly may
not be entirely satisfactory, but it
teaches you to get up and get on
with it. I've always managed to
keep all the media going; film,
television and theatre.
"At first in TV I only got glam
parts and then as I got older, it
co-incided with women's lib and I
managed to get tough ladies and it
wasn't just the femmes fatales.
Now tough ladies are allowed to
look glamorous as well. I was
always playing foreign parts in the
Sixties, because then glamour was
synonymous with abroad, so I
played every possible nationality
under the sun! Now I can play
complete women - a combination of
all the good elements; strength,
sexiness and intelligence."
Meeting Kate O'Mara during a
lunch break from rehearsing Doctor
Who, it's easy to see why she's been
such a success in her profession.
Strikingly beautiful, with a rich
voice and a very forceful; character,
everything about her makes a
strong impression. Her quick wit
and sharp humour indicate a
woman who doesn't suffer fools
gladly in a business where flattery is
commonplace, and where Kate
herself was once feted as a glamorous starlet rather than a serious
actress, guesting in TV shows like
Adam Adamant and doing fashion
features for the TV Times.
"I was only typecast in TV and
films, and that was okay, because I
was doing what I wanted in the
theatre and it's really only the
theatre that interests me - every
time it's a different experience.
You're getting a reaction and you
can see and hear people enjoying
themselves, which is fantastic.
"My favourite parts include Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing
- I'm potty about Shakespeare - and
Stephanie from Duet For One.
When that finished, I came back
and went to bed literally for three
weeks, it was so gruelling.
"After a few days I got a phone
call saying my successor had had a
nervous breakdown at the dress
rehearsal and could I take over, and
I had to say no. It was too much - I
just didn't have the mental or
physical energy. At the end of each
show Philip Madoc and I would sit
there literally unable to get up, and
say, 'We've got to do it again
tomorrow - how are we going to do
it?'
"I'm afraid I've always used
television and films to further my
theatrical career, as they make one
popular and so fill seats. The
amount of effort required isn't any
different...one adjusts and puts
all one's concentration into it. I've
never slept through a part - you
can't. I find it impossible to do. If
you've got a job to do, you've got a
job to do and you can't afford to
walk through anything, not in this
business."
Kate comes across as a very
energetic performer. Where does
she get this quality from? "I seem to
have a natural source of it. I don't
know what it is - my mother
[actress Hazel Bainbridge] has got it
and I've inherited it from her. She's
seventy-eight years old and she's
out on tour at the moment playing
Miss Marple. Like me she doesn't
read critics, but she inadvertently
heard one on the radio the other
day which said she skipped
through the part like a two-year-
old! We both have an amazing
amount of energy and it must be
something to do with hormones or
genes."
Kate is, of course, best known for
her many long running TV serials,
which have included Weaver's
Green, Spy Trap, Triangle (which
she hated), The Brothers (with
Colin Baker) and The Main Chance.
Doctor Who beckoned first as one of
a string of guest roles, when Kate
was offered the part of Petra by
director Douglas Camfield, then
assembling his cast for the 1970
adventure Inferno.
"I was offered a scientist, funnily
enough, but at the same time I was
offered a couple of Hammer horror
films and very foolishly I chose the
films, when I think I should actually
have chosen the Doctor Who. The
trouble is, I needed the money and
the films were going to pay more
and quite honestly that's why I took
them.
"Director and producer both
decided at the same time that
I would be right for this
part."
"A few years later, the same
director actually wrote a whole
Doctor Who story for me, about an
Amazon Queen in a subterranean
city somewhere. Rather like Rider
Haggard's She, all about a lost city
and that kind of thing. I was the
warrior queen. I thought 'wonderful', he wrote six episodes and they
decided they couldn't afford to do
it. I was terribly disappointed. After
that I thought, 'I really would like to
do some Doctor Who, I wish they'd
get round to it,' and of course they
did - finally!"
That part, the Rani, came about in
1984 when producer John Nathan-
Turner was preparing for Colin
Baker's first full season: "It was one
of those things where director and
producer both decided at the same
time that I would be right for this
part. I'm always keen to work,
preferabIy in theatre, but I believe
that providing one likes the part,
one should do everything that's
offered. Work is too scarce not to.
"I adored the Rani when I first
read it, because it really is a lovely
part. I love the clothes, too; it's
dressing up, all butch with boots
and padded shoulders and lots of
hair. And I've known people in
both the stories I've done - Colin of
course and in this latest one, Time
and the Rani, I've known Wanda
Ventham and Donald Pickering for
years.
"I hadn't worked with Sylvester
or Bonnie before, but that's very
stimulating. Sylvester is going to be
a superb Doctor. He and Colin are
very different. Colin was almost
laid back, whereas Sylvester's is a
very physical performance. So
much power, quicksilver. The chemistry's got to be right and here it
is. I think and hope Sylvester and I
work well together."
"I'd worked with Andrew Morgan,
the director on Time and the Rani
before on Triangle. Sarah Hellings I
worked closely with because we
were creating the original part in
Mark of the Rani, but just as
importantly, with Andrew I'm consolidating it and I've got such a lot
to do, as most of it is just Sylvester
and me. It's been very concentrated. Also, I've been touring at the
same time, doing Doctor Who by
day and Lear by night, which is
quite a strain.
"I've suggested lots of changes,
simply because you feel that maybe
the way you see the character,
might not be quite the way others
see her. I don't alter that much
except to make it easier to say."
In between her appearances in
Doctor Who, Kate went to Hollywood, where she played Joan
Collins' bitchy sister Caress in the
supersoap Dynasty. But the part
wasn't scripted for just anybody - it
was created with Kate in mind:
"They were actually looking for
English girls to go into the Dynasty
spin-off, The Colbys and I was one
of the sixty seen, one of the eight
tested and when they saw my test
they decided I wasn't right for The
Colbys, but that they would write a
part into the other.
Kate also talked about the special
nature of working on a series like
Doctor Who: "There's a lot of
waiting about for special effects and
I think it's sad that the young actor
who's playing my chief henchman
is going to be covered in a mask, as
he's awfully good.
"In a way there's a different
atmosphere because it's such a
fantasy, but you've got to take it
seriously and believe in it and quite
honestly that's very difficult, because a lot of the dialogue is so
technical you don't know what
you're talking about half the time.
But you have to find the truth of it.
"You've got to get it done on
time, too, so I rarely crack up. I get
nervous - I shall get nervous at the
producer's run for this. John is very
much in control, it's his baby in a
way and he knows exactly what is
right for the programme and what
they're aiming for. I think it's
important to have that monitoring,
because you stand a better chance
of getting a complete feeling. I think
the discipline is why it's successful."
"Doctor Who has taught me a
little more about television
technique and how to satisfy
one's sternest critics."
"I watch television a fair amount,
but again only to see my friends,
really. I watch myself, too. It's
ghastly - I can't bear it. I do it
through fingers or I peer round
doors, but it has to be done,
because one has to see that one's
doing it right. You're continually
learning.
"Doctor Who has taught me a
little more about television technique and how to satisfy one's
sternest critics - children. I know it
isn't specifically for children, but
they are a large factor and I think
they are the most difficult people to
please, particularly these days. You
don't patronise because they're the
audiences of the future and they're
very bright. They all know about
computers and all the things I know
nothing about, so the thing to do is
to try and get through to children
whether you're doing Shakespeare
or Doctor Who. If you've succeeded, you haven't fooled them. I
want the Rani to be a real threat, a
megalomaniac.
"She's a bit of the, 'I Want To
Rule The Universe' type. First and
foremost she's a scientist. I think it's
the problems that appeal to her, but
I can't quite work out what her
motivation is, because she says that
she wants to be able to manipulate
time but she's unethical and has no
morals. She believes that the ends
justify the means.
"What I'm saying is I'm not quite
sure what the ends are for her - she
talks about saying that she wants to
re-direct evolution but why? I'm not
sure about that. Maybe that'll be in
a future episode. I don't think
there's any altrutisic or philanthropic motive at all. It's all purely an
experimental thing.
"What I like about the Doctor and
the Rani is they're sort of like
Holmes and Moriarty - a mutual
respect because they recognise each
other's abilities. Certainly in these
episodes when the Doctor finds out
what she's up to and she can't resist
a sort of, 'yup, well how about that?
that's what I'm up to!"
"She has to have her comeuppance, not necessarily because she's
evil but because she's amoral and
good must be seen to triumph. The
moral aspect is very important,
which is why I try to make her as
unpleasant as possible. Ruthless
with a sense of humour - but it's a
rather warped sense of humour!
There's a sort of a twinkle there, but
not very much of one,· because I
don't want her to be attractive at all.
She mustn't be attractive, she must
be hard, because it's a case of
absolute power corrupting absolutely. "
Kate was to have gone back to the
series in 1985, but the season was
postponed: "I was very disappointed, because I'd had such
fun doing it. I was genuinely
looking forward to going back as it's
such a nice team. I did actually
write to John and say, 'How about
having me back?' as he'd written to
me in Hollywood. So of course he
had me back!"
"As for Doctor Who,. I very much hope to
return. In fact, I've got an idea for
another story which I must tell
John!"
Considering the
Rani's popularity, it is highly likely
she will return to menace the
Doctor once more. We concluded
the interview by asking Kate the
thing she liked most about her
lifestyle: "I'm doing a job that I like
doing and I'm very lucky because I
don't think everybody can say that.
I wouldn't change my life for the
world."
