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The BIG interview: Doctor Who’s Peter Davison

Jeremy Vine, on set for his Channel 5 show

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The BIG interview: Jeremy Vine

Doctor Who: Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Mel

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The BIG Interview: Doctor Who’s Bonnie Langford

Doctor Who: Callie Cooke as Lindy Pepper Bean

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The BIG Interview: Doctor Who’s Callie Cooke

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Meet the cast of Midsomer Murders!

The MY TV YEARS podcast from TVChoice is HERE!

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The MY TV YEARS podcast from TVChoice is HERE! 📺

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Meet the cast of Death In Paradise!

## **_Doctor Who_’s got _yet another_ anniversary coming up! 19 July, 2024 marks 25 years of the Time Lord’s audio-only adventures for Big Finish Productions. Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison recalls that very first story – _The Sirens Of Time_ – how his approach to the character has changed for audio… and his secret for remaining so damn employable!**

**Hello Peter! Give us a snapshot of what you’re up to today. Are you in studio with Big Finish? What's the itinerary?**

I’m in the studio, yes. It's the sixth day of a total, I think, of 12. It’s a long, long piece, this one we’re doing now. I don’t know we've ever done such a long story. And of course, it's a bit like the Forth Road Bridge, in terms of my memory – by the time I get to the end of it, I’ve forgotten what the beginning was!

**What kind of place does Big Finish have in your life? Does it happen in between the gaps of other work, because you remain an in-demand actor.**

Big Finish have always been very clear that if anything else comes up, then they take second place. So I've had to change dates on several things I've done – much to the annoyance of Janet Fielding \[companion Tegan\], who complains about everything as you can imagine! I think they understand they have to fit it in around what people are doing. And they're very amenable to that. So it all works out very well.

**You’ve already cautioned us about your memory, but let's rewind, if we can, to 1999 when the first Big Finish _Doctor Who_ audio drama came about.**

I can’t remember how the original conversation occurred. It was certainly nothing to do with the BBC at all. Big Finish had obviously got the rights to do them. They came to, first of all, Colin \[Baker, the Sixth Doctor\], Sylvester \[McCoy, the Seventh\] and myself and said, ‘We've got this story…’ \[which teamed-up all three of them\]. At the time, I think it was just meant to be a one-off. They may have had their own plans, they certainly didn't mention it to us. And I think it was called _The Sirens Of Time_. When I did _Doctor Who_ on TV \[1981-1984\] I always prided myself on being pretty good about knowing what was going on in a story. So I quite often knew more than the director. But in this instance, I had virtually no idea what _The Sirens Of Time_ was about – and Colin and Sylvester, even less! Ha ha ha! I remember saying to Sylvester, ‘So what's going on?’ And he said, \[Scottish accent\], ‘I’ve got no idea! I’ll just roll my Rs a lot!’ Ha ha ha!

**A quarter of a century on, you’ve all recorded hundreds of stories for Big Finish – far more than you ever made on TV. Did you think in 1999 that these audio dramas might have legs?**

I don't think I had any sense that there was going to be more… It was a sort of experiment, I felt. And I was very happy to do it. I've always been very happy to do _Doctor Who_\-related things because I’d sort of moved on from the show in other parts of my career. So I didn't feel any nervousness about reassociating myself with it. I don’t think any of us really thought about what it would turn into. So, when Big Finish came back and said, ‘Now we want to do a story that's just about your Doctor,’ and that they were also doing them with Colin and Sylvester’s Doctors, I thought it was kind of nice…

**Was it a bit ‘cottage industry’ at the start?**

No, I mean, the first one we did was in a proper sound studio, albeit I think it was a music studio. But it was a proper setup, it was properly engineered. So there was no doubt it was being properly recorded. I suppose they only thing I was questioning was the appeal of it… And I didn't really even question that! I just did it because it was a fun thing to do with Colin and Sylvester.

**There had been a reasonable break since the last time you’d portrayed the Doctor on screen.**

**Did you have any concerns about that aspect of it? Or were you confident you could ‘find’ your Doctor again?**

I made the decision fairly early on I was just going to do it as me. I wasn't going to try and play a 28-year-old me. Although, I suppose I had this vision in my head of how I used to look. So, in the recording studio, I when I was imagining myself walking down a corridor, I wasn't thinking of the nearly 50-year-old man that I was. I was thinking of me back when I played the Doctor on TV. But no, I didn't have concerns about it. My only concerns really – and I still think this – is when they take photographs of you while you’re recording. I was quite against that, because I just thought, ‘Don't give them a picture of what I look like _now_, just give them a picture of me as the Doctor from when I _was_ the Doctor’. What I wanted people to envisage was me from when I first played the character, not a greying person standing around a microphone in a Big Finish studio. It might be of interest in a way, but it sort of destroys something.

**Do you engage with the role differently on audio? Are you trying to evolve the character, or preserve and maintain what people had enjoyed before?**

I have to say, I don't think I've ever made any suggestions about what it might be nice to do, because Big Finish seem to come up with the goods anyway. You know, over the years starting from the completely confusing _The Sirens Of Time_ – if that's what it was called – they very quickly got on board good writers and they've always written variations of the character without me asking. With all of us ‘Classic’ Doctors \[from the TV’s original 26-year run\] we were kind of limited in what areas he'd go into. You didn't really engage with companions. You couldn't really show emotions. Those limits were imposed by the fact you were making a science-fiction action TV programme. So, inevitably, when you start doing Big Finish, they do explore other areas. And they've always done that to my satisfaction. And there are some nice scenes. We’ve just done one now, actually. Quite emotional scenes, quite sort of empathetic scenes, which there weren't a lot of, certainly, in classic _Doctor Who_.

**But, it feels like you wouldn't be so interested in these audios if it was purely, ‘We just want to keep this character in stasis, and can you just do what you did on the telly?’**

By definition, it's an audio piece, you have to fill it with more words. You can't have sequences with Daleks chasing you around warehouses. You want to expand on things that were probably there in my time as the Doctor, but were never revealed on screen, because the scenes could not be that wordy. So now we can have quite emotive scenes, sad scenes. It's a bit of both, really. You want to keep it the same, you don't want to do what they call ‘a retcon’ – ha ha! So it has to maintain the absolute essence. It has to be in harmony with what you saw on TV, but expands on the character in other ways.

**Let’s talk about lockdown, because for the audio industry in particular, that seemed to be a game changer in terms of people setting up home studios. Did you do that? And once it was over, were you happy to actually be back performing with people, rather than down the line?**

What I've realised is, as I get older, a large part of my social life is working So, you know, in the evening, my wife and I don't go out very much, we just sit and watch something on the telly. And we talk! So, Big Finish has always been quite important in terms of that. I missed the mixing together during COVID. But, I'm also quite – more than usual for an actor – well-technically qualified in terms of stuff. So, yes, I built a home studio, with a good microphone and soundproofed the room and was able to carry on doing these things. But, you know, it's not quite as nice to insult Janet over the internet as it is face to face, so I’m very glad that we are back in the studio.

**You've been in the industry a long time, and you’re still incredibly in demand. What's gone right? There's talent. Is there luck? What's the secret?**

All those things! I think the thing is that, if I had to comment on some actors as they get older, they seem to think, sometimes – and this doesn't apply to all of them – that they've learned it all. It’s almost like they’re saying, ‘I know how to do this! Don't give me notes!’ I made a decision quite early on in my career that you can learn from anyone, old or young. And so that way, you’re always moving on. You’re always looking for different things you can do. There's been a lot of luck involved – I can't deny that, in my life. But also, I think I've always tried to be as easy as possible in terms of to work with. Ha ha ha! Janet Fielding would not agree with this! I think sometimes actors don't realise that when their name comes up in connection with a new project, the people on that will ring up the last person who employed you and say, ‘What are they like?’ And if they go, ‘Oh, he’s difficult,’ Or, ‘Sometimes he's late,’ all of those things can feed into the possibility of you getting that job. Yes, there are some actors who are difficult who do get employed, because they're _really good_. But I reckon I'm OK. So I need to work hard at being easy to work with, and therefore people will go, ‘Oh, yeah, he's alright. Let’s have him in, then.’

**To celebrate the 25th anniversary, Big Finish are re-releasing _Doctor Who: The Sirens Of Time_ in a reduxed form! More info :a[here]{href='https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/the-sirens-of-time-revisited' }**.

Closing date for issue 29 is midnight 29th July 2024. Only one entry per person.


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## **The broadcaster gives us his thoughts on the general election, banning things and how he juggles two daily current affairs shows**

**Hi, Jeremy! Can you tell us a bit about how your day unfolds? You must have a very early start to be on air for your Channel 5 show each morning…**

**Jeremy:** Usually, my alarm goes off at 4.41am. The only reason I set it for 4.41 is because if I say 4.40, Alexa ends up doing it at 4.14, and I get a horrible shock! So, at 4.41, I get up. I usually cycle to work, and I get in for 6.30. We have a meeting from 6.30 to 7.00, which is the most important part of the whole process, because the producer is mainly saying, ‘Here’s what we think we should do’, and I can pitch in. And then, at the end of that, I usually start doing some graphics for the show, which I love. At 8.15, we pre-record the last section, which plays out at 10.30, after I’ve left the studio. And then we’re on the air \[mostly\] live at 9.15. And that is pretty much the way it works, day after day after day. It’s a very dependable routine. It’s 10.39 right now, and I’m about to get on my bike and cycle to Radio 2.

**Your Radio 2 show starts at midday, doesn’t it? So, presumably you have to prepare for that once you arrive?**

**Jeremy:** Yeah, for sure. That’s a whole other thing! Usually, I’m quite well prepped on the stories, though, as I’ve already been doing a few hours on current affairs. And then I talk to Vernon Kay at 11.30. Anyway, while we’re talking, I will set off on my bike, and in 12 minutes’ time, I’ll arrive. It’s a very quick journey.

**OK, well, let’s make the most of the next 12 minutes. But please keep your eyes on the road!**

**Jeremy:** I’m getting on my bike right now! I’m just engaging with the traffic. Not that successfully… Go on!

**Your show is always covering political issues, particularly now, in the run up to the election. How hard is it to keep a sense of balance?**

**Jeremy:** It’s interesting. The ticket for all these wonderful jobs I get offered is just not to have any views myself! I’ve ended up learning you can have values, but you can’t have _views_. And there are two particularly sacrosanct areas, which are both very relevant at the moment. Party politics and the Middle East are the subjects which you have to be _really_ impartial on. But I guess that’s a small price to pay for having the best job in the world. So, I’m very happy to never express a view! I mean, you can get angry about litter, and you can get angry about some terrible crime. It’s more about having values. You can certainly have a view on the world. But I think staying away from party politics is very important. Once people put their cards on the table about all that stuff, they become really predictable. The joy for me – with my job on Channel 5 – is facilitating great discussions. They’re often left-right discussions. Sometimes, they can be split along age lines or cultures lines, but more usually, they split on left-right political lines. And that’s what makes it such a great show.

**Another thing that makes it a great show is that you have a real lightness of touch in your approach.**

**Jeremy:** Yeah. I think the light and shade is a big part of doing the programme, actually. There’s a lot of very serious news in the world at the moment. I’m very conscious that we don’t want to overload people. We need to give them a reason to have a smile! So, when we’re stitching it all together, we want it to be intelligent and tasteful and interesting and generous… and to welcome each of the viewers, which is really hard. That’s the challenge every day. We know we’ll have a piece that makes everyone laugh, and then a piece that makes a lot of people cry. And we want to put them together without it looking like a mishmash.

**Jeremy:** Thank you! I always think the key word is ‘range’. You need to be able to be really serious. I did some D-Day broadcasting yesterday, and there’s nothing more serious in the world than that. And then, when I came back today, we did a story about a woman who turned up at her father’s wedding a year early! And we also had the comedian Milton Jones on. Put it all together, and there’s never a sense that it’s clunky.

**Now, we’ve noticed that your Channel 5 show always seems to be calling to ban things.**

**Fireworks, smoking outside pubs… You were even calling to ban flip-flops a while back! What have flip-flops ever done to be banned?!**

**Jeremy:** We try to limit ourselves to banning one thing per show, actually. But I am amazed at how many things people want banned. We had people calling for lollipop ladies to be banned the other day, on the basis that they slow the roads down! So, it’s not so much _us_ calling for it. Something happens, which then leads to someone saying ‘such-and-such should be banned’. This goes back about 10 years, but there was a book out by Lemony Snicket, which had a sad ending. And there was a campaign to ban sad endings on children’s books! We’re a very interesting society, because in many ways we are very liberal and tolerant. But there’s also a slightly authoritarian streak to a lot of people, who think the world would be a lot tidier if we jailed everyone who dropped litter.

**Now, tell us a little bit about working with Storm Huntley. You made a great partnership, but you don’t appear with her quite so much now she’s doing her own show on the channel, which airs directly after yours.**

**Jeremy:** No, that’s true. I’m very, very proud of our working relationship. One of the greatest things about coming to Channel 5 was to be welcomed by Storm, and then to see her really grow as a broadcaster. When Matthew Wright did his show \[_The Wright Stuff_, 2000-2018\], she was the phone person and whatnot, and she stayed on when I took over. I wanted to make sure that she was satisfied with her role, and she’s gone from strength to strength. It’s always exciting to come into the studio, and see that big LCD screen with your name on it – and she has that now. Not many broadcasters do. Famous newsreaders often don’t have that. I think she’s done absolutely brilliantly. The fact that we have a bit less interplay now she’s got her own show is my only regret. She used to do the papers with me, and we’d have a right laugh about many, many things.

**We chatted with Storm the other day, and she pointed out that it’s a different style of presenting when you’re co-hosting.**

**Jeremy:** That’s true. It’s that thing where you have a really solid, male-female partnership. I had never really done that before in my career, but I suppose the one place I did was with Storm, in the early days, when her role was changing. And yeah, I loved it. But that’s partly because she’s a very, very funny woman, and she’s brilliant to be on the air with. Every time I tried to tell a joke, she would always remind me I’d told it before. I was like an embarrassing dad, you know?

**Let’s get back to the election. We assume you’ll be pulling an all-nighter?**

**Jeremy:** Yes. I’m going to be doing the graphics for the BBC. I’m trying to learn marginal constituencies at the moment, which I did in 2019, 2017, 2015, 2010… going all the way back. I think the first general election I did was in 2010, although the first local election I covered was 2006. So, I’ve done those graphics for nearly 20 years. I’m very proud of the way it’s been done. The amazing thing that we’ve got now – which I think is just incredible – is that when I walk down Downing Street in my graphic at the end of the night, with the famous ‘path to power’, it will be impossible to tell that I’m not in the real Downing Street. We were very close to that at the last election in 2019, but it’s really an amazing thing, because the virtual scenes are now ‘real’. I’ll actually be in a studio in Cardiff, but it will look like Whitehall.

**We’ll look forward to that! How exciting is this election, and who’s going to win it? It’s obvious, isn’t it, according to the polls?**

**Jeremy:** It’s unbelievably exciting! The numbers we’re getting through the polls – and the projections from the polls – go beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. The numbers for Labour and the Conservatives are simply stunning. So, we know we’re going to have an exciting night. I say that impartially! I suppose the thing I would flag to people who are interested in it, is that in 2019 – which was the historic ‘good’ result for the Conservatives – Boris Johnson won 365 seats. And in 1997, in the historically ‘bad’ result, when Tony Blair won, the Conservatives got 165. Those two figures – 365 and 165 – are really useful for thinking about the kind of envelope the Conservatives are operating inside. But what’s strange is that since Reform came in with Nigel Farage, the envelope has been completely broken. We’re now seeing predictions that the Conservatives will be on only 70 or 80 seats! So, you can’t help but think about the world beyond the election. If all that stuff comes true, it will be a real reshaping of politics. I also wonder if the core Conservative voters, at some point before the election, might declare a state of emergency and go back to Rishi Sunak, because they realise the stakes are so high. But I don’t know.

**It does feel as if we’re in uncharted territory.**

**Jeremy:** It’s bonkers. If the Labour party and Keir Starmer have more than 400 seats… There are all kinds of issues with governing parties when they’ve got that big a majority. There are also a lot of issues inside the House of Commons, when a lot of MPs suddenly realise they’re one of 400, and they’re never going to get a government job, they’re never going to get five minutes with a minister, and the political career they wanted isn’t going to happen. So, believe it or not, there would be issues for Labour if they got an enormous majority – although they are the sort of issues they’d be quite happy to be dealing with.

**Just to bring it back to your show, which panellists do you enjoy having on? The debates can get pretty fiery at times…**

**Jeremy:** \[Laughs\] The main issue is if it’s _not_ fiery! Fiery is good. Fiery isn’t a problem. We have panellists who really believe stuff, but what they believe is the polar _opposite_ of what the other panellist believes, which gives us a great show. There are certain panellists, who just seem to live for arguments, and it’s true – they need a little bit of refereeing! We all know each other pretty well. Mike Parry has been in maybe 50 times, and I’ve known him for a long time. So, if I tell him to shut up, he’s not going to be offended.

**Mike is always good value. But it can sometimes be hard to get a word in edgeways. One of your callers was berating Carole Malone the other day, for always interrupting him!**

**Jeremy:** \[Laughs\] Ah, she’s lovely! All these people… Mike Parry, Carole Malone… it’s just friendship, you know? We had Angela Epstein on today. She’s very good. And it is like a family. I mean, we are constantly using new people, but at the same time, we’ve got a family of 25, maybe, who we see a lot of, and we love. I’m now locking my bike. I’m now at the BBC.

**OK, just before you go, I wanted to ask about how it was doing your show during lockdown. It meant an awful lot to me – and I’m sure many others – when we were all stuck at home.**

**Jeremy:** Obviously, looking back, I realise how lucky we were to be allowed to work. I was cycling to work in the mornings, and one day I cycled the wrong way down Park Lane! It was just so tempting, because there was not a single car. It was a London I’d never imagined before. But at the same time, of course, there was an awful lot of pain behind that, because a lot of people were trapped indoors. They couldn’t work. They might not even have been furloughed, because if you’re in the creative world, you’re self-employed, so they were excluded. I think what was amazing for us to realise was how we got a lot closer to our viewers. And you’re very kind to mention it, Tom, that you watched us. It became a really intimate period for us and the audience. It meant a lot to me as a broadcaster. It came through to me when we asked kids to do pictures of an NHS rainbow. We had hundreds, and we plastered them all down our corridor. We ran out of space! We put them all the way out of the front of the building. You suddenly realise you’ve got a real audience, and you’re in a relationship of trust with them, and they were really hurting. There was all kinds of stuff with the rights and wrongs of lockdown, which we debated endlessly. But in the end, my goodness, you thought, ‘Wow. We’re actually really providing a service here’. I mean, it wasn’t quite like wartime, but at times it felt that weird. It’s funny. As a broadcaster, you see the numbers, and someone tells you, ‘This is how many viewers we’ve got’. But even if you have callers, you don’t always sense that the crowd have faces. But that really gave us faces for our audience. It meant so much to me.

**_Jeremy Vine_** **continues on Channel 5, weekdays**

## **As the actor and entertainer reprises her role of Melanie Bush, she tells us why her original run in the show was a bit ‘beige’, what drew her back now, how she finds working with Ncuti Gatwa… and why she’s recently become a _Doctor Who_ novelist**

**You first appeared in _Doctor Who_ in 1986 – what brought you back to the series four decades on?**

**Bonnie:** Well, during lockdown, Russell T Davies \[_Doctor Who_’s showrunner\] found an old script he had written for the TV series when he was about 23, I think, on his very first typewriter \[this was circa Bonnie’s original run in the show\]. It was a story I think he'd sent off and had rejected. And that was for Colin \[Baker, the Sixth Doctor\] and me; ‘Sixie’ and Melanie. And so we recorded it \[for audio company Big Finish\], and had the most glorious time doing it. A few weeks later, I get this email from him – and a script \[for David Tennant’s finale, _The Giggle_\]. He said, ‘Do you fancy that?’ And of course, I did. Apart from anything else, the ending was so exciting. But for Mel to be involved and to have something substantial to contribute was just joyous. To think I could right the wrongs. She originally came into the show without a real storyline and sort of left with a bit of damp squib. It was all a bit unsure and a bit beige. And Russell writes so well, and so beautifully. I got very excited about it. And that's how it came about.

**As you've alluded to, there wasn't a lot of meat on the bones of Mel’s character. Do you think Russell was more responding to you as a performer, rather than thinking, ‘Here's a character with promise’?**

**Bonnie:**  I don't know. You'd have to ask him. He's created this company, if you will. He gave Mel a job, and she now works at UNIT. I mean, I might be wrong in saying it, but I think she brings a legacy of having travelled with the Doctor so much. And, yeah, maybe he felt she had something to bring. Also, what Russell does is, he combines the old and new very beautifully. He honours the past, and yet he loves the energy and the freshness of the future. I think that is what is special about this show – it’s very inclusive. What's great about sci fi shows  is you can go anywhere, but you do also need some kind of anchor. I mean, the Doctor doesn't have a home as such, apart from the TARDIS – and even that changes. I think Russell’s tried to create somewhere for the Doctor to stop off and go, ‘Help! I can't do this on my own, I need the support of people who are like-minded, who understand me, who are happy to see me.’ So it’s as near to a family as he ever gets.

**With the career that you've had, we wouldn’t imagine your first stint in _Doctor Who_ would have particularly stayed with you, or niggled you over the years.**

**Bonnie:** No, I mean, I put it away – I put it away completely. It was like, ‘OK, that was a job’. As you do, actually, even with good, bad or indifferent. You do it, and that's the end of it. You're always having to look forward. I mean, the reason why I left was because I'd said I'd do it for two seasons. I didn't expect it to be any longer. When they came to, ‘Oh, you're leaving,’ I was thinking, ‘I don’t know. Am I _leaving_? I mean, I've got a contract for two seasons, nobodies asked me if I want to do more!’ Also, being young and flighty, I wanted to move on to the next thing. And I had only ever said I would do it for two summers, which was what I did. However, having come back to the Big Finish audios, which I love doing, I realised how much more there was to offer and to give – and I enjoyed doing that. It reintroduced me and allowed me to revisit not only Mel, but also the world of _Doctor Who_ and the world of Whovians, the fans, and realise… it has a great part to play. It has a great importance. It's very beloved. And one should never dismiss that.

**Obviously, the programme's got so much more production quality in it now. But are there parities with what you used to do in the show back in the Eighties? If you’re on set, having to ‘react’ to some monster that will be added in post, does that take you back?**

**Bonnie:** Ha ha! I do sometimes have to do that!  But now the effects are so huge, you can barely imagine them. So there are times, yes, you think, ‘Oh, what will actually happen?’ The only panic is it feels like there’s more at stake now, if there’s all these explosions going on and major effects and you’ve got a line in the middle of it. ‘Don't forget your line! Because we can't reset!’ As for if it reminds me of how it used to be – only in the intention of it. Only in the storytelling. Only in the fact that every character and every person is there to do their best. So Melanie would never walk away from the Doctor in a million years. If he asked her to do something, she'd drop everything. She's more feisty now – a lot more feisty. Also there are times she'll turn around to the Doctor and say, ‘_Get on with it!_’ And although there she sort of did that before – \[she adopts a whinny, as she parodies how Mel was written in the Eighties\] ‘Doctor, get fit, blah, blah, blah!’ – it’s not in that respect. He's more vulnerable, now, he's more prepared to show his softer side, which is great. But then he needs someone to say, ‘Come on, you can do this!’ and sometimes Mel is that person.

**Let's ask the plot question. Can you share what little details you're allowed to about _The Legend of Ruby Sunday_?**

**Bonnie:** Well, Mel is working at UNIT. But she's on a bit of a covert mission – but it's not what any of them are thinking. She’s basically spying for UNIT to find out more information, because they think something is up. All these different strands come together, and it becomes quite desperate. There's a great sadness in the middle of it, then there's a great moment of… desperation. But, as I say, she would never leave the Doctor. She believes in him so much, she knows he's the only person who can fix this wrong.

**Bonnie:** I mean, from the minute he walked on the set of _The Giggle_, there was just this great spirit, this great energy. You _know_ where he is on set. He and I, we bonded from the word go. There’s fun as well. Mel sees him, and he always picks her up! Ha ha! ‘_Come on!_’ She's _so_ thrilled to see him – always thrilled to see him and then goes, ‘Right, now we have to get to work.’ You know, there's a lot of pressure for Ncuti. He has a lot of responsibility. And whenever anyone takes over in that role, it's a minefield, because no matter what, there will always be someone who says, ‘Oh, no, you're not _my_ Doctor!’ And then afterwards they go, ‘Oh, but I really love you, you’re the best Doctor!’ And in this day and age, with there being so much more immediacy with social media, it is really tricky. But he's very dedicated. I mean, he gets up at 4.30am to do a workout for God's sake! Ha! But that’s why he looks so gorgeous!

**In one of the trailers, there's a brilliant clip of you on a Vespa, with Ncuti…**

**Bonnie:** Ha ha ha! Mel on her Vespa! I mean, it's fun. And it's camp. The story is beautiful. It's heartfelt, it's gorgeous. And it is just celebratory in some of the camp things that go on. There is no shying away from that, but I don't think anyone's trying to turn around and say, ‘Don't include that element of the show’. _You have to_! That part of the joy of it. it’s the madness. There has to be an element of abandon. And there is the integrity, but also there's the fun. We just saw Jinkx Monsoon, didn’t we, as Maestro. I mean… glorious! It is like sort of being a panto baddie, but there is something _brilliant_ about that which has to be embraced. But it quite difficult to do on screen, where you’re also creepy. People want to be scared. We've all got our favourite monsters, and they need to be given new life – and new monsters need to come. The thing about Russell, you know, having watched the programme himself, it's so dear to his heart. He finds connections, and I love this about him. The way he will take a thread, and suddenly it will appear and you go, ‘Oh, my goodness, that's actually something that happened!’ And that's what I was able to say to Ncuti and Mille \[Gibson, Ruby Sunday\]. Much more than I expected, because I didn't think I knew anything about _Doctor Who_. But when we did certain things, there were times I was like, ‘Oh! That’s from so-and-so!’

**You probably can’t answer this, but are you in series two? There have been hints that this new UNIT family, which Mel is a part of, will return.**

**Bonnie:** _The family returns!_ The UNIT family! But I’m not allowed to say. You have to wait and see what happens…

**Lastly, Bonnie, you're writing a novel about Mel – _Doctor Who: Death in the Stars_!**

**Who would have thought? A _Doctor Who_ novel!?**

**Bonnie:** I know! It's just a fun idea. There's been part of my brain that has just gone to a weird place. And that's great. It's kind of evolved into something that’s quite an adventure. It did start in a different place. But, yes, it's just nice to revisit Mel. Who would have thought? Literally, _Who_ would have thought?

**_Doctor Who_ continues on BBC iPlayer and BBC1 on Saturdays**

## **The _Henpocalypse!_ star gives us the lowdown on Lindy Pepper-Bean in this week’s episode, _Dot And Bubble_…**

**Hi Callie! This week’s _Doctor Who_** **episode is called _Dot And Bubble_. What does that mean?**

My character lives in a world called Finetime, and ‘Dot and Bubble’ is kind of the world in which we communicate. The idea is… what if we’ve become so obsessed with technology that we now only exist within it? So, the ‘Dot’ is like a ball, which I physically hold in my hand. I throw it up into the air, and it opens a bubble, which is basically a phone screen that exists around my whole head. I use my head to control it, and I talk to everyone – my friends and family alike. I work through it, I walk through it… It’s just how I exist.

**So, you and your friends live in a futuristic environment on an alien world?**

Yes. We are basically a bunch of kids, who have been sent by their rich parents to another planet, to have this wonderful shiny life. I mean, it’s genius! It’s been said that it’s a bit _Black Mirror_\-esque as an episode.

**Your character has a very interesting name…**

Lindy Pepper-Bean! That’s her full name. She was very fun to play. I guess, she is an influencer. She’s very popular. She has hundreds of followers that she probably doesn’t even know. They’re all her friends, and they speak to her. It’s very clever how they’ve made it. We see them all up on the screen in front of her, all the time, in her bubble, and that’s how she communicates. She’s very, like, ‘Get ready with me!’ That’s the vibe of Lindy.

**It sounds as if there’s a bit of a satirical vibe, mirroring social media…?**

Yeah, we had to balance it well, because Russell \[T Davies, the episode’s writer\] kept saying to me, ‘She’s incredibly petulant, incredibly neurotic and basic, but she has to be likeable’. It’s not her fault. It’s like how we become obsessed with our phones – we’re just adapting to society. She definitely has a journey. I’ll be very interested to see how people respond to her. She’s very set in the way she thinks, and she hasn’t really lived in the real world, so she has no idea.

**Her friends also seem to have rather odd names – there’s Hoochy Pie, Jimbo Fennett and Alan K Sullivan.**

Yes, we all have quite interesting names. Also, we all dress quite strangely, and we all talk quite strangely. Instead of saying, ‘Oh, my gosh’, we say, ‘Oh, my hazy days!’ Russell’s kind of developed a language for them. I think for the first five minutes, the audience will be thinking, ‘What on Earth is going on?’ But I think they’ll adapt quite quickly, because he’s so consistent with it. He’s such a genius.

**Is it quite a difficult task to play a part when the language and environment is so unusual?**

It was such a challenge, because it’s so heightened. I kept thinking, ‘God, I’m terrible!’ There were certain lines where I thought, ‘I cannot pull this off’. But Dylan \[Holmes Williams\], our director, was amazing. With _Doctor Who_, you have to commit to it, because it’s silly, and it’s out there, and it’s madness! But it’s so charming too. Obviously, I’m playing someone who’s in the future, so I’m not going to be able to do this naturalistic, subtle performance. I have to go for it. That’s what’s so amazing about a lot of the actors in _Doctor Who_. Even though some of the stuff they’re doing absolutely bats\*\*\* ridiculous, they do it with such conviction. It’s such a fun and beautiful show.

**You mentioned the director, Dylan. What was he like to work with? It sounds as though he was very supportive in helping you to bring Lindy to life?**

Yeah! Dylan was amazing. It’s such a technical show. I had to have so many different eyelines all the time, because I was constantly holding this ‘dot’ in my hand. And then, when I had my ‘bubble’, and I was seeing all my friends, there was no one there. Sometimes I had a sticker on the camera. At other times, I just had one of the assistant director’s fingers guiding my eyes around. By the end of the day, I’d gone cross-eyed! Sometimes, I also had to see Millie \[Gibson, who plays Ruby\] and Ncuti \[Gatwa, the Doctor\] by my side, so it was kind of crazy. Dylan was amazing at breaking things down for me. We sometimes had to spend a lot of time getting the shot, because it was so technical. But it was so fun to do. I had never done anything like it.

**So, you didn’t have any other actors with you for most of the filming?**

No, most of the time I was on my own, which I’d never done before. But as an actor, that’s such a skill to be able to work on. Most of the time, one of the assistant directors was reading with me – bless them – and I had some quite chunky bits of dialogue. But that made it even more special when I had days with Millie and Ncuti, and some of the other characters in Finetime. However, Tom Rhys-Harris plays a character called Ricky September, who I had a lot of scenes with, which was so much fun. I craved human attention by the end of the shoot!

I was quite lucky. I don’t really know where I came in the process. But Andy Pryor, the casting director, got me on tape. At that point, I was sent the whole script. Thank God! Because if I’d had to read the scenes out of context, I would have had no clue what was happening. But as soon as I read the script, I just thought, ‘I can have fun with this character’. I actually know someone who I could kind of base her on. Andy was amazing, and Russell has also just been consistently amazing to me. Since we wrapped, over a year ago, he’s really supported my career. He’s so brilliant at giving you a note, but also letting you have your freedom. The notes that he gave me are so specific, that you think, ‘Of course, this makes complete sense’. I got some good reference points. One of the episodes it was compared to was _Blink_ \[2007\], the Carey Mulligan episode – which I did not wear lightly! To have my own ‘standalone’ episode of _Doctor Who_ is such a privilege.

**Indeed, Lindy is very much at the forefront of this _Doctor Who_ adventure.**

Yeah. It kind of exists because of Ncuti’s schedule. He hadn’t finished doing _Sex Education_ at the time, so this was actually the first episode of the entire series to be filmed. It was mad, because it was the very start of this thing. Everyone was so hyped. Disney had come on board, and it was the start of this long shoot… and it was just me! I was like, ‘Sorry! I’m not the Doctor!’ But that meant that when Ncuti and Millie arrived, they just blew everyone away. Ncuti’s first day on set was with me. I knew he was going to be good, but I didn’t know he was going to be _that_ good. He’s just this unbelievable ball of energy and kindness and light. I couldn’t stop watching him.

Our monster was like a giant slug. I had never worked with a monster before. I could not take it seriously! I’d be having a cup of tea with the four guys who operate it, and then they’d go, ‘Right, we’re off!’ and they’d go and climb inside this monster! I’m sure it’s going to look amazing. I thought the monster in episode one of this series \[the Bogeyman, as featured in _Space Babies_\] was terrifying, so I’ve got high hopes for this one. But working with it was hilarious, because you’d have to be so close to it, looking absolutely petrified, but you could hear the men inside. The poor guys couldn’t see a thing! It was just so hard to not get the giggles. I’m hoping it looks scary.

**Ah, the life of a _Doctor Who_ monster actor has barely changed in 61 years!**

It’s hilarious! It’s so charming, though, isn’t it?

**It sounds as if you’ve been watching the previous episodes of this series.**

Yeah, I went to the premiere a few weeks ago. We watched episodes one and two, and I was blown away by them. I wasn’t sure what to expect, because my experience was quite isolated, in a way. I obviously only read my episode. Millie and Ncuti are so good, and their chemistry is unbelievable. I think it was such a fun start, and I feel even more excited for my episode now.

**Did you grow up watching _Doctor Who_? The David Tennant and Billie Piper era, perhaps?**

Yeah! I’m a huge Billie Piper fan, but I was a Matt Smith girly, to be honest! Bizarrely, I always wanted to be in _Doctor Who_. It’s funny. About seven years ago, I did an interview where they asked me what my dream job would be, and I said, ‘I’d love to be in _Doctor Who_’, because I genuinely thought the show was so fun, and I had always wanted to be in it. Yeah, I loved Matt Smith, and I loved David Tennant. I think it’s such a fun show. You don’t realise how many people have been in it. The more I told people that I was going to be in _Doctor Who_, the more I kept hearing, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve done _Doctor Who_!’ Everyone’s done it. How fun, that we’ve all been part of this special thing!

**What was it like, telling your family and friends?**

Oh, they were really excited! I don’t come from a family of industry folk. My dad is a builder, and my sisters are nurses. They don’t always get it. But with something like _Doctor Who_, it’s so universal, and they were _really_ excited by it! There are videos of me running around the TARDIS, and they couldn’t believe it!

**You must have been one of the first people to see the new-look TARDIS!**

Yes! The pressure was _unbelievable_. I had all these pictures on my phone, with me in the TARDIS. I mean, _obviously_ you have to take selfies in the TARDIS. I kept thinking, ‘My phone’s going to be hacked! Someone’s going to find these photos.’ I was so stressed. I still am a bit stressed about it, to be honest. But I can’t wait to post all my selfies on Instagram!

**Were you entirely filming in the _Doctor Who_ studios in Cardiff, or did you get to film on location too?**

We did a bit of both. We did Lindy’s house in the studio, and we had a couple of other studio sets, which were just unbelievable. I still pinch myself every time I’m on a film set, because to me, it’s ridiculous that I get to do this. We also went on location to Swansea. We actually filmed a lot at Swansea University – all the outside stuff. There are all these old red brick buildings, which are quite timeless, so we used that as Finetime.

No. I’ve seen bits. I’m also quite like this \[Callie hides her face behind her hands\]. I’ll be watching it through my fingers! It’s not the usual thing that I do, so I’m quite nervous.

**Will you be watching it among friends when it goes out?**

I’m actually going to be away at a wedding in Italy, and I’ll probably have no phone signal. So, I’ll either turn my phone back on a day later to lots of support… or I’ll turn it on, and then turn it straight back off again! I’m afraid I’m not going to be able watch it live. But the idea that people will stay up till midnight to watch it is very exciting.

**Yes, _Doctor Who_ fans have special midnight viewing parties!**

I know! It’s so much fun. When I was a teenager, I used to go to the midnight screenings of the new _Twilight_ movies. So embarrassing! And I also used to stay up late to watch _Game Of Thrones_.

**Well, the _Doctor Who_ fans are just as excited about each new episode.**

Yes, the fans have waited a long time for this series. It’s so sweet and exciting, how excited they are, and how much they support it. I just think as a fan base, I’ve never seen such a wonderful group of people, that just are so united. I mean, there’s always negative stuff. But as a whole, they’re such a supportive community. They are so sweet.

**Are you looking forward to meeting the fans at conventions?**

The idea that someone would want to meet me is so baffling and mad, but I would love to! I honestly had the best time working on that show, so I would happily talk about it to anyone that would want to listen.

**Well, thank you for talking about it with us today! And hopefully we’ll see you again soon…**

Thank you! I’m so lucky that Russell is my guy! We got on like a house on fire, and he’s just the kindest teddy bear in this industry. I can’t wait to work with him again.

**_Doctor Who_** **continues on BBC iPlayer and BBC1 on Saturdays**

## Valentine's TV 2024 {#h-valentine-s-tv-2024}

Ah, we feel it in our fingers, and we feel it in our toes. Love is all around us, and so the feeling grows… But with the most romantic day of the year falling in the middle of the week, you might be thinking of having a cosy night in front of the box, rather than going out on a date with your better half. So, whether you’re a singleton, or if you’re all loved up with that special person in your life, why not check out our _flirty dozen_?

Created by Mad Men’s Victor Levin, this new six-part drama series promises to be a love story for the ages. Quite literally, in fact, as the story spans 17 years. When financial advisor Alice (Andrea Riseborough) first meets warm-hearted Jack (Domhnall Gleeson), they seem to be bound by a very powerful connection – one that seems unbreakable. But will emotional complexities threaten their future happiness?

_Begins on Wednesday 14 February on Channel 4_

Maître d’ Fred Siriex is back, as his First Dates restaurant hosts a Valentine’s special! It’s been 10 years since the show began, and since then, thousands of lonely hearts have passed through the restaurant’s doors, hoping to find their perfect partner. In this one-off, TikTok star Holly bonds with landscaper Sam over a shared passion for tequila, while 90-year-old army veteran Ronald thinks that he’s struck gold with 91-year-old Iris. But will any of them find everlasting love?

The residents of Weatherfield have very mixed fortunes when it comes to matters of the heart, but this Valentine’s Day, Billy is absolutely determined to make it a special one for Paul, with a motorbike and sidecar ride! However, with Billy still wincing in pain from his back, he loads up on painkillers. Meanwhile, Bobby sees a way to Lauren’s heart, but when a delivery man presents her with a huge bouquet from another admirer, will Bobby have to see off the competition?

_Monday 12, Tuesday 13, Wednesday 14 and Friday 16 February on ITV1_

Series six of the reality show launches on Valentine’s Day itself, with a new group of singletons from Charlotte, North Carolina, embarking on a journey for romance. As ever, the twist is that couples will have to plan their weddings before they actually meet in person – which might seem rather risky, but can sometimes result in a happy-ever-after. But will any of the new match-ups prove that true love really is blind?

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