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BBC News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Desperately Seeking Susan
"In the past, right now, I live in a place called Totter's Lane. 1963, I park the TARDIS in a junkyard and live there with my granddaughter, Susan." The Doctor (2024) It's been over 60 years since The Doctor left Susan to live her own life without him, But just like The Doctor has never forgotten her, she has remained a constant presence in the BBC Archives all that time, just waiting to be revisited. So, as Susan helps the Doctor during the events of Interstellar Song Contest, here's an insight into her earlier life. Susan was the Doctor's original companion, already part of his life when he is first seen on screen in 1963. This extract from a document exploring the background to the series provides a little more detail about the character, but still leaves plenty of mystery as to Susan's background. As well as that intelligence and other-worldliness, original producer Verity Lambert was also looking for something else when she cast the part of Susan, as she explained in this unedited interview from 1999. "They had to be able to scream, because she spent a lot of time screaming." The ability to scream would be something that many future companions would be required to bring to their role in Doctor Who as 'the young person in jeopardy'. The role of Susan was given to Carole Ann Ford, who by 1963 had already established an acting career in film and television. She describes her excitement at getting the part in this unedited interview from 2003, and talks about her frustrations with the lack of character development. "But you were weird!" Despite being the prototype for later Doctor Who companions, Susan had a unique bond with the Doctor – she was his granddaughter, and she always referred to him as grandfather. The affection between the pair was obvious on screen, as can be seen in this photo of them with fellow companions Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and other cast from the 1964 story Marco Polo. "We're much too far away from home, my granddaughter and I" The Doctor (1964) Although Carole Ann Ford disliked the lack of character development for Susan, there was an enduring mystery as to who she really was. In this unedited interview from 2003, she explores Susan's relationship with her grandfather and some of the discussions around whether or not she was a Time Lord like the Doctor. At the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) Susan had fallen in love and was left by the Doctor, to begin a new life without him. And so the mysteries surrounding Susan were never answered. However, there was a glimpse of Susan's origins in the 1983 anniversary story The Five Doctors. An older Susan was reunited with her grandfather (now played by Richard Hurndall) and recognised that they were on Gallifrey, the Time Lord's home planet, suggesting that maybe she'd been there before. "You're still my grandchild and always will be" The Doctor (1964) In 2013, then Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat was asked if there would ever be a story to find out what happened to Susan. "I don't know that we're ever going to do that as a storyline" was his response. Fourteen years later and Susan finally reappears back in the TARDIS. But the mysteries around her and what her life has been like without the Doctor remain questions still to be answered.
Telegraph
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Doctor Who: The Interstellar Song Contest, review: Rylan, Bucks Fizz and plenty of boom bang-a-bang
This review contains SPOILERS Susan is back. Yes, that Susan. Fully 61 years since the grumpy Time Lord left his granddaughter behind on Earth, she returned to Doctor Who (BBC One), bringing a lump to the throats of long-time fans. In a coda plot twist during the closing credits, she was joined by renegade Time Lady, The Rani, also back after decades off our screens. Resurrecting not one but two fabulous females from Who history might feel excessive but Eurovision is a night for going over-the-top. Actress Carole Ann Ford, who plays Susan, is the last surviving cast member from the show's 1963 debut. The original 'Unearthly Child' is now an unearthly octogenarian. With the show's future in doubt, her poignant homecoming provided a powerful link to Who history. After a showdown with the Daleks at Christmas 1964, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) reluctantly locked his relative out of the Tardis – which, ironically, Susan had named. She has been regularly mentioned by the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), paving the way for this welcome return. Ethereal in white, the long-lost Susan appeared in a vision, beseeching him to, 'Go back and find me'. A comeback for Ford has long been mooted and nearly came to pass during Peter Capaldi's tenure. The surprise was pulled off with aplomb. It made for a magical moment. Her reappearance added further heft to what first seemed a frivolous episode, but proved to have hidden depths. Titled The Interstellar Song Contest, a merry mash-up between Doctor Who and Eurovision playfully exploited the fan crossover between the two TV institutions. Both tend to attract nerdy devotees. Both are winningly old-fashioned but constantly regenerate for new audiences. Both have been fixtures on the BBC for more than 60 years. Now they collided in an impishly plotted, visually ambitious sci-fi caper. Slyly scheduled directly before the musical extravaganza in Basel, it was as flamboyant and frothy as the Europop party itself. The Doctor and companion Belinda (Varada Sethu) landed on a space station circa 2925. It happened to be hosting the 803rd universe-wide crooning contest – compéred by the immortal Rylan Clark, stepping out of cryogenic suspension to take the mic. 'We are so staying,' said an endearingly delighted Belinda. Naturally, a harmless night out soon became a battle for survival. The control room was hijacked by horned terrorist Kid (Freddie Fox), hell-bent on payback for the competition's corporate sponsor destroying his home planet. Ejecting the 100,000 audience into space was just the first phase. His ultimate plan was to beam a deadly signal across the galaxy, killing the viewership of three trillion. Surely the most harmful broadcast since With Love, Meghan. Slow Horses ' Kadiff Kirwan and Coronation Street's Charlie Condou played a bickering gay couple in the crowd. Handily, they were a nurse and a computer whiz respectively, so helped the Doctor save the day– reviving their own romance in the process. Guest stars Graham Norton (in hologram form, having sold his likeness in perpetuity) and especially Clark ('Back from the dead? Sums up my career') had a hoot sending up their showbiz personas. Gatwa's incarnation is the most emotional since David Tennant's, wearing his heart on his sleeve and prone to tears. Here he displayed his dark side, becoming violently vengeful against Kid after the attempted massacre. Expect his rage to be explained in the two-part finale teed up by this story. A sadistic Doctor simply isn't on-brand. Alongside callbacks to Time Lord lore came knowing nods to Eurovision's past. Dana International was glimpsed, Conchita Wurst was name-checked and a montage was soundtracked by Bucks Fizz (sadly sans skirt-ripping). The Doctor reminisced about attending the 1974 contest, won by Abba. The script made sure to mention the late Olivia Newton-John, who represented the UK and finished fourth. Author Juno Dawson has worked in the Whoniverse before, penning Torchwood audio dramas and creating sparky podcast spin-off Doctor Who: Redacted. Becoming the first openly transgender writer on the main show, she delivered a witty romp with just enough jeopardy. She even had the audacity to make our hero ride a confetti cannon through space. On this evidence, Dawson deserves to be back on the mothership soon. That late flourish saw the mysterious Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) unmasked at last. She 'bi-generated', splitting in two like Gatwa and Tennant memorably did in 2023. Enter villainess The Rani (once played by the late Kate O'Mara, now by Emmy-winner Archie Panjabi): amoral scientist and longtime nemesis of The Doctor. He's not the last of his species after all. 'Let battle begin,' she smirked, striding off in pursuit of her fellow Gallifreyan. 'I will bring him absolute terror.' While this episode didn't quite score the coveted douze points, it was a heartfelt, highly entertaining love letter to Doctor Who, to Eurovision and to the power of music. Unrepentantly populist and the ideal warm-up for the madness of the main event. Let's hope proceedings in Switzerland aren't hijacked by aliens with mullets and goat horns. Or perhaps if you're Eurovision-sceptic, let's hope they are. Let the games begin in Basel too.
