MOMENTS BEFORE JODIE WHITTAKER regenerated into David Tennant (what?!) in the Doctor Who BBC centenary special, fans were treated to a very special, and quite unexpected, coda. "It was the one secret that didn't get out," smiles Katy Manning. "Nobody knew." The Doctor's loveable UNIT lab assistant and, latterly, globetrotting environmentalist Jo Jones (neé Grant) was back, and this was no happy accident. Fandom partied like it was 1973.
"You learn to keep secrets in this business," Manning tells SFX. "There are all these different [Big Finish] audios that I did a long time ago and I'm unable to talk about them. It's hard. I did one with Sir Derek Jacobi and I don't think it came out till 18 months later. A lot of people then said, 'So that's what you were doing! You have to forget you ever did it."
When it came to "The Power Of The Doctor", the highly publicised return of Jo's fellow time travellers Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) was a convenient diversion. "I would say how wonderful and excited I was for the girls and how terrific it all was - but I couldn't say anything about my role. People kept saying, 'Are you coming back?" I went, 'No!""
The whole universe (and her dog) are now privy to the support group that Jo attends alongside her fellow TARDIS travellers, spanning the series' very first episode to the current day. "It was an absolute joy to meet Bradley Walsh and John Bishop," Manning says.
But her "absolute touching moment" was with William Russell, who played Ian. "I've done conventions and get on really well with William and his wife. I loved him in Sir Lancelot when I was a tiny little person. It was just so touching to see him smiling. He's 98 now, and he's marvellous.
This story is from the May 2023 edition of SFX UK.
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This story is from the May 2023 edition of SFX UK.
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Already a subscriber? Sign In
Making Alien - Jaws in Space - Forty-five years on from its original release, Alien continues to terrify. We dissect what arguably remains the most chilling instalment in the saga
The seven-strong crew of the commercial mining spacecraft the Nostromo seal their fate after reluctantly responding to a mysterious distress signal on a hostile planet. Here, a face-hugging alien from a derelict ship impregnates and later kills executive officer Kane (John Hurt) after its offspring is birthed onboard. After being unleashed, the fearsome newborn with acid for blood proceeds to dispatch the remainder of the crew.Ridley Scott's much more convoluted prequels have yet to reveal how the knowledge that led to this initial interception was acquired. However, the premise of the original Alien is perfect in its uncomplicated purity.
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