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March 27th, 2012 27 comments

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Jenna-Louise Coleman Radio Times Interview

Jenna-Louise Coleman Radio Times Interview

Images and Text courtesy of The Radio Times. You can read the whole article in this weeks edition on sale now.

Jenna-Louise Coleman’s audition for the part of the new companion in Doctor Who to replace Karen Gillan’s Amy Pond was shrouded in such secrecy that the show had a codename: Men on Waves.

“I wasn’t allowed to say it was Doctor Who at any point – not talking to my agent, not when I arrived at the audition, and I certainly couldn’t tell anyone at all what I was up to next,” the 25-year-old actress says, admitting that she was surprised at how good a fibber she became.

“When she was auditioning, Karen Gillan had been given a codename – Panic Moon, which is an anagram of Companion – so I worked out that Men on Waves is an anagram of Woman Seven, because this is the seventh series. Weirdly, seven is my lucky number and this is my seventh job.”

Fate may or may not have had a hand in Coleman’s casting, but her performance in her auditions with Matt Smith definitely did. Who showrunner Steven Moffat has said that she and Smith had a cracking chemistry and Coleman describes her auditions as unique. “Normally you’re just reading in front of a camera, but with this, it was so physical. We were using props and running around so it felt like playing – and like a partnership straightaway.”

Image copyright radio times.

Coleman will certainly need to hit the ground running – not least as 2013 is Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary for which Big Things are promised. She will be joining the show properly in May when she begins filming her first episode – the Christmas special. The Blackpool-born actress, best known for playing Emmerdale’s Jasmine Thomas and Waterloo Road’s Lindsay James, says she’s thrilled – and relieved that she doesn’t have to keep her next job a secret.

“When you keep a secret this big – I’ve kept this one for six weeks – the temptation to tell is all the more irresistible, especially as I live with three schoolfriends,” she says. “With girl politics the way they are, I couldn’t tell just one friend. I had to phone one of them on the way to the press conference to tell her that I’d borrowed her shoes, in case she saw them in photos.”

Coleman, named by her grandma after Jenna Wade (played by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley) from Dallas, says she’d be naive not to think about the attention and success that playing the Doctor’s companion brings, but she knows lean times too. After Emmerdale and Waterloo Road she was rejected by Rada and didn’t work for a year.

Did the acting work dry up because she’d been labelled a “soap actress”? “It’s very easy for people to put you in a box,” she says, “and I’ve been fighting very hard against that.” She’s certainly got range: she’s currently in Julian Fellowes’ Titanic and arch-intellectual Steven Poliakoff’s forthcoming BBC2 drama Dancing on the Edge.

Coleman’s soap background will have prepared her for the demanding Doctor Who schedule and, on Titanic and the Hollywood blockbuster Captain America, she’s had some experience of special effects. “I haven’t had to talk to anyone who wasn’t there before, but in Titanic, I did have to talk to a paper cup as if it were a person on a ship. So maybe that was good practice…”

What can Coleman say about her character? Will she be using her own gentle Lancastrian accent?

“I have an idea of the story, of the character and of a few surprises, but I don’t know her name or where she’s from. I just told Steven and [producer] Caroline Skinner ‘Don’t tell me anything until I need to know it.’”

And what does Coleman hope for from Doctor Who?

“In Emmerdale, I murdered somebody and in Waterloo Road, I murdered somebody,” she grins broadly, “so now I’m hoping to have fun. Lots of it.”


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27 comments

  • the astornaut of death

    May 24th, 2012 - 12:24pm

    she started filiming today

    Reply
  • JJ

    May 24th, 2012 - 10:37am

    I have a very good theory, which I don’t think is true, but it’s worth a try. I reckon…

    Jenna-Louise Coleman…

    might be…

    Amy Pond (regenerated) (just a guess and probably not true) JJ!

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    April 28th, 2012 - 8:33pm

    It’s not so much the companions as the stories. After Matt Smith’s promising introduction and a relatively good season 5, I found season 6 a bit of a brain ache chore.

    Reply
  • Andrew

    April 28th, 2012 - 8:18am

    Is anyone else annoyed that they’re only broadcasting 6 episodes this year? You’d think that on the lead up to the 50th Anniversary they’d be going for the Jack pot when it comes to stories but they’re doing the opposite. Also I think Jenna-Louise Coleman will be a fantastic companion! Looking forward to see her alongside the Doctor in 2013!

    Reply
    • JJ

      May 24th, 2012 - 10:38am

      I hope they do series 7 (remaining 8) in 2013 spring and then series 8 (full series) in 2013 autumn with episode 13 on Saturday 23rd November 2013! JJ!

    • JJ

      May 24th, 2012 - 10:39am

      * remaining 8 (eight, don’t know what went wrong with the smiley) ect. JJ!

  • McGann is the Doctor.

    April 19th, 2012 - 2:03pm

    Interesting, she looks fine I cannot judge her until the episode where she comes on, but if she really does have a good chemistry with Matt Smith then it should be fine !

    It depends on the writing for whatever character she will become, 💡 in the meantime, lets just concentrate on other things, it’s early days for Madame Jenna Louise.

    Reply
  • Harold Saxon

    April 6th, 2012 - 7:17pm

    wonder if she is an older version of the eldest girl in last year’s christmas special,that would be cool!

    Reply
    • Give me a Dalek any day

      April 6th, 2012 - 9:09pm

      Similar to what my friend thinks. He thinks the Doctor will meet her as an old woman and then meet her as a young girl. Well, not that young, but, oh you get what I mean!

  • the TARDIS

    April 3rd, 2012 - 2:51pm

    Do you think she used to be friends with Lucie Miller?!

    Reply
  • Jack

    March 29th, 2012 - 8:09am

    That cover photo’s stupid.. About to do a dissection with nail polish and caked in make-up! 😛

    Reply
  • the astronaut of death

    March 27th, 2012 - 8:38pm

    my mum said Jenna-Louise Coleman was on that morning show THIS MORNING today

    Reply
  • georgia-doctor

    March 27th, 2012 - 8:13pm

    i like her, but i still don’t like the idea of Amy leaving. She was an amazing companion and so was Rory. It’s hard to see the Doctor with anyone else.

    Reply
    • TARDIS

      March 27th, 2012 - 8:20pm

      Well she is like the Martha of the 11th doctor and like martha im sure I will like her.

    • Justininferno

      March 27th, 2012 - 8:47pm

      Amy was awful. She was the worst since Peri. Im hoping this companion brings a fresh new start tot he series.

    • Give me a Dalek any day

      March 28th, 2012 - 5:42am

      I liked Amy and Rory, but the show must move on. If Amy and Rory were to stay, then it would eventually get boring.

    • matt smithy

      March 28th, 2012 - 4:56pm

      justinferno, i disagree with you entirley. I liked amy and rory. Not cause im a “fan boy” but because they are casted well and have good characters/personnality. I’m not “glad” that they are leaving but i think like give me a dalek says, its around the right time to move on.

    • the astronaut of death

      March 28th, 2012 - 8:00pm

      the thing about amy and rory is that they never get boring theres always somthing new for them

    • Dalek Sec

      March 30th, 2012 - 2:19am

      I don’t really like Amy, Rory was ok, but i want to see more of Riversong, i never find her boring.

    • thedw11

      April 2nd, 2012 - 8:42pm

      i like rory. amy was great at first but as time go’s on she got a bit boring.

  • Harold Saxon

    March 27th, 2012 - 8:07pm

    sounds like she is going to be excellent and with amy being so popular someone excellent is needed to fill that companion role.

    Reply
  • Jason doctorwhoone

    March 27th, 2012 - 7:20pm

    I like the idea that we will be introduced to her character on Christmas Day, cos usually in a Christmas special, the Doctor is companion-less, yet has someone at his side during them stories, like the mother and her kids in the most recent Christmas Special, and then he just continues his adventures after sharing one with somebody for just one episode, so I feel she will share this years Christmas adventure with the Doctor, but end up traveling with him right at the end – EXCELLENT !!!!!!! 😀

    Reply
  • Cyberman97

    March 27th, 2012 - 6:26pm

    Nice read thanks Booboo 🙂

    Reply
  • Give me a Dalek any day

    March 27th, 2012 - 5:55pm

    Never have I been so excited for Christmas in March. 😉

    Reply
  • Anthony

    March 27th, 2012 - 5:14pm

    Interesting read that

    Reply
  • Peter

    March 27th, 2012 - 5:14pm

    I think she is going to be great

    Reply
  • BOOBOO JR

    March 27th, 2012 - 4:46pm

    My Radio Times came today, so will read this later 😀

    Reply

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