Carole Ann Ford is the first Lady of Doctor Who and the template by which every companion should be measured.

As part of the original TARDIS crew she was responsible for helping shape the programme we all know today, and her role in this cannot be underestimated. She took time out from her busy life teaching voice and presentation skills to scream one more time in the wake of her reappearance as Susan Foreman, the Doctor’s Granddaughter, in the imminent Big Finish release, An Earthly Child.

I wondered what had made Carole want to become an actress?

“I always wanted to be “On the stage”, so I started as a dancer at 11, but got pneumonia, so couldn’t do that anymore. School plays and amateur led to professional acting.”

Television roles about for the pretty, quirky Carole until “The role in Man On A Bicycle led to me getting Doctor Who…”

Susan Foreman was one of a kind – the first Who girl. But she was more than that. She was a fellow Time Lord, a refugee just like the Doctor, and also, as will be explored soon in An Earthly Child, the Doctor’s Granddaughter! Did she develop the character herself or was it given to her?

“She came from Gallifrey, when her grandfather had to get away because of an argument/difference of opinion with the Time Lords. Bill (William Hartnell, the First Doctor, ed) and I made the backstory up together.”

Famously, the first episode was reshot at the bequest of the Powers that Be. I wondered if Carole had approached Susan differently second time around?

“Yes, I originally wanted to make her to be weirder, more interesting.”

I asked Carole about the “fan” train of thought that Susan isn’t exactly the Doctor’s granddaughter, but more a contemporary of him, or something else? How does she feel about that?

“That’s not what we were told, that’s all speculation. I don’t know where that came from.” (Marc Platt! It was him! Honest! Ed)

The rest of the original TARDIS crew were older and more established than Carole had been, and it seems that Billy took the grandfather role rather literally when it came to Carole… how was it to walk into that type of dynamic?

“Terrifying! But we all got on very well, very quickly. Bill tried to be controlling and I resisted, but he meant well and only wanted the best for me.”

It seems the old legend of him being difficult to work with is all a matter of opinion – I told her about Peter Purves’s point that he was more a stickler and frustrated than difficult. Carole agrees.

“He was a darling. He had a great sense of humour, quite naughty sometimes, but a perfectionist with strong opinions that he didn’t mind voicing.”

I wondered if Carole felt anything special in that TARDIS set, originally. Did she sense something special was happening?

“No, but, obviously, it was something very different. Breaking previous boundaries. But, ultimately, it was just another job.”

And another first, the journey into space and time, for the first time, landed the intrepid new friends on Skaro, and the most iconic episode of Doctor Who of all time – The Daleks! I asked Carole how they were to work with, and if she got a sense of history in the making with them.

“We thought that they were very funny! Although interesting and innovative. But we’d no idea they would have such an impact.”

Following from that, The Edge of Destruction is a wonderful piece of enclosed Who, allowing each of the characters the flex their acting muscles. Was Carole happy with the scripts in general?

“The Edge of Destruction was my favourite story to act in. Scripts varied, some brilliant, some not so good, but mostly frustrating for me, as they were rather repetitive.”

And did she have a favourite between the historical and science fiction ones?

“Historical,” Carole admits. “I preferred Historical ones.”

And in Dalek Invasion of Earth we say farewell to Susan… how did this happen?

“It was my choice to leave. My character was getting rather boring, she was never really developed. I don’t think they knew what to do with me.”

And how did the rest of the cast take the news. “Oh they weren’t very happy. Especially Bill.”


And of the exit itself? A lot of commentators have suggested it’s a little abrupt…?

“I would rather have gone on a more upbeat note rather than for “true love”. I would have liked Susan’s abilities to have been recognized more and to have been used in the recreation of the world.” I pointed out that this indeed was the case in some of the spin off material, in the “what happened next” category. “Oh, I wasn’t aware of that, no,” Carole admits.

Carole has always been happy to be associated with Doctor Who, and it has of course endured. What’s it’s secret? “It made such an impact on the public, there was nothing else out there like it and it appealed to all ages and all types of people.”

And she returned to Doctor Who twenty years later for The Five Doctors. Of course, sadly Billy had passed on since then, and the First Doctor was played by the rather unFirst Doctorish Richard Hurndall… what that weird? “It was very strange. Richard Hurndall was great in the part and we also had a good relationship. But it was strange.”

I thought that maybe, considering who Susan is, something more could have been made with her interacting with the other incarnations? “That’s an interesting thought!”

And now, of course, she gets the chance to do just that when she meets the Doctor again – now in his eighth life in An Earthly Child. What’s that adventure like? Carole is tight lipped but will say: “Only that it is a totally fascinating and exciting twist. The fans must discover the rest by listening to it. I don’t want to spoil it for them.”

But working with Paul must have been an experience. A very different Doctor to Bill…

“Totally different,” Carole agrees. “Much younger, of course, but as soon as we started working together than same old indefinable magic happened. It helped than Paul is a very good and exciting actor.”

And a lovely twist in the dynamic of the Doctor and Susan…”You’ll just have to listen to it!” Blimey, I’m told “Ssshh, spoilers!” by Susan! Crickey!

I turned to the new series – I presume she’s aware of it and watches it? “I’ve been loving the new series, but the Doctors are getting younger and younger!”

And younger again. Peter Purves said that Matt might be a little too young. Does Carole think so? “I agree in theory, but let’s wait and see. Although we might end up with a twelve year old at this rate!”

And the new series isn’t a stranger to bringing back old companions. Would Carole go back? “I would love to!” Yay! “But I think it would be an almost impossible task for the script writers, though I have a few ideas if they are interested. And the fans keep sending me ideas too!”

And a final spoiler… go on… what’ve you got coming up in the future, I asked. “More stories on CD with Big Finish,” Carole tells me.

I’m glad, after 46 years, Susan Foreman is still out there, fighting the good fight.


My thanks to Carole and Harry for this interview.