Miriam Margoyles has opened up about the role she missed out on in Doctor Who, ahead of her debut in the 60th anniversary special.
The Harry Potter actress will voice the alien creature known as Meep in the action-packed episode that promises the return of David Tennant as the Doctor, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and kick-starts Ncuti Gatwa’s era as the timelord.
Ahead of the special’s arrival in November, Miriam spoke with Doctor Who Magazine about the role that her friend (and former Doctor) Tom Baker wanted her to play on the show – his companion.
Yet, allegedly, the team refused to consider her for the part as she didn’t fit the ‘aesthetic’ that the female companion had at the time.
“When I think of Doctor Who I think initially of Tom Baker, whom I loved and worked with. And I remember he said he’d asked for me to be the sidekick many years ago and they wouldn’t consider it,” she said.
“I only heard about this via Tom years later. Not at the time. He told me, ‘I really asked for you and wanted you but they said no.’ He thought I was slightly off the wall, and he wanted somebody slightly off the wall.”
To only add more salt to the wound for Doctor Who and Miriam fans, the actress revealed that she would have jumped at the chance to join the timelord in the Tardis.
“I would love to have done it,” she continued, “it would have been amazing. But I wasn’t the sort of person they wanted. In those days, the whole point was to have a very conventional pretty little thing. I was never that.”
It seems Miriam’s arrival in the BBC science-fiction series is long overdue, and fans are delighted to have her join the long-running franchise.
The anniversary falls on Thursday, November 23, therefore the three special episodes are likely to fall on the weekend before or after this date. There is no confirmed release date for these specials.
The 60th-anniversary special of Doctor Who will air in November.