In October 2024, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sophie Aldred, also known as the Seventh Doctor’s explosive companion Ace!
To sit down and chat with Sophie Aldred was nothing short of a dream come true for us at Lovarzi. Better still, we had a whole hour of her time to discuss her role as the Seventh Doctor‘s companion – although in truth we could have chatted to her for a lot longer. Our plan to cover every story from her time on the show proved to be somewhat ambitious, and could have filled an entire Blu-ray. In short, there was a lot to discuss, and so much to learn!
We did, of course, ask Sophie Aldred how she got involved in Doctor Who in the first place. When she was cast the late 80s, the series had fallen out of favour; Sophie told us that Doctor Who wasn’t exactly loved at the BBC, and the script editor Andrew Cartmel had told her that senior management didn’t even bother to watch the tapes prior to transmission. This was great for Doctor Who, because it meant the production team could get away with things that might otherwise have been flagged.
Sophie Aldred was, however, aware of the popularity and the enormity of the show she was joining, and had many vivid memories of Doctor Who‘s early days, particularly the Cybermen from Patrick Troughton’s era with their sinister voices and ‘letterbox’ mouths. But she did admit she was somewhat confused when she was cast as the Doctor Who companion because, in her mind, the companions tended to run around quarries in unsuitable footwear, and she was very much a tomboy who rode a motorbike.
Ironically, Sophie Aldred discovered that she was going to be the new Doctor Who companion whilst acting in a play with a man called John Scott Martin, who was one of the former Dalek operators. That being said, she had originally been cast in a one-off role for ‘Dragonfire,’ and it was whilst this story was being filmed that the producer John Nathan-Turner asked if she would like to become a regular. According to Sophie, this was all rather casual; Nathan-Turner simply approached her, whilst chomping on a cigarette, and said, “Well, we’re on if you are.”
Naturally, our conversation then took a turn towards ‘Remembrance of the Daleks,’ which was the first story of Doctor Who Season 25 and Sophie Aldred’s first proper adventure in the TARDIS. There’s a famous scene in ‘Remembrance’ in which Sophie attacks a Dalek with a baseball bat, but there’s a less well-known out-take in which she bludgeons the wrong Dalek. We asked Sophie about this, but she couldn’t remember how the mistake came about. It certainly seems odd that the director would line up the shot, put a Dalek in situ with Ace poised with her baseball bat, and then not do anything. We may never know the truth about this one.
However, out-takes notwithstanding, ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ is a very highly-regarded story, and Sophie Aldred confessed that she knew it was ‘a good one’ when she first read the script. This was even more remarkable, she explained, given that the writer Ben Aaronovitch was only 21 at the time. She added that he was very excited to be on set during production, which was unusual, but something that John Nathan-Turner liked to encourage.
The discussion then turned towards ‘The Happiness Patrol’ – the story which came after ‘Remembrance.’ The interviewer (yours truly) revealed that it was one of his favourite stories of the Seventh Doctor‘s time, and Sophie Aldred was delighted to hear this. It sounded as if she really enjoyed the adventure too, particularly the subtle nods towards the prime minister Margaret Thatcher whom the guest star Sheila Hancock relished in parodying.
Sadly, we didn’t have time to ask Sophie Aldred about many of the other stories from her time on the show, but we did get chance to touch on ‘Survival.‘ This was an important adventure in Doctor Who‘s history as it marked the end of the classic run, and indeed the end of Sophie Aldred’s time on the show, as the programme was cancelled shortly after transmission.
That being said, Sophie Aldred did admit that she and the cast knew little of Doctor Who‘s impending doom, and she said this was down to John Nathan-Turner’s shielding it from the the actors. Production on the final series, it seemed, was very much ‘business as usual,’ with ‘Ghost Light‘ being the last adventure to go before the cameras.
Of course, as you probably know, this wasn’t Sophie Aldred’s last appearance in Doctor Who. The character of Ace returned for the BBC’s centenary special in 2022, ‘The Power of the Doctor,’ which also marked the end of the Jodie Whittaker era. This was a dream come true for Sophie Aldred, who said that she cried when she received the call from the casting director Andy Pryor; she described it as the call that she didn’t know she had been waiting for.
This then led to a Zoom meeting with herself and the showrunner Chris Chibnall, who revealed that he had met her years before when he’d interviewed her at a Doctor Who convention in the 90s. And as excited as Sophie Aldred was to be returning to the series, she did admit to feeling a little deflated when she came off that initial Zoom call, as it sounded like she wouldn’t have much to do in an episode which would also involve multiple companions, Daleks, Cybermen, and the Master to boot.
But as it transpired, there was actually plenty of action for Ace in ‘The Power of the Doctor,’ and indeed there are many great scenes in the story, not least the one where she is ‘reunited’ with the Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy.
And whilst, sadly, there aren’t any plans for an Ace spin-off series any time soon, Sophie Aldred did reveal that she is currently working on a book which is due out next year. It will focus on all the badges pinned to Ace’s iconic jacket, delving into the story behind each badge and why the character chose it. Exciting stuff!
As we said, we could have chatted to Sophie Aldred for hours, and it feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface of her Doctor Who anecdotes and stories. We certainly have a lot of follow-up questions regarding her proposal for an Eighth Doctor and Ace spin-off series!
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