Doctor Who's Charley Pollard Herself, INDIA FISHER, Chats With Us!

0:00 hi I'm India Fisher and this is the Sirens of [Music] audio [Music] good day audio files this is the Sirens of audio show that explores the universe

0:46 of Doctor Who in the audio medium I'm Dwayne and I'm Philip good day Dwayne good day audio files I Philip how are you I am excellent thank you we've got lots and lots of good things for this episode we've got India Fisher coming up shortly so I know she's I think I'm right in saying that she is your favorite big finish companion um so that's going to be a thrill but before we get to India there's a couple of little things that we normally do uh first of all Phillip big announcement you've got for the Sirens of audio once again and the Sirens of audio audience and anyone else who wants to come along well yeah if you're in Australia anyway so yes we've been lucky enough to uh have Wendy

1:32 padbury agree to come and come to a couple events and so at the moment we have Wendy book to come to Sydney in February on the 10th and then she's going to fly down to Melbourne and she'll be there for dinner on the 17th and then at a day event on the 18th so Sydney will have on the Saturday for both an event and then dinner afterwards the VIPs melbour will be the dinner will be the 17th event on the 18th um and I'm not putting it past maybe trying to sit f it fit in one other CI as well but that might be a bit hard but I'm I'm trying because I'm fed up with the people in Brisbane winging at me and so I'm seeing what I can do whether we can possibly fly up there as well and fit that in what about uh what about Geraldton in Western Australia I might be near there at the time I might be about eight hours away I

2:18 can drive down they see some someone in West Australia having a wi that we're too far away um yeah I me who knows may maybe one I empathize I empathize we can do a whole Australian tour um yeah six capital cities in three week I know it'd be lovely to do it's just what what what's feasible and affordable and all that stuff but you know Wendy has always been a favorite of mine um to me she's the you know her and Jamie and the the second doctor are just the perfect um tius Team for the second doctor um and um oh as well as that too I just mentioned too that um Wendy's daughter Charlie Hayes is also coming with her as well and big finish listeners will know Charlie she's been in so much stuff

3:04 she's done some stuff with her mother a couple of companion Chronicles but she's appear in lots of other stories as well so yeah there be opportunity to meet Charlie Hayes as well for the big finish fans excellent so to get more information on the event plus your tickets you can head over to Wendy padre. Sirens of audio.com all the info is there the links to the Sydney and Melbourne events are up and who knows if you complain enough to philli uh there might be another city very soon well we'll see yeah I'll do my best see what happens exactly all right we're going to get to Indie fish Fisher shortly but uh before we do do you know what know what DNE we

3:51 need to jump down that rabbit hole come with me Philip let's go [Music] [Applause] okay [Music] H like it getting in on the uh the old down gesturing action Philip that's great when Nick when Nick when Nick did the whole rabbi did the rabies I like that I was thinking oh I'm not I'm not into this at all it's amazing how many people are uh but I thought we keep it on topic today and just talk about the character of Charlie and why you think or do you do you think she's better because she's a companion who's traveled with two

4:37 different doctors but not in the traditional way like there's been many companions who have traveled with two with two different incarnations of the doctor going way back to Ben and Polly but they were sequential um Charlie on the other hand traveled with the eighth doctor finished with the eighth doctor and then went back and traveled with the sixth doctor so my question to you Philip is um do you think it's probably a hard question which okay I I'll I'll give it to you anyway which doctor do you think she works best with I think she's different enough for both doctors that she works really well with both so with the eighth doctor when we first meet her she's the Plucky adventurous but she's very young she's a

5:24 bit naive but she's just full of Adventure and excitement and want to the world so I think her and young eighth doctor um I think later on the eighth doctor is damaged by relationships and becomes a bit more battle weary and tired but early on he's just full of life and vigor and excitement Charlie brings that at him as well she is too she's too so the two of them are just having so much fun and it's it's that fun that excitement which is why I love love that era so much it's just so much joy and yeah it's just a wonderful era by the end end of her time with the eighth doctor though she's seen a lot she understands a lot and then she ends up by accident with the sixth doctor but he can't know who she is because of the timelines and you know she not like she

6:10 hasn't done enough to damage the timelines anyway and so the sixth doctor is more suspicious of her she's being more secretive so it's a totally different relationship because she can't be the same person and so she's more secretive he knows he can trust her but he knows there's things he can't trust about her um she can't reveal things about his future because they will damage the timelines it's all very it's a very different relationship but there's still this strong bond between them he knows there's more there but can't get to it she needs she has to protect him but they have great adventures as well so in terms of I mean that ear of with the eth doctor I prefer simply because I just love Charlie and the eth doctor and I love their life for life it's a wide-eyed Adventure isn't it

6:57 yeah and so when when did The Box said a couple years ago the further adventurous um of the you know that was a fantastic box set and we know she's coming back now this month for a Christmas adventure and once again it's that it's set during that early period before zus before the diversion universe so car yeah big carries so it's going to be this she's going to be the bouncy fun it's just going to be marvelous again so yeah so did you get it did it oh that's that's right that's what I was going to ask you because when we were speaking um with Nick I think it was you hadn't heard the end of audacity as yet no I 10 the end yeah yeah and and she comes in in the last couple of minutes did you did you get a any kind of a

7:44 twinge of oh I wanted audacity to have a bit more of a chance rather than than get sort of crowded with Charlie what do you think about the potential of that Dynamic um do you think the characters are all strong enough to kind of work together and bounce off each other just easily enough you think it's a good question I mean audacity is a wonderful character and and that little box set was just such a wonderful stories but no I was so glad to have Charlie back I don't I I'm happy that audacity hasn't got more time alone I think that I mean they're both from the past they're both um I think Charlie in terms of this in the story he going to still be younger than audacity and still a bit more bit bit naive and and joyous of the world audacity is a bit more world she's been

8:29 through more I think they're going to get on well but no I I didn't want more St once I knew Charlie was back I was know let's go with Charlie because I think it's going be a great Dynamic yeah and that release is actually uh just out in the last 24 hours or so at the time of recording so by the time this goes out it'll be out a few days have you downloaded it and started listening I haven't realized it was out did the press release come out from Big finish there was released uh the the newsletters actually come out and there's been tweets as well oh okay well I know what I'm be doing once we finish here yeah I've actually I've actually been listening to the master box that's their warm the last couple of days that's rogue's gallery or Rogue Gallery so Rogue I don't know it's brilliant

9:18 like just Derek Derek jackaby is always is always is amazing and and I've only listened to the first two stories the two of them just totally different already and you Hancock's last one I think it might be I don't know who knows had one or two to go I can't remember if this was the last one it's done quite a while ago but ah you you want to like this guy like you you really want to like the master and then he'll just do something so hideous you go H you can't but it's it's so hard because you like him so much and then he just does the most evil things so yeah it's great box yeah War Master J jackob it's wonderful fantastic all right well on

10:04 the subject of Charlie let's crawl up out of the rabbit hole and we'll throw in a trailer for something before we bring India Fisher on uh and Philip I'd like you to choose which one is there an obvious choice that we should throw in uh I don't know whe it's obvious or not I mean I mean the obious one would something like storm warning but let's do something a bit more fun um and let's do Invaders from Mars oh okay Doctor Who Invaders from [Music] Mars listen we are still heading for Singapore aren't we of course Singapore 1930 perhaps let me say 34th Street and

10:50 Broadway not Singapore well judging by that Skyline and that taxi driver's language and that dead man and that dead man oh I'd have to say New York City will you get moving your great lank hey hey again hurry genius my friend there's a fine art to successful chicanery now you don't even know what that means what is this place called no new jisy is new joisy the place where your weapons are kept no sir incredible as it may seem both the observations of Science and the evidence of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption that those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the Vanguard of an invading Army from the

11:37 planet Mars H who wrote this crap I certainly didn't write this crap you will awon you will we'll take Manhattan and Staten Island too luig could we have the tab please this is oron Wells ladies and gentlemen out of character to assure you that the War of the Worlds has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was intended to be so for a number of years we have been discussing and talking about um our love of Charlie and the character Charlie and we're very

12:22 blessed today to have India official with us India welcome to Silence of audio hello thank you for having me the wonders of modern technology e it is amazing can I just say you have such a professional looking uh setup I'm feeling so inadequate with our little well well I is this is this just audio is this an audio podcast or is this no we're looking at you as well oh hi yeah I'll stop gning then uh well yes it's it looks professional except this is an Ikea throw and that's my bedroom behind there so I am genuinely in a Cupboard but um I had to create it for covid we had to do a lot of things for covid didn't we so um yes this is now where I do all of my work indeed and I believe you have a podcast don't you I do I do

13:09 I've just started a podcast this year yeah on the on the menopause menopause I haven't listen to an episode did you bless you that's very good I did I went no I'm not gonna listen to anymore yeah yeah yeah yeah too many women complaining it's fine but yes it hit me about a year ago and I didn't know what the hell was going on with myself so um yeah I decided did I decided to find out and Nick Briggs actually said to me when I suggested it to him because I obviously went to him and went I don't know what I'm doing with a podcast can you please give me some technical advice and he said only you would decide I know nothing about this subject so I'm going to shout it from the rooftops but uh that's me yeah I did that well anyhow I mean the episode I listened to was um both informed but also amusing and very honest and so oh thank yeah so for

13:56 our people out there want learn more about the menopause I mean I'm sure it's actually probably men should listen to it more I think men are I was to say drastically uninformed yeah yeah yeah but I get I get that actually it's a it's a mainly a female thing to begin with but uh yeah I do make my husband listen to a few heisten he get it from it's it's a podcast my wife and I can listen to together now there you go oh my goodness what a beautiful image yes bringing couples of the world yeah yeah exactly listen to why you're being such a haridan my love well let's go back and B long before the menopause uh start before the menopause terrifying

14:44 let's let's actually go back in terms a bit more in terms of where you were born where you grew up tell us a bit about your family oh right well um Way Way Back yes way way back right okay so I was I was born I've always been England I was born in London but then we moved to uh sort of the central area of England the staford Moors and grew up there and uh my parents did a very 70s thing I don't know whether you had this um program called The Good Life which was where yeah you see so they were they basically went and my mom is sort of basically Margot but uh they did the Tom and Barbara bit of they went and tried to do a small holding and be um self-sufficient and so that was the first seven years of my life then my dad became MP for stoon Trent which is bang

15:29 in the center of uh the country and uh so we moved there when I was about four uh 7 to 14 and then I moved back to London so I've sort of yeah uh my dad was an MP my mom was his secretary uh we've always been very Arty as a family my sister's an actress and uh she's been in some big finish and my brother's a musician I have another brother who is less Arty but he would say he's the most creative of all of us CU he actually creates his work whereas we get given scripts sorry can you hear my really Barky dog in the background I don't know whether you can or whether it's just no no you should without my dogs go off you'll not so yeah that's not bad at all oh really well yeah he's a small yappy dog we didn't realize he was going to be a small yappy dog he was a rescue dog

16:16 and they kept saying to us oh he's got big paws he might be big and my husband was like that's fine that's fine and I thought we've got a small house I don't want a big dog but then he didn't grow up he just grew long so he's a sort of a weird looking thing but yeah he has small he is very loved not by my husband but he's loved by me and my boys yeah so there's four of you there four siblings your so four siblings I'm the youngest of four yep yep so and how long was he dead in MP4 oh 25 years like until he retired yeah so um yeah all my life really so from the age of eight to uh yeah a few years ago so how did you become uh involved in the Arts how did I become involved in the Arts well he was very

17:03 very Arty he was um before he was an MP he was a a teacher and he used to get sort of poets to come and uh artists and so we were always surrounded by very Arty people and he he doesn't really uh he doesn't rate The Sciences he rates arts and uh I'm not sure I agree with him I'm pushing my boys to be Architects like do something sensible don't don't end up in your like sort of 50s going oh I've got no pension and uh what am I going to do but uh yeah so we were always brought up to be very Arty and um so I just I just loved the theater and um then I started doing drama lessons when I was about 11 and I realized I really loved being on stage it was one of those things that

17:48 I just thought oh I can do this I like this this makes me feel good about myself and so it sort of went from there really I did um drama GCSE then I didn't do drama a level because I was sensible and I thought I'll have some proper a levels to fall back on uh but then I did do drama and English at Manchester University and then just tried to become an actress really so you part of the appeal of Charlie and and you just you got the most beautiful voice um how how did that develop in terms of is is is it just how your family speak I mean you saying you you studed at Manchester you got no Manchester in you oh yeah no no no well um no yeah I said that was University no there's no Manch well actually yeah this is how um so in terms of accent yes this

18:34 is how I was brought up you know very the middle class called India we moved to stoke on Trent which is not middle class in any way shape or form and um I was really badly bullied and uh thought this is not good I can't be called India and sound like this um my life is just not going to be worth living so my brother and I affected a Stoke accent when we were growing up to try and um fit in a bit more I was very keen on I just wanted to be called Jane and be like everyone else I didn't want to be different yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly but uh I love it now I uh it's very good people remember it but um at that age people remembered it for all the wrong reasons so uh yeah so this is my normal accent but I've always been quite good

19:20 at different accents although you wouldn't know because big finish never allowed me to do any different accents well you got two established too quickly as one character didn't you um yeah yeah I think so yeah oh sorry no no go on go on you did what no I was going to say I did things like um dead ringers which is a TV program over here and so that was lots of different um impersonations and things like that which was really good fun I like doing that before being finished what sort of other acting work had you been doing well it was I was very young so um not that much I was sort of trying to Scrabble my way up and try and find an agent and so I was doing you know a look back now and I think I was doing you know bits in theaters above pubs and there was a there was a time where I I

20:05 was actually in the pub doing theater and so we thisy this wonderful man Ronnie used to set up he wanted to bring because he loved the theater he wanted to bring theater to people rather than people going to the theater he was like my people aren't coming to the theater so we're going to go we had a little sort of um backdrop and it was just two-handed like man girl and boy sort of little vignettes and I remember one time walking in and there was like a huge screen with the the boxing match on and they were like yeah just set up underneath that and it's like okay great and I had a I had all my costumes in my on in a sort of bag over my shoulder and um one of them was a nurse so I had a nurse's costume and someone went are you the stripper and I was like oh Gody so yeah it was it was a checkered

20:53 start to my career so I was very very grateful I went up and did um Edinburgh and that's where Jason uh first saw me and so Jason hey gallery and he came around after the show and said I think you're really good here's my card and I thought you're right uh but then I uh then I got back to London and thought right I better ring this person let's see whether he actually is what he says he is because he said I'm a big producer so he said he was a big producer or a big Finnish Finnish producer oh well yeah yeah yeah no he said he he was very honest about what he did he said I'm a producer I'm looking for a big um Bank of library of voices because we're going to be doing these audios and he said I'd really love you to come and audition and so um yeah at the time I thought I don't

21:40 believe you oh yeah pick up line yeah yeah yeah exactly and uh but uh like so then I went and I did an audition above a pu again above a pub in the grazin road and uh I remember um Nick was there looking rather similar to me just behind a desk with big headphones on and uh Gary was was there and they genuinely it was one of the hardest auditions I've ever had cuz they gave me a wodge of paper like I'm like a re of paper of scripts and downstairs in the pub they went have a look through these and um see how many different accents you can do how many different voices that okay we'll be we'll be back in 10 minutes and I was you know desperately flicking through trying to find things and Gary still talks about the fact that I did a Margaret Thatcher impersonation and he said that's just the best Margaret

22:25 Thatcher impersonation and I thought I don't even remember doing that that was obviously such rabbit in a headlights I have to do something that he always says oh your Margaret thater was brilliant I was like is it okay great I'm glad I'm glad that got me the job but yeah then I I did um winter for the de yes so your first your first show was a prim school girl um RP went for the dep um so with my great friend my best friend from University uh Liz southernland who's done a lot for big finish as well and Peter yeah yeah yeah okay do you remember much about that actually coming in for the first time and recording that yeah yeah yeah yeah I was I'd done no um mic work I didn't know how it worked at

23:10 all and I was convinced that you sort of had to move away from it to breathe so I'd sort of step forward I'd say my line and then I go then like I was I was completely we didn't have a clue what we were doing and then actually it was it was through working with Paul that I realized how physical you can be in front of a microphone and actually the more physical you are especially for something like big finish where they you know where you're falling through trees or you're jumping on a moving you know uh Paving stone or all these sort of crazy things fighting you have to be physical otherwise it just doesn't come across the people that stand there and think it's all going to come out of my voice doesn't work that way but yeah I do remember Liz and I going home after the first day and just being so excited

23:58 we just had the best fun and then we were going and we got paid for that H very young was ni to be paid so how long after that how long after that did they contact you and talk about Charlie oh a long time like I I just thought that was it right okay not going to hear from them again and um I don't know it seemed like a very long time it may have been six to you know six nine months I think maybe Jason may tell me differently um but uh yeah then they Jason called me and said um I'd really in fact it's one of those moments I can absolutely picture where I was and what I was doing and uh he phoned me up and said we'd like you to be um Paul mcan's companion and obviously I've been quite

24:43 vocal in the past about the fact that I was a big with L and I fan and you know it was it was like saying do you want to you know work with Harrison Ford it's like yes please I'll be P mcan's companion that's great thanks so um had did the whole meeting with porgo and those first because I think originally you didn't you didn't do them in London you you traveled to where po was yeah we traveled yeah we traveled to Bristol and actually that was really nice because it meant that they cast the whole series so we recorded four in a block in a week and um they C they threw cast it so everyone had different part arts in different uh in the different uh

25:30 plays so it meant that you felt like you were a sort of a a company like you would be in a stage you know performance and you got really close to people and you there was a really lovely camaraderie and we were all staying in the same hotel and it just it was it was a really nice time and Paul was obviously lovely and I learned so much from watching PA in fact the reason I always put one ear out people always uh laugh at me like proper techy people people go you know why aren't you doing that but I can't do that because that sounds really weird to me I have to have the ability to hear my own voice as it sounds through one ear but that was because Paul did it so I saw Paul and went all right that's what you do then right okay I just copied him so you talk

26:16 about a long time I just double checked youve recorded winter for the dept in March 2000 and you recorded storm warning in May 2000 yeah but I don't think they were actually well they record that's maybe when they came out no I saying record that's recorded it's recorded oh well there you go that's assuming the website I mean okay don't trust the website it's a big uh no don't trust my memory no no no trust the website more than my memory my me it may have just felt like a long time yeah I maybe it was a long time in between auditioning and winter for the Adept I think that was I'm never going to hear from them again yeah yeah that may have been it um you know you and Paul just seem to click straight away in

27:01 storm warning did you Rec call them do you know whether we call them in order or did you mix up the yeah and we definitely recorded storm warning first I think we I think we did record those early ones in pretty much order um but storm morning was definitely the first one and I've I've said it before and it's I will always uh big up Alan Barnes I mean there is no there was no acting required for me with Charlie she leapt out of the script the minute I read it and and I think you can credit that with also the chemistry between Paul and I I mean obviously it helped that you know I was a massive fan of his and uh and he's lovely and so we got on really well but the energy from that first encounter

27:46 between Charlie and the doctor you know sort of it it helped our energy as well you know I think it was so well written that you couldn't help but click instantly when playing those characters together Doctor Who storm warning Memoirs of an Edwardian adventurous by Charlotte e Pollard chapter 1 candy floss Cloud scattered as the mighty dirigible sword into the black night sky raise your glasses gentlemen I give you the r101 the R11 ah friling over here man over here maybe they wouldn't be singing our praises Lord Tam if they knew that this ship hadn't completed its trial sh not having this not again safe as houses on

28:33 paper sir on paper incredible the time ship crashing and again and again I watched as the full moon shimmered into view casting silver Rays about the cabin when oh no vur swarming to pick over the Dey get away from there you Vultures leave that wreck in peace I need you Fring the prime minister needs you your king and your country need you to be Stout dependable and strong it's just like I say if I remember my Earth history correctly the r101 Airship took to the skies for her maiden voyage to India early in October 1930 yes and and crashed in flames in France during a storm in the early hours of the next morning killing everyone

29:20 aboard devil rocked by something never mind that now F love with the ass has done to be best mes trousers oh look I'm really very sorry I couldn't I mean I've uh whoops now who exactly are you and just how do you come to be aboard my Airship is that the greetings over with what I'm the doctor by the way oh I'm Charlotte Charlotte paard Charlie to my friends but it might be worth keeping an eye on that one as our little Adventure progresses they're breaking through there God speed you on your way airship r101 and God bless your passengers the true masters of the [Applause] [Music]

30:07 air you also got to work with people like um Nicholas Courtney um and other big Doctor Who things did did did you actually have much of a history with Doctor Who at all before well um I obviously I was a child of the you know 70s and 80s so yeah I mean you know Doctor Who was always on but I wasn't a huge Doctor Who fan I have I have admitted this I'm before now but I was a I was a Star Wars fan so I my brothers were into Star Wars and so that's sort of what I was uh but obviously I knew about Doctor Who you can't not know about Doctor Who and you know Tom Baker was my doctor I would say and so I didn't I didn't know the hugeness of what I was getting into I remember someone at one of the conventions early on coming up to me and

30:54 going you do realize you're going to be doing this until you until you retire and I was like no don't be silly and like you know here we are 20 odd years later um but yeah so I mean working with Nick was just such a lovely man and uh and there were some amazing the cast you know there were some huge people in those early days like sort of Simon Peg uh Jessica Stevens as she was then Jessica Hines and you know and Mark gaus it it was just it was extraordinary really and and I was you know I didn't I don't think I realized at the time how quite how lucky I was I was sort of you know mid early 20s and thinking you know oh this is the norm this is fine it's it's hard to to to realize

31:40 that at that time there was no Doctor Who on television it seems to have been around for such a long time again now on television but then there had been a long time when Doctor Who hadn't been on television and you and Paul making these episodes this was brand new Doctor Who so so it wasn't established doctors and companions you know going back so to speak this was new episodes going forward was there a sense of was there a sense of uh pressure at all in in making something new and uh that that you could sense from maybe Gary or the other writers for instance I don't know no they were very good about not instilling that pressure I think they were just really excited you know I think all the big Finnish uh boys are boys men are are

32:27 fanboys aren't they they they do it for the love of Doctor Who and so that that was very infectious and I don't think I realized well certainly in those early couple of um series sub series I didn't realize the sort of the enormity of it I think the only the first time it really struck me was the 40th anniversary in panopticon and I was doing something and like they Paul and I had gone on stage and Paul was a bit like I don't know don't know I don't really want to go on and then the whole place just erupted and you saw him just so oh this is okay actually I don't mind this and um and it did feel like wow this is like sort of rockar status and then I I did a thing

33:14 of I was walking across a foyer with someone to get to a next signing or something and someone said oh can you sign this for me and I said oh yeah stopped and the the poor the poor organizer was like don't stop don't stop don't stop and I was like no no no I'll just sign it and then literally there was sort of 300 people around me and I thought my God this is like a tiny tiny taste of what it must be to be like a huge star somewhere and so that was the first time it made me realize this is quite big in the Doctor Who World up until then I'd just been it just been a lovely job that I and I I still think it is actually a lovely job that I adore doing I just I love Charlie I I sort of feel completely at home in in her shoes and I don't really need to do anything

34:01 to be her but although she is very different to me actually I don't think she's um she's much much nicer than I am she's much more open to new ideas and she's less she's not cynical and she's you know full of life and energy and uh she's just great fun to play and I've been really lucky with the writing the writing has always been superb there's never been a R never ever in the 20 odd years that I've gone no that's not Charlie that doesn't sound right everyone has always got her so I'm very lucky with that it's interesting you mentioned the writing because I was a bit late to Big finish but my very first big finish story was the Chimes of midnight so and those those were the

34:47 days when you go to someone's house and they they were in you know the CDs were in the bookshelf someone handed it to me and said listen to this it'll blow your mind it did and uh I was I was hooked on big finish ever since then and uh we we spoke to Rob Sherman a little while ago about that script too uh it was a it was a pretty amazing script actually because you had a big Arc in that script too it was all all the stories were kind of tied in together too yeah um but yeah so thank you for that and and the charms of midnight is still regarded as probably in the top be top five would you say Phillip of I think top I think I think still top one I still voted it's still voted number one still voted number one it the my favorite it's yeah it's a

35:34 great one though isn't it and it's Christmassy and it's sort of spooky it's sort of everything Rob is such a such a good writer and it's sort of everything you want from a I did a they did a they did a sort of I did a Twitter feed thing so probably last year now where they they did a live uh recording of it and then well they did a live sort of airing of it and then I was that was a listen along type thing Len twe EXA tweet yeah and uh and actually I was uh my my husband listened to it for the first time sort of next to me because he came in going what are you doing and uh and he was he was blown away and it is it's a really you forget it's a really good classically told sort of slightly scary slightly Christmassy brilliant

36:22 story well thought we um spoke to Robert kishle Le and Sue Wallace um all together about about the episode for 20th anniversary a couple years ago um wow and it was just they were so they were still so excited by it and still amused and surprised that 20 years on people wanted to talk to them about it and I know that when I sort of tracked them down they're s of saying are you serious you really want to talk to us about this but their energy and excitement about just being a to discuss something that you has had such a huge impact say it's it's yeah in terms of big finish fans it's usually number one of everyone who says it's the best the best yeah and it was that time again it was the time where we were all playing different well not me but they were all playing different parts in the other in

37:07 the other stories and so it was we had a lovely week and it is that thing of you get to you get to know the people you're acting with and that has a real effect on how you feel about about the work and the job the sad thing now is that quite a lot of it is done remotely and you don't get to see people you know I've done I did some cuz big finish didn't drop a step did they in Co they just carried straight on they were extraordinary and so I did some during Co where you were actually working with the same people for the same length of time you did a full week but um because you weren't seeing their faces you didn't have that same connection and you know after the first day I had to go and Google people to put faces to the names

37:52 because that's really sad and luckily that's stopping we are getting back in studio now and I do always if we um if we record something I do always go can I go into Studio please a because it means I get out of my box the kids Colin Baker always insisted the first half an hour was spent on Zoom where he could actually see everyone and talk to people because he felt he couldn't give a good enough performance so he actually eyed everyone you know ibard everyone talked toone introduced himself so that's good yeah that's yeah that makes sense sure the directors are itching now it's it was 10 months between doing that first block of four and then the next block of was it six or eight in the second season I forget how many six six was it six um so I said I

38:42 mean Dwayne made the point that for us Doctor Who fans we very much view this as the continuing series of Doctor Who um because it been off the air paor McAn was back he was the current doctor and we were taking it very and and big Finch were taking it so ser seriously in terms of writing so well um did you pay much attention to the fan reaction that was coming out after that first season or particular the second one uh not a huge amount I mean obviously I mean yeah obviously I was aware that it was it was it was being received well and people were liking Charlie which was great and but I sort of thought well what's not to like do you know what I mean she's she's lovely she's it's nothing to do I always think people go oh we love Charlie and I'm like yeah so do I it's nothing to do I feel I feel that she sort of inhabits me

39:29 rather than it's anything to do with me if you know what I mean which is very strange to say as an actor you know but I'm definitely not saying oh yes it's my extraordinary performances Charlie that makes her so amazing it's not it's the it's the writing and it's it's who she is and it is your performance as well well that's very kind of you but um as I say I don't feel unper performing I just sort of feel as though I'm saying the words for for her she's very very in me now which sounds weird but yeah now in some ways the writing pushed the doctor and Charlie together in a way the new series would later do with the rose rose the doctor but in terms of a companion falling in love with the doctor um and and and exploring those areas yeah I have I have issues about

40:14 this see I I right so my my view on it is that she's not romantically in love with him in the idea that you know she doesn't want to have a relation well it's it's the idea that you you have to remember that she was very young 16 meant to be when she first ran away from home and so he is he is everything to her so it's this weird so he's family he's yeah Father Figure he's he's sort of obviously male companion but I don't think I don't think she wants you know I when people went people got very upset about skaro didn't they and like you know sort of going you know they kissed and they're

41:00 not meant to kiss and it's all like I don't think she wanted to sleep with him my view is she doesn't want to sleep with him she doesn't want a relationship with him but he is she is utterly in love with him she because she is he is everything to her and she has no she has no one else and you know obviously in later stories we come back and we get anaka wil my lovely mom and things like that uh but you know she doesn't she ran away and she is with this man and that is it it is just the two of them together and so I really loved the bit in sketo where they sort of melded because that to me was what was happening especially for Charlie I think way more than for the doctor because of course the doctors had multiple Companions and will have multiple

41:46 Companions and you know so for him he's got a much uh more sort of you know backward view or sort of stepped away away from view whereas Charlie this this man is her world and so that's how I took it so I didn't take it the fact that she's like you know she's not in love with him in love with him but she loves him skto was written on Rob's honeymoon though he wrote that while he was on his honeymoon I know I know the amazing jie thank you so much for putting up with your husband writing a writing a script on your honeymoon yeah yeah and he said wrote it as a thank you for Chimes of midnight and so you go we should be thanking you you know for Chimes of

42:31 midnight so yeah no it's extraordinary I love I loved it and I loved performing that that was an amazing uh experience because it was just Paul and I they put two music stands with our microphones facing one another and we did it as live so we started it and we performed it as you would uh you know a stage play and so that was extraordinary so all of the heightened emotions but get you built up whereas you know when you're sort of going off to the Green Room coming back having a cup of tea suddenly going oh yeah hang on I'm just eating my biscuit wait I'll come back you know you're not sort of in it as much as um when you're actually performing it like a like a live piece of theater so that was an extraordinary and I loved Gary for doing that that was great Doctor Who sh

43:25 so I'm sorry it occurs to me since I'm hiding here from so many nothings and something I don't yet know whether I should be hiding from you as well who are you Doctor you know me I'm Charlie Charlie yes you remember rubbish what Charlie's safe I know she is it's me doctor no Charlie wouldn't betray me she wouldn't betray me like that doctor help doctor it's trying to speak impossible it's barely evolved the rudimentary nervous system let alone a means to master conversation what are you we want to help help yes yes we'll do our best help

44:10 help help help help doctor I don't know doctor yes very good that's quite enough you're scaring Charlie you're scaring me come that just out of curiosity have you heard the the finished product of skiro yeah yeah yeah yeah I listen because with the sound design it's one of also one of the scariest uh stories I've ever heard too the way they yeah yeah yeah yeah and I I I think I think it's an underrated I think people people were very sort of like they it was very Marite wasn't it or vegim might does

44:57 that does that work do people love or hate V the same way they love or hate like most our list in the UK so it's fine oh well there you go yeah very Marite moment you know people people uh like you know sort of people have big reactions to it and I actually thought it was a beautiful piece of work but I mean there's a whole series I mean you've come some huge huge epic PL pieces like Neverland and there's a gr which also confused people into scherzo which was this amazing two-hander unbelievably experimental um I guess as an actress was moving from that sort of place to place a really fulfilling thing yeah I mean they i' the big finish have given me some amazing things to do over the years and I've been incredibly lucky um yeah I loved I love Neverland was was

45:44 really was really important to me and um and I love playing uh atie Charlie although um Nick used to rip the piss out of me for or take the Mickey should I say because uh I didn't realize when I was doing the anti Charlie lines I stood with my hands on my hips I can't do it now because I'm in a Cupboard but he said Do You Realize you're doing that and I said no what what am I doing but I sort of had to make a different stance because I there was quite a lot of time but I was genuinely talking to myself and they said do you want to do you want to do all your Charlie lines then all your anti- Charlie lines and I said no no no that that that won't work for me I don't I'm going to have to I'm having a conversation so I need to have the conversation so yes I was just talking to myself for quite a long period of

46:30 time but one of the best compliments came from Neverland uh Mark gaus texted me and said uh he said I've just finished Neverland and I burst into floods of Tears you made me cry and I was like get in yes so the physicality is is very important you said you step your hands on your hips to get that voice so um is that an extra benefit of the studio sorry yeah yeah I was going to say I haven't heard that in a while so it probably doesn't sound any different but for me to in my head to be the different character I had to do something physical but I didn't realize I was doing it so it was it was completely uh subconscious until Nick charmingly pointed out to me and then of course then of course every time I did it I realized I was doing it

47:16 uh but yeah physicality is is important and as I said I didn't realize how physical you could be on audio um and how you weren't going to affect the microphone and how important it was and uh you know Jason actually I've done a couple of um we did tomorrow people where where he had me crawling crawling on my hands and knees because we were crawling through a crawling through a tunnel in the uh in the recording and we were actually all on our hands and knees in the studio I think there's a terrible photo where you can see down my top talk about playing other characters you got in galif Fray um a blind's eye you got to play Charlie's uh sister um Celia who was a very unusual character a

48:02 Nazi um I how how did it change in terms of playing that sort of character go what was it like well I quite liked I liked her because well obviously not liked her you know she's you can like someone without agreeing with their political uh views but it was it was like playing a mitford sister that I quite liked her just sort of absolute disregard for everything that we hold dear to ourselves and so it's quite free that I like I like I like being able to break away from Charlie a little bit much as I love Charlie I would quite like to be able to do different things bit of a interesting Circle too because with Zas that's where Lis jeson and Lala Ward first came together and they worked out they could be a really fantastic Series in galae um and of course your

48:48 interacting with them and a lot of the se you played with them that made that work so well and then you're brought back a couple years later into G yeah yes playing Queen an was I oh that's I oh was that when so we talking G something different now oh no no no you you're probably right I'm always wrong I'm always wrong we've done so many I I think Celia polard in G was Celia polard in Gala Fray as well okay well then no no Queen an must have been in uh what's that the of arur L people oh that was Luther AR there you go you've got no idea what you've done you've done so much honestly yeah yeah I'm afraid to say yeah they um yes uh

49:35 yeah no I they're they're so brilliant together as well aren't they I mean they're just and Zas was an extraordinary thing and I felt slightly I felt like sort of honored but also slightly amazed that sort of Charlie was the thread that held this Behemoth together and uh I got to work with everyone basically it was amazing it's the first time I'd worked with Sil Sylvester and people like that so I'd I'd seen him at conventions but we'd never actually work together and so that was it was really it was lovely to do I don't know whether people were a bit Bamboozled by it to listen to I mean how long is it actually I don't know it's three discs four no it's four hours because it uses all the space on the CD for every disc so yeah an hour and 20

50:22 minutes each CD that's a commitment isn't it I mean for hours that is yeah I've got four hours to spend although actually you now look at films no film is less than three hours now are they it's like what kind of carries on Neverland carries on into Z gr so if you include that too there's six hours there probably more Netherlands are long two hours too yeah yeah it's a long two hours feels like a long two hours is that what you're saying so more than two hours I meant to say really drags by the end you're just like oh die already no actually I never feel Neverland I never feel like that because it's just so much happening we actually just listen to the gra because we've been doing a series on um all the anniversary stories um and so

51:08 having people Gary came talk us about the grace and behind the writing behind it all and things um and yeah he talks about the fact that fans hated it but I've always actually enjoyed it in terms of giving the actors different different options different things to do which we discussed way I just to jump on um you mentioned Luther arite so the star of that was David Tenant um did you work with him in studio for that one yeah yeah yeah yeah um so that did you get a sense that he was a that was before he became really really big so get a sense of where he was going well actually interestingly enough um that that will always stick in my memory not for the first time of meeting David Tenant obviously that as well but I had the worst food poisoning than I night before

51:56 so I was basically up all night with food poisoning and we don't need to go into the ins and outs of that but you know what that's like and I drag through a podcast yeah yeah yeah exactly I dragged myself to the studio and I remember him saying I was just lying on a sofa like this oh because of course with you know with an actor you can't phone in sick can't say I'm sorry I'm not getting out of bed today and um and I was also in my 20s so I was fine and um and he said to me you should have a full fat Coke that's the best best thing to do and it did it got me through the day but um I then invited him to my 30th birthday party because we'd done that together and he came and he just started filming Casanova and I remember him saying oh I've just I'm just filming this thing called Casanova and then it

52:42 just like and then he blew up didn't he and it was like you know extraordinary but yeah he is a an amazing actor and I just before doing that performance with him I'd seen him in the pillow man at the national and yeah still sticks with me as one of the most extraordinary performances I've ever seen of anyone he acted Jim brw bent off the stage and that's a pretty big ask because Jim Brent's amazing too and yeah so that would i' I've been very lucky with the quality of actors that big finish has thrown my way you didn't plan to invite him to your 40th part birthday as well oh yeah no no no by by the by the time 40th I'd had kids so I made my own birthday cake at my 40th birthday and

53:27 basically had like a sort of slight barbecue there's the difference yeah 50th next year you never know might yeah that'd be good um at the same time as you're doing all this Doctor Who stuff for a big finish it's sort of you know a week here then 10 months of nothing then two weeks then so it's a bizarre as much as you know we're getting you every month it feels like you're must be working all the time it's fairly small periods of intense work oh yeah yeah and and and like there were there I think there was a sort of two-year period where I didn't do anything for big finish I mean so I thought all right that's that's it and then suddenly they've done a little a little flurry again last you know this year I've had sort of quite a few which was uh which was really nice and um some yeah some like you know exciting new

54:14 ones which obviously we can't talk which is fine because I can't remember them remember them anyway so what was happening with the rescue Creer outside of big finish oh well yeah so I uh I narrate a um a cookery program in England called Master Chef and so that's you are the you are the voice of Master Chef and have been for 15 years 20 years how long for no longer than that there yeah I'm just about to because I thought big finish I knew that big Finnish we did the 20th anniversary was it last year year before can't quite remember and um my gonna be on my gravestone is it it would have been four years ago now no it Years big Finish Well big finish

55:00 uh start well big finish actually started in 98 yeah with the Benny's first one I did for yeah um but so I knew that big Finnish had gone on for 20 years and I thought well you know how lucky am I and then actually Master Chef for there I'm about to record on Thursday um a 20th anniversary special for them so that's been 20 years as well so I don't have many jobs but the jobs I do have carry on she says touching all wood I'm EXC Master sh we we have our Australian version as well um is is it a very intense job as well like do they record everything Ed everything and then you just do the narration on top in a short period of time yeah you're the you're the final Cog in the machine so

55:45 they've recorded it all they've filmed it all they've edited it all so they know that you've got 7 Seconds to say the dish description but our Master Chef is a lot less intense than Australian Master Chef I think in terms of I think Australian Master Chef is much more like a come on get it on whereas ours is a bit more sort of um I mean it is quite it is quite stressful not for me for the people doing it like it's very it's very nice for me I sit it's why I created this booth so that I could carry on doing uh doing Master Chef so I sit in my cupboard now the last three series of Master Chef everyone has been brought to you from the Delight of this cupboard and um yeah I just get very hungry because I don't ever get to eat it because I just I look at it like on a zoom so I look at it as you would the

56:33 the TV program and uh and I just say the words over it some sometimes I have to look at the same bit again and again and again when I get the words wrong but there are other bits where I just don't see I don't see I never see a full episode because we just record over the bits that I speak of so have you ever been on set met people or never no well I mean I've met people so I've met John and Greg in again early on so it'll be very nice to see them I'm going so on on Thursday day after tomorrow I am actually going on set and um uh it's a big Gara dinner be nice when is this coming out by the way maybe I shouldn't not for a while okay good it'll probably be done uh and um yeah so I I did know them I have met them but John always

57:19 used to laugh at me because me being me I used to go up to him and say oh hi John I'm I'm in I do the voice he's like I know who you are India I know who you are we've met enough times you don't need to keep introducing yourself to me but yeah so um but I never I never get to be in studio when they're when they're recording it friends of mine used to think I sort of sat behind with a sort of you know commentator's microphon and behind the desk going with a minute to go she's burnt her muffins but no I'm I'm in a darkened room somewhere else so how long does it take to record a series Master Chef uh well we do it we probably do three episodes in a session and depending on the length of episode uh it

58:05 can it's a sort of three-hour session so but I have got quicker over the years it used to be much longer sessions I would do sort of one one episode in a big session um but obviously there are so many things that just now just trip out of my tongue I know I know how to say I've said it for 20 years so uh yeah it's become a quick become a quicker thing but that again is because I do the Amer one and I do the Celeb one so that only happens half half of the year really we start recording for the amate one in January and that goes till sort of March and then there's a tiny Gap and then sort of I carry on for celeb until June July so this this

58:50 part of the Year sort of November time Autumn there I'm not doing anymore Master Chef so it's it's strange you know you have these Peaks and troughs with work because you're so well known as a voice artist have you did was that a struggle to get stage work or other work that you might have wanted to do yeah I sort of gave up with Stage work really because of having kids stage work for me and children didn't really mix I know people do do it and I'm hats off to them but um I didn't want to be sort of touring for six months or you know in the when like you know in the theater every night um so I I sort of slowly and not massively intentionally but it just sort of happened that actually Voice work fitted

59:37 better around my family life and so I've just concentrated on Voice work really and you're content with Voice work I am I really like it I really like it I mean you know obviously part of me the reason I became an actor is because I love standing on stage but um um I wasn't I wasn't getting the work so I get much better quality voice work and and I do enjoy it and I find you know it's it's it's it's it's quite easy isn't it you know you just read a script people tell me off for saying you know a seven-year-old could do my job it's like if you can read aloud for a living then you could read aloud no it's it's far more complex than that so don't believe that for instance

1:00:24 now in terms of I mean back back in big finish so you you're doing these scripts you're now starting to do conventions around the world where where have you been where have you traveled to is Charlie well as uh so I was done Australia and uh love here yeah well I L it if anyone wants to invite me back um we'll talk later yeah I've done um I've done America a few times so I've done Chicago and la and um and then sort of various English ones but I don't do that many conventions actually I um I think I did a lot when Charlie was first out but then when it came Doctor Who came back on the Telly I think they had you know bigger Telly fish to fry really so uh I

1:01:12 don't do that many conventions but it's nice when I do what what's what's some of the fan experiences like how do they react to you oh they're lovely always I've never ever met a nasty doctor whoan or uh like you know someone I wasn't happy to chat to for ages no always really lovely and they're all everyone seems to have such a a fondness for Charlie which obviously equates to a fondness for me you know because they they see me as as Charlie so that's that's very nice who doesn't like meeting people that go oh I love you you're great like oh thanks thanks that's very kind I'm sure you're lovely too why you become an actor yeah yeah yeah but that's one thing I do enjoy about the voiceover because you can you can carry on because you're sort of slightly Anonymous so you can carry on

1:01:57 being normal I don't think I could I couldn't cope with actual you know fame fame that would be very difficult so after Sho Doctor Who takes you into the Divergent Universe um and you start working with con westmass as well yeah um what was it like in ter of that whole experience of you moving to a different Universe different very different way of telling stories well Conrad was just the loveliest is just the loveliest man I know and so working with him was a joy but I have to say the Divergent Universe it was a little bit odd and I feel Paul Conrad got a lot of stick for the Divergent Universe because it sort of went as if everyone was on this high of Dr of the Charlie and then it went oh now there's a sort of weird alien gbury

1:02:45 and we're not we're in in a era where there's no time and how does that work for a time lord and um you know Conrad and I love laugh about the fact we used to laugh a lot about the fact that um he was a character who changed color with his mood he was a sort of chameleon we were going but that that that doesn't work on audio does so in in the uh getting back to withnell and I we always used to go he's so Mo but um yeah no Conrad is a brilliant actor and uh I think I think people will look back on K's and that's the other thing no one could pronounce his name is it Chris KES KES um and see that actually it was a it was a it was a

1:03:31 great character and I liked the fact that we were a threesome and actually I think they've done that more moving forward now I think there's more sort of two companions well there were obviously always were two companions with the doctor but um I think it's sort of I think it's I think it worked and um I just think poor Connie got a bit of stick for the Divergent universe really Doctor Who Faith stealer do your religions require ritual sacrifice the drinking of blood or any special diet no Carter come on my joke's a joke where are you where am I uh

1:04:16 hello what is it are any of you caring Gods about your person no I I wonder is all the this uh strictly D Go I mean couldn't we just pop inside and do the form filling some other time your faith and religious details must be recorded before you may enter the multi- heaven please Bishop barash you must not struggle y you're in my mind it's D the L you fight it the better it feels what what are you I I am miracul and all shall live in

1:05:01 me Charlie and I are members of the tourist faith we worship K's here and we begin each day with a ritual couley your God's looking rather faint our god oh K is it what have they made you into kill me please all right goodbye my love this has to be there are still some amazing great stories in that Divergent Universe Arc um I mean the faith still is probably one of the ones that stands out to me just the pure comedy of the faith stealer um you know John Dorney acting in that along with others and all those sort of things um but the decision was

1:05:48 decided to bring you back early because of this TV show starting and people thinking you know Dr new fans come to Big finish they have no idea what's going on yeah exactly yeah big finish have gone a little bit off past and uh yeah doct who fans are like what hang on yeah yeah um so you brought back to the back to the proper Universe um was once again though they were being recording lots of just blocks again and then a block and then no work for 12 yeah probably they may have started to do two and two we certainly didn't start we didn't do the thing of having a company all together because we were back in London by then and so we weren't recording as a you know as a sort of

1:06:35 Theater Company like we had been when we were in Bristol and so it did feel a bit more sort of sporadic and as if they were stand you recorded Standalone stories you might have done two at a time done two days work but then yeah so it's always been peace meal it's always been little bits here and there h and the decision was then to move you away from Paul um and you know take you away and then put you with Colin Baker did you have any say in that did you know it was going to happen how did how did that all come about no I didn't um I didn't know it was going to happen I didn't know um I certainly didn't have any say in it and but I was very very happy and I I always wait for Charlie to be killed off really I sort of feel as though you

1:07:20 know every script says oh well she's creating this time Paradox and it's all and you think they're going to have to get rid of us soon and so when the end of Paul happened I thought oh well you know okay fair enough they've decided to kill her off and then it was very nice when um when the Tardis Dem material you hear the dematerialization and it's like oh that's not who I was thinking of and um and so I like and working with Colin

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