Doctor Who's Women - Behind The Doctor Is A Team Of Hugely Talented Ladies

David and Billie were great fun on set.....

The latest issue of Woman's Weekly (16th April) features an interesting article on 'Doctor Who's Women'. 

50 years, 33 series, 11 Doctors and one very successful comeback. But while one of the BBC's most successful shows is best remembered for it's iconic male leads, behind the Doctor is a team of hugely talented ladies.

The article focuses on former Head Of Drama Julie Gardner, writers Helen Raynor and Rona Munro, costume designer Alexandra Tynan and make-up artist Sheelagh Wells.

Lis was terrified of the props in Planet Of The Spiders.....

Make-up artist Sheelagh worked on both the original and revived series.
'I had to create a burned up alien for Mawdryn Undead, with Peter Davison. We didn't have big budget - it was a case of "Here's 64p, what can you do with it?" So I covered the actor up to the neck in cling film, with black greasepaint underneath. Then I scrunched the cling film up and sprayed coloured hairsprays on top. It sounds amateurish but it worked!
I was looking after Elisabeth Sladen on Planet Of The Spiders. We were both terrified of the animatronic spiders, so we went in to the props room to get her used to them. Suddenly the big queen spider started scuttling towards us. Elisabeth and I started screaming and were clinging onto each other - we wanted to kill the props guy! After that the spiders weren't quite so scary. But there's one shot where you see the spider appear over Elisabeth's shoulder and she looks so startled - I'm not sure all of that was acting! What you don't see is that I was sitting on the floor holding her hand tight!
It felt very different on the revived show, when it was winning awards and generating  real buzz.
David Tennant is great fun, and Billie Piper has the most infectious giggle - as two people to work with for a long time, those two fit the bill perfectly.'

Woman's Weekly is out now.