Doctor Who interview: Karen Gillan
The BBC provided Nerdage with this interview with new “Doctor Who” co-star Karen Gillan. Read on for her take on her audition, Matt Smith as the Doctor, and more.
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The regenerations of the Doctor are a staple part of the mythology of Doctor Who, but across the past five decades there has been another constant in the series; the changing faces of his companion. Now Karen Gillan, born in Inverness, Scotland, becomes the latest actress to join the Doctor in the TARDIS. Here she discusses landing the enviable role, the production team’s continued use of secret anagrams (Torchwood was an anagram used for labeling Doctor Who tapes on older seasons) and making her mother cry…
“It was one of the strangest experiences ever; it was a really weird feeling,” exclaims Karen Gillan about her casting as Amy Pond. “I found out on the day of my second audition with Matt, so at least I didn’t have a really long wait. It just didn’t feel real, and I couldn’t believe it!”
But auditioning for Doctor Who is unlike any other audition for the excitable, down to earth actress: “I knew that the audition was for the part of the Companion, but I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about it. They even had a code name for the role because it was so top secret. The code name was ‘Panic Moon’; an anagram of Companion which I thought was really clever.”
The secrecy around being cast as Amy Pond
Even after Karen discovered she had been cast as Amy Pond the veil of secrecy was not lifted: “I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that I got the part but my boyfriend was with me when I found out so there was rather a lot of screaming!
“I decided not to tell my parents as I didn’t want to spoil the surprise but when I finally did tell them I made a special day of it and my mom took a day off work. She just couldn’t believe it when I told her. She was doing the dishes and she literally stopped in her tracks and cried. She’s a huge fan of the show, has been a fan for years. She even has Dalek bubble bath at home!”
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