And the Original Sarah Jane Was...

[Si Hunt]

Actress April Walker!



aka Jean from "Fawlty Towers"!

The answer to one of Doctor Who's oldest mysteries has provided on the DVD release of Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

It has long been known that Elisabeth Sladen was not the first choice of actress to play the role of Sarah Jane Smith. For years the identity of the original actress has remained a close secret, known only to members of the production team.

However, the production notes on the new DVD release, compiled by David Brunt, have revealed that the actress first selected to play the role was April Walker. Brunt discovered the name on a stray memo from the BBC files, informing the BBC Finance department to pay the actress when each of the eleventh season stories went into studio.

Walker had a similar pedigree to Sladen at the time Sarah Jane was cast, with small roles in a number of television series including Crossroads, Dad's Army and The Onedin Line.

Walker was cast in 1973 as the Doctor's assistant by then-producer Barry Letts, who was looking for a replacement for Katy Manning, who had left the series at the end of the previous season. Contracts were signed but when Walker met the current Doctor, Jon Pertwee, it became apparent there was a lack of chemistry between the two. Although the pair had worked together on stage about five years previously and got on quite well, she was not the sort of actress Pertwee wanted to play the companion. Being too tall, busty and a dominant performer, she was far from the sort of tiny girl he could "protect" as the Doctor.

It is not unusual for actors to be replaced during production if the role is not working in some way. Sometimes the face just doesn't fit and however good the actor is, the production team realise that a replacement is necessary. Letts took the decision to recast the part and eventually selected Sladen, this time with approval from Pertwee. To take the decision to recast the role was a very difficult one for Letts and one he never discussed in public. Walker was paid in full for the eleventh season.

Following her brief encounter with the Doctor, Walker has gone on to have a long career with over 40 appearances listed on the Internet Movie Database. She is perhaps most well known for playing Jean in the 1975 Fawlty Towers episode The Wedding Party. She also had roles in Anna Karenina, The Two Ronnies, Wyatt's Watchdogs and Minder.

The forthcoming third issue of the Doctor Who production research fanzine Nothing at the End of the Lane will contain Walker's first ever published interview concerning her casting and replacement in Doctor Who. The fanzine is released later this month.

[SiHart]

Oh. It's odd isn't it? It's one of the most sought after pieces of Doctor Who triva and yet it feels like a bit of a disappointment when it turns out to be someone you've never heard of.

It'll be interesting to read the interview with her in Nothing At The End of the Lane (next issue avaialble from next Monday apparently) and find out a bit more of the story...

[Si Hunt]

It's Jean from Fawlty Towers!

I'm pleased. And if you watch that episode you can see exactly why Jon Pertwee didn't want her towering over him. She was like a pair of dividers in motion!

Si.

[SiHart]

Jean? Was she in the wedding one?

[Dave Tudor]

Pertwee's reasons for not wanting her are interesting, suggesting that he didn't want someone who might be perceived as his'equal'. Either that, or he didn't want a big pair of boobs in his face all the time. Strange man.

[Si Hunt]

Yes she was.

He was bang on. They wouldn't have looked right together. You can see why they thought she'd be spunky and a good "womens libber" though. I assume no publicity photographs of her and Pertwee were ever taken. It would be a shocker if one of those turned up.

Si.

[Larry]

Oh. It's odd isn't it? It's one of the most sought after pieces of Doctor Who triva and yet it feels like a bit of a disappointment when it turns out to be someone you've never heard of.

It'll be interesting to read the interview with her in Nothing At The End of the Lane (next issue avaialble from next Monday apparently) and find out a bit more of the story...

there are many actors who keep cropping up in a lot of things you know the face but their name draws a complete blank when you see it - when you think that neither Billy Hartnell, Liz Sladden , Nick Courtney and Tom Baker were first choices for their respective rolls you can only wonder at how different Doctor Who would of been had the original choices of the production teams said yes to the parts.

[Dave Tudor]

I assume no publicity photographs of her and Pertwee were ever taken. It would be a shocker if one of those turned up.

I imagine they might have recorded a screen test together, although if they did, it's unlikely that it survives. However, it's not unreasonable to imagine not so much publicity photos, but rather portrait-styles photos (can't think of the technical term) taken of the pair round about the time of the casting to see how they looked together, existing somewhere.

It might have been an interesting change of course if they had cast her - Jon Pertwee had already had three years of 'protecting' his companion, so a stronger, more independent companion might have been quite refreshing (not that I'm suggesting that Lis Sladen wasn't, mind). However, I suppose they had had something similar in Liz Shaw, and the producers didn't think that she worked entirely.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I think it's late enough for me to say this. Bottom line is, they made the right decision to recast. Assuming the casting came after the script for The Time Warrior had been written it sounds like April Walker would've been totally wrong for the part.
Barry Letts must've been left very embarrassed with by the whole affair so it's no wonder it never came out in his lifetime.

[Andrew Curnow]

Surely it would have been more professional courtesy, than embarassment? I'm sure this thing happens quite a bit - Angie in EastEnders being one famous example.

So I suppose now... who was going to be the companion for season 4, before Catherine Tate was brought back as Donna? And will it be nearly 40 years before we find out?!!

[Si Hunt]

I wonder if David Brunt gave any thought to keeping this unrevealed, as per the wishes of Barry Letts for the last 40 years of his life?

Si.

[J.R. Southall]

He and Richard Bignell actually checked with the actress involved, to see if she was okay with the information coming out. Brunt asserts that if she'd said no, he'd have deleted the comments from the production notes. As it was, she not only said yes but also gave Bignell an interview about what happened, to be published in the new edition of Nothing At The End Of The Lane.

[Si Hunt]

I just wonder if anyone gave any thoughts at all to Barry Letts' wishes. It appears not. I don't know, the fact that this appears more or less as soon as he's died seems a bit tasteless to me. A bit like "Wahey! Now we can tell everyone this secret!".

Si.

[J.R. Southall]

I know what you mean, Si - and the way the information has been pored over on the other forums hasn't helped, either. Having said that, I do believe it's just a coincidence that it has appeared so soon after Barry Letts and, perhaps more pertinently, Lis Sladen have died. From what I gather, David Brunt discovered the relevant sheet of paper while he was looking for something else, or looking somewhere else, and the fact that the actress herself has given her blessing to its release probably means we shouldn't worry too much. Nobody - and nobody's career - can be harmed by it now.

[SiHart]

What might have been...

[SiHart]

There was a post on Roobarbs today that made me think. It went along these lines...

Could this piece of casting had more effect than we've previously thought?

Firstly you've got a star who's wielding control of who gets employed in the series, who wants a pay rise, but has just cost you the pay of an actress for a year... Do you let him stay and pay him a bit more or think seriously about whether you keep him on?

Secondly you've got a producer who's suddenly got less money to play with over a season of a fairly expensive show that's notoriously under-budgeted. Could that have made Barry Letts consider resigning?

Of course that may not be the truth at all and we'll probably never know, but it's a possibility isn't it?

[P-Bal]

I think the alternative to Donna is quite well known, isn't it?

I think Pertwee's aversion to taller ladies being companion was because of the "mother hen" thing, something which put the mockers on Rula Lenska being Jo Grant!

[brandynigma]

I've no idea there was another actress considered for Donna! Unless you mean the alternate character Penny...?

As for Barry Letts and Elisabeth Sladen not wanting to say who it was, I believe they both maintained it was out of respect for the actress, so as not to damage any future opportunities for her. Given that April has no problem with being exposed (cf. The Two Ronnies), I don't see a problem.

Oddly, she probably would have been brilliant with Tom, although Jon had no intention of moving on when she was cast!

[Si Hunt]

As for Barry Letts and Elisabeth Sladen not wanting to say who it was, I believe they both maintained it was out of respect for the actress, so as not to damage any future opportunities for her.

But if that's the case, why wouldn't Letts reveal it in recent years? It's hard to imagine casting and theatre directors the country over in 2010 declaring "What? Winters was sacked as Sarah Jane Smith? Get her out of "Run For Your Wife" NOW!" I think that, regardless of working opportunities, it's simply a bit rude and embarrassing to reveal that you sacked someone having just given them a job, and replaced them with somebody else.

Si.

[SiHart]

Maybe he felt bad about it and did the gentlemanly thing of keeping quiet.

[Andrew Curnow]

I don't know, but I'd guess it was maybe a combination of things - not least of which it might have saddled Liz with a "second choice" label. Actually, though, despite the thread title, I always thought it was the case that the original season 11 companion was a different character, not just actress? Although I'm struggling to think where I read that.

I suppose, also, it's a little embarassing to have effectively wasted part of your budget paying of an actress; but yes, as Si says, it was probably the gentlemanly thing. April Walker may not mind talking about it now, nearly 40 years later, but she may well have felt much more aggrieved or upset about it back in the day.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

But if that's the case, why wouldn't Letts reveal it in recent years? It's hard to imagine casting and theatre directors the country over in 2010 declaring "What? Winters was sacked as Sarah Jane Smith? Get her out of "Run For Your Wife" NOW!" I think that, regardless of working opportunities, it's simply a bit rude and embarrassing to reveal that you sacked someone having just given them a job, and replaced them with somebody else.

Si.

But we've all known that part for years anyway, it's only the identity of who it actually was that wasn't known and that part doesn't make it any more embarrassing.