It was on Saturday 26th December 1964, fifty years ago today, that we said goodbye to the first regular to leave Doctor Who, with the departure of Carole Ann Ford from the series.

When 12.4 million viewers saw Susan fall in love with freedom fighter David Campbell and the Doctor lock the TARDIS doors so she wouldn't have to choose between her grandfather and her new love, it was the end of an era for the Doctor and his granddaughter. For the programme Doctor Who it was a major milestone, with one of the quartet of actors to have created the series moving on to new challenges, and leaving a sizable hole in the tight-knit team.

Carole Ann Ford was an experienced character actress when she joined Doctor Who. She first appeared in a film at the age of eight. After appearing in a number of commercials and walk-on work, her first proper role was in the play Women of the Streets. She had appeared in the TV Movie Expresso Bongo and had roles in Horrors of the Black Museum, Probation Officer, The Ghost Train Murder, Emergency-Ward 10, Dixon of Dock Green, No Hiding Place, Crying Down the Lane, The Day of the Triffids, Mix Me a Person, Harpers West One, The Punch and Judy Man and Z-Cars.

It was that role in Z-Cars which led to her being cast as Susan, a role originally envisaged, and pitched to Ford, as a much more alien character than that which eventually emerged. It is well known that the changes to the proposed role frustrated Ford. In 2013 she talked to The Daily Telegraph: The role of Susan had been toned down on the instructions of the Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, who wanted the character to be much more ordinary, a character that a teenager in the 1960's could relate to.

Carole Ann Ford decided to leave the series at the end of the first year of production. She completed her last studio recording on Friday 23 October in Riverside Studio 1. Following the recording she sent a note to the BBC Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, thanking him for allowing her to appear in the series. He replied the following week Following her departure from the series Carole Ann Ford had a couple of small roles in British Television. However as a key member of one of the most successful series in the BBC repertoire, seen by up to twelve million viewers each week, Ford found herself typecast. She told the Daily TelegraphIn 1965 she played a prostitute, Jenny Graham, in an episode of Public Eye, the long-running British TV series starring Alfred Burke, but received complaints from parents expecting the role to be a copy of Susan. In 1974 She played Valerie in an episode of the comedy Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?.

Ford was taken ill in 1977 when a mistreatment for a back injury caused her to become hyper allergic. She nearly died in Spain when an aspirin caused anaphylactic shock. Her weight plummeted to just five stone (70lb) and she lost her voice.

To help her recover Ford undertook voice coaching which led to a new career as a vocal adviser for actors, politicians and business leaders. In 1983 she well enough to return to the role of Susan when she was offered a part in the Doctor Who Twentieth Anniversary special The Five Doctors. She was still very possessive of the role, insisting the script was changed when she was initially asked to refer to The Doctor rather than Grandfather.

Carole Ann Ford now lives in North London. She has reprised the role of Susan in a number of Doctor Who audio plays by Big Finish Productions. In 2013 she appeared in a cameo role in the BBC Two docu-drama about the creation of Doctor Who, An Adventure in Space and Time, a play where Ford herself was played by Claudia Grant.

She still holds great affection for the series she left fifty years ago, the show she helped to create.

Goodbye Susan 
Susan has fallen in love with resistance fighter David Campbell, and the Doctor decides to leave her on Earth to find a new life with him, bidding her a fond but firm farewell

Doctor Who: Last Christmas was watched by 6.3 million viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.

Doctor Who was the seventh most watched programme of the day, with BBC One once again dominating Christmas night viewing. Mrs Brown's Boys which had 7.6 million watching, topped the list for the second year running, albeit with a much lower rating than last year.

Ratings across the board were down on previous years, last year The Time of the Doctor had 8.3 million watching. Final figures, released next week, which include those who record the programme for later viewing, should see Doctor Who move up the chart.

This items contains spoilers from the Christmas Special

The BBC has confirmed that Jenna Coleman will be staying with Doctor Who for the foreseeable future, with the actress signed up for the entire run of Series Nine.

The confirmation follows speculation that Coleman would leave the series after the Christmas special, Last Christmas, or part way through the next series. Head writer Steven Moffat told an invited audience at the Press Screening for Last Christmas that he was delighted the actress was staying with the show, although he admitted it was touch and go for a while. Coleman said she was delighted to be stayingDoctor Who Season 35 begins shooting in January.

6.3 million watched Doctor Who: Last Christmas according to unofficial overnight figures.

Full details follow

The BBC have released preview clips from Last Christmas and the accompanying Doctor Who Extra.


Meanwhile the latest Radio Times free downloadable retro poster, created by designer Stuart Manning is now available.

Manning told Radio Times:

The Doctor has been voted the Best Sci-Fi Character of All Time in a survey conducted by the British Film Institute

Thousands voted in the survey, which has been running since August, which saw the timelord top the list, just beating Ellen Ripley from the Alien saga by a mere 110 votes and out raking such icons as Darth Vader, Mr Spock and Fox Mulder.

The most popular companion was Rose Tyler who came in at number 44 on the list, closely followed by Donna Noble at 46 and Amy Pond at 69. Sarah Jane Smith, who had her own spin off series in the form of The Sarah Jane Adventures came in at number 65.

River Song came in at number 73 while the Doctor's nemesis, The Master was number 90.

Captain Jack Harkness was 13th in the list with his Torchwood colleague Ianto Jones making 19 and Gwen Cooper coming in at 87.

Only one Doctor Who Monster made the list, with The Daleks at number 32.

Characters from television rather than cinema were prefered, with characters originating on the small screen taking 61% of the vote. 22% of votes went for characters from the 1980s, 28% from the 1990s and 20% from the 2000s.

60% of votes were for male characters, with 33% for female, non-specific entities chalking up 6% and one character qualifying as both – following Michelle Gomez’ casting as the Master/Missy in this year’s series of Doctor Who.

The full list is on the BFI website.

If you look up into the sky tonight,
You may see a surprising sight.
For Santa has some help this year,
Spreading all that Christmas cheer...

The BBC have released a clip from a forthcoming Royal Institution Christmas Lecture featuring a Robot orchestra performing the Doctor Who theme.

The lecture, entitled A New Revolution is due to be shown on BBC Four next Wednesday at 8pm.

Wednesday January 7, 2015 sees the release of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #6 by Robbie Morrison and Daniel Indro. This issue comes with a special cover by artist Tommy Lee Edwards. Comes with three covers to collect including a special cover by artist Tommy Lee Edwards.