Carole Ann Ford

Doctor Who

According to the documentary Doctor Who: Origins, an appearance on Z-Cars prompted Ford's screen test for the role of Susan in Doctor Who in 1963. Playing the granddaughter of the Doctor, Ford was one of the three original companions to accompany William Hartnell's incarnation of the Time Lord. The character of Susan is the Unearthly Child referred to in the show's first episode, since she, like the Doctor, was from the planet Gallifrey. According to Ford, Susan was originally intended to be a character similar to those in The Champions, with telepathic abilities as well as the skills to fly the TARDIS, but in the series she was made to be far more ordinary.^[6] Her character departed from the series at the conclusion of the 1964 serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but returned briefly for both the series's 20th-anniversary TV special, "The Five Doctors" (1983),^[5] and 30th-anniversary charity special, Dimensions in Time (1993). She appeared as a different character in the independent Doctor Who spin-off film Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (1995).

Ford mostly stopped acting following an illness in the 1970s which led to a dramatic weight reduction and the loss of her voice;^[6] it recovered later. Since then, she has taught voice and presentation skills and dialogue coaching to politicians, businesspeople, after-dinner speakers, and actors.^[7] Since the 2000s, however, she has made a limited return to the profession, reprising the role of Susan in a number of Doctor Who audio plays by Big Finish Productions (some of which have been broadcast on BBC Radio): two Doctor Who Unbound stories, Auld Mortality and A Storm of Angels; two Companion Chronicles stories, Here There Be Monsters and Quinnis; and three stories also featuring the Doctor, starting with the subscription-only release An Earthly Child, in which her character is reunited with Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor, followed by Relative Dimensions and Lucie Miller. She will reprise her role in the upcoming audio drama Families which will be part of Big Finish's Companion Chronicles range.^[8]

She was played by Claudia Grant in the BBC Two docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time, which dramatises the story of the conception of Doctor Who and was broadcast on 21 November 2013 to complement the series' 50th-anniversary special.^[9] Ford herself appeared in a small role as a character named Joyce.^[10][11]

In November 2013, Ford appeared in the one-off 50th-anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.^[12] Ford also narrated the behind the scenes look at the making of An Adventure In Space And Time, The Making of Doctor Who. She examines the making of Doctor Who and what it was like to work with William Hartnell (the First Doctor).

In May 2025, Ford returned to Doctor Who, portraying Susan in the episode "The Interstellar Song Contest", marking 62 years between her first and latest portrayal of the character.^[13]

As of 2026, she is the last surviving credited cast member of An Unearthly Child since William Russell's death in June 2024 as well as one of only two credited people involved in the serial who are still alive (the other being director Waris Hussein).

Film

Television