Doctor Who star Michelle Gomez has said she still cannot believe she got her role as villainous Missy, after she was unavailable for an earlier part in the show.
Gomez, who has played the character since 2014, thought she had missed her chance to be in the sci-fi show because she was not free to audition for Ms Delphox, who was eventually played by Keeley Hawes.
Michelle Gomez as Missy (BBC)
She told the Radio Times: “I was offered an audition for Ms Delphox, the villain in Time Heist, but I wasn’t available. I thought that was my only chance to be on the new Doctor Who and I was gutted.
“So I was moved to write to Steven (Moffat, the show boss) saying I was such a huge fan and if in the future if he ever needed someone for a razor-cheek-boned villainess, then it’s me.
“I didn’t think any more about it until my agent called and said, ‘You’d better sit down’.”
(BBC)
In May, Gomez announced she is following in the footsteps of Peter Capaldi and Moffat and is quitting the show.
At the time she said she did not want to carry on without her two colleagues and has joked it is no coincidence all three of them are Scottish.
She told the magazine: “It’s no coincidence – it’s a plot. Me, Peter and Steven are all basically from the same city.
Peter Capaldi with Michelle Gomez and Jenna Coleman (BBC Pictures)
“It’s because Gallifrey actually looks a lot like Glasgow. The Weegie sense of humour and attitude did give us almost a shorthand to communicate with – it’s a little bit of extra chemistry.”
The full interview is in the Radio Times, which is out now.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here