Bonnie Langford likes to reinvent herself. Just don’t call her Little Miss Sweetie-Pie…
This interview originally appeared in DWM 399, published in August 2008.
Hello, Bonnie. Have you always wanted to be famous?
“No, I never have… but it comes with the territory. Of course, fame is different to success. That sounds awful, but it’s true. I was only six when I started, and I didn’t do it to be famous. I enjoyed what I did. I don’t know that one thinks that long term… even though I was extremely adult as a child. I was very responsible, very thoughtful – that’s something I’ve never been credited with.”
There’s a perception that child stars miss out on ‘normal’ childhoods…
“I don’t think I did. If I hadn’t wanted to do the things that I was doing, I wouldn’t have.”
Let’s talk about The Trial of a Time Lord [the 1986 Doctor Who serial in which Bonnie made her début as Melanie Bush]. At that time, how aware were you that the BBC was messing about with the show?
“I could tell that there was a lot of turmoil and upheaval, but most of the time I was unaware of it, which was possibly a good thing. I went to a couple of conventions before I started, and some of the fans did rather open my eyes to this whole world, which I knew nothing about. A lot of people said to me, ‘This is going to be the last ever series. It’s up to you to make it survive.’ I thought, what?! I’m just doing a job here! I don’t know anything about this!”
It was quite a break with tradition to cast an established ‘name’ in the role of the companion.
“I was a very popular name, yeah. I think that’s why I was put in it, of course.”
You knew that at the time?
“Not at the time, no. I wasn’t aware that my inclusion in the programme was going to create such interest. My casting gave the programme a profile. John Nathan-Turner [producer] was trying to press upon the powers-that-be that there was interest in this programme and that it should continue. I think I was used as a certain ‘device’ with which to do that. But I didn’t know that back then.”
Were you naïve?
“I think I was, actually. I wasn’t as grounded as I am now. I’m not cynical now, but I am slightly more realistic. You’ll get like that when you’re older. You’ll start to mellow and mature a bit. Back then, I was terribly committed to doing my job properly – very enthusiastic, too keen to do anything that anybody asked of me. I think now I’d turn around and go, ‘Shut up, I’m not doing that. Forget it. No way.’ And I think I’d have more of a laugh. I was terribly serious about it all. I was too intense and eager to please. There should have been times when I said, ‘For goodness sake, let’s just get on with, and then we can go to the pub!’”
Wasn’t it awkward when you were asked back after The Trial of a Time Lord, but Colin Baker wasn’t?
“Well, I knew that Colin was unhappy, but he’d been unhappy during The Trial of a Time Lord. He was perturbed about what was going on – the politics at the BBC. But I’d agreed to do two series, which I thought was great, fine, enough for me. Towards the end of my series with Sylvester [McCoy], John Nathan-Turner said to me, ‘Are you not staying on for a third series, then?’ I didn’t know there was any requirement for me to do so. I was thrown in at the deep end, quite frankly.”
Why did you want to leave? Fear of typecasting?
“To a point. It’s important to reinvent yourself, but it’s difficult, If you want to pay your mortgage. You think, well, I’ll go with this for a while. But I got fed up of being Little Miss Sweetie-Pie, especially on Doctor Who. That’s why I left. I didn’t want to do that anymore. It’s not challenging. I have to keep moving on. Longevity is good.”
When was the last time you took a job just for the money?
“The fact is, we all have bills to pay. Quite often, when people interview you, they say, ‘Why did you chose to do this job?’ Sometimes I think, well, do you want the real answer, or do you want the answer that’s more appealing to your readers? Yeah, there are times when I’ve done things to pay the gas bill that month, but that’s life.”
Bonnie Langford was talking to Benjamin Cook. The Trial of a Time Lord is out next month on DVD.
