It only seems like five minutes ago that we were welcoming Pearl Mackie into the Doctor Who family but come Christmas she will depart and make way for a new trio of companions who’ll be making their first steps into the fourth dimension.
However, thanks to a bit of wandering in said dimension (and the Radio Times) we can now look back to see exactly how she made the Tardis team back in 2016, as told by the stars and crew who were there at the time.
In this behind-the-scenes video taken from a 15-minute Becoming The Companion feature available on the Doctor Who series 10 DVD boxset from next week, Mackie takes a trip down memory lane and reflects upon how she was plucked from relative obscurity to read for a mysterious role – which she was forced to keep secret, even as she auditioned with the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi.
In the footage, Pearl Mackie said:
“I had an availability check and I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m not staying on for another year doing Curious Incident [of the Dog in the Night time]’
“And they were like, ‘Great – oh, well, that thing you just got availability checked for is actually to be the new companion in Doctor Who.’
“And I just burst out laughing. Like, ‘That’s amazing, amazing and hilarious, and I’m never gonna get that, am I?’”
Soon after that, she found herself auditioning for the role of Bill Potts in front of head writer Steven Moffat, accompanied by star Peter Capaldi.
She added:
“I was like, ‘What is happening here?’ This is absolutely the most insane thing that’s ever happened to me.”
You can see the full Becoming the Companion documentary on the special features of the Doctor Who series 10 boxset which is available to pre-order now for release on Monday 13th November for £37.99 from Amazon.
