#Stewart Wales

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

The Wales x Twilight Source: Instagram poetdepartment.

[yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere]

he sorta looks like Kristen Stewart here and i love it, also apparently this is the highest compliment that i can give to a man(?) ♥

[justdonotaskmewhy]

long post incoming

Why i think Spencer is the best film about princess Diana

Let’s start from the very beginning. Spencer doesn’t mislead people. They stated it is a fable based on the real tragedy and it really is. It doesn’t promise to show us real events and it’s amazing because we, as an audience, don’t have false expectations.

They depicted Diana’s eating disorder and mental health issues with class and dignity. First of all, you can predict when a triggering scene will follow, and for me as a former bulimic it is awesome. Secondly, Diana is not portrayed as a crazy person but rather as a troubled woman who desperately needed help. And what’s more she overcomes her eating disorder by the end of the film and finds her peace. It gives hope for everyone struggling with all kinds of mental illnesses.

It is beautifully filmed. Each frame is a painting. Each scene is wonderfully staged. The costumes that reference the real life ones are gorgeous.

The film tries to plunge its audience into the mind of a person with mental illness. Even if you have never had any mental health related problems you will feel uneasiness and anxiety. It is highlighted by the staging. Sometimes the frame is very large and empty and Diana seems very little as to indicate her lack of confidence.

The music was great. The choice to make the whole soundtrack have classical music vibe is a good idea. And the final scene has an 80s song for the soundtrack, which is a great switch of tone and a glimpse of hope for Diana.

Overall, I adore Spencer and I encourage you to give it a chance and try to draw your own conclusions. It is fine if you hate Kristen Stewart or the whole idea in general, you have your right to have your opinion, I just want to say that in my opinion Spencer is totally worth it.

[roehenstart]

Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales. By Isaac Oliver.

[ifreakingloveroyals]

8 December 2014 | Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, helps to wrap Christmas presents during a visit with Chirlane McCray, the first lady of New York, to the Northside Center for Child Development in New York City. The royal couple are on an official three-day visit to New York with Prince William also due to meet President Barack Obama in Washington D.C today. (c) Mark Stewart - Pool/Getty Images

[thepastisalreadywritten]

10 best royal exhibitions to continue the Coronation celebrations, from Buckingham Palace to Blenheim

The day of the Coronation is over but these remarkable royal exhibitions across the UK means the excitement doesn’t need to be

By Natasha Leake

18 May 2023

The glow from King Charles III’s Coronation is starting to fade, but there is plenty more pomp and ceremony to be discovered at these extraordinary royal exhibitions currently being staged across the country.

Stately homes and royal palaces have transformed their sumptuous rooms into backdrops for stunning showcases of royal regalia, period costumes and mementos of past Coronations.

From Blair Castle to Castle Howard; Blenheim to Buckingham Palace, book a date at one of these must-see royal exhibitions to keep the celebrations going.

Through a carefully curated selection of more than 200 pieces, the Kensington Palace fashion exhibition draws parallels between the pomp, ceremony and performance of the contemporary red carpet and the pressure to ‘see and be seen’ at Georgian court.

One-of-a-kind creations worn by Lizzo, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga et al. are juxtaposed with outfits worn by 18th century movers and shakers in the State Apartments, which, handily, is where the showcase is staged.

Pictured: A row of magnificent outfits in the King’s Gallery at the Crown to Couture

5 April - 31 October 2023

Blenheim Palace is using the occasion of the Coronation to celebrate its historic connection with the Royal Family.

With a collection of previously unseen artefacts, crowns, coronets, robes, and photo albums, take a trip into the world of royal fashion with an impeccably restored Norman Hartnell silk gown, worn by the then Rosemary Spencer-Churchill to the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.

Also on display are costumes from Bridgerton and The Crown, and a page from a Blenheim visitor’s book, which includes the elegant inked signatures of Wallis Simpson (the future Duchess of Windsor) and her second husband, Ernest A. Simpson.

Pictured: The restored Maid of Honour Coronation dress worn by Rosemary Spencer-Churchill to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

19 March - 30 July 2023

Originally launched in 2022, the award-winning Castle Couture exhibition returns this summer to Blair Castle, the ancestral home of the Atholl family, with an extended edition that showcases statement designs, intricate embroidery, innovative textiles, and style influences from the 18th century through to the 20th century.

Among the highlights are delightfully delicate ostrich feather and Brussels lace fans by the renowned Parisienne craftsman Duvelleroy, the appointed supplier to Queen Victoria.

There are also pieces from the personal collection of the late Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, Scotland’s first Scottish female Member of Parliament.

Pictured: This ballgown would have been worn by Lady Glenlyon (later Anne, Duchess of Atholl) during the visit as they dined with the royal couple.

1st April – 28th October 2023

In a homage to the Regency period, visitors are invited to take a step back into the world of the Georgians with an exhibition that looks at how fashion trends reflected the significant trade, travel and technological advances of the period.

A highlight of the exhibition is a rarely displayed, full-length portrait of Queen Charlotte (of Bridgerton fame) by Thomas Gainsborough, dated from around 1781, which usually hangs in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle.

The showcase also features one of the earliest surviving British royal wedding dresses: a stunning gown worn by Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1816.

Pictured: A painting of King George III by Allan Ramsay, c.1761–2.

21 April – 8 October 2023

The late Queen Elizabeth II’s beloved corgis captured the hearts of the nation the late monarch’s funeral.

Now they are being celebrated as part of a free exhibition at the Wallace Collection, in central London.

The one-room display features touching imagery of the Queen with her corgis.

It coincides with the museum’s exhibition, ‘Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney,’ which celebrates human devotion to dogs over the centuries through a carefully curated selection of 50 paintings, sculptures, drawings and taxidermy.

Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II sitting on rocks on the Garbh-allt Burn with two corgis on the Estate at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, September 1971

8 March – 25 June 2023

Situated in a pair of beautifully restored early Georgian townhouses, the exhibition showcases centuries of royal fans from across the globe, including a special, printed, English fan marking the restoration of Charles II and the contemporary fans made by The Fan Museum in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.

The exhibition promises to be ‘not merely a look back on what has been but a rally of hope for what is to come.’

King Charles III has also taken an avid interest in the Fan Museum’s work.

Pictured: A Belgian folding fan dating from 1881

1 February - 24 June 2023

The Long Gallery at Castle Howard, home to the Howard family for more than 300 years, is hosting an incredible exhibition featuring an exact replica of the Crown Jewels and peers’ robes worn to coronations gone by.

Set in 10,000 glorious acres on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, Castle Howard was commissioned in 1699 by the 3rd Earl of Carlisle from Sir John Vanbrugh, who later conceived Blenheim Palace.

The 1st Earl of Carlisle was descended from Lord William Howard, the youngest son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (the current Duke of Norfolk organised the King and Queen’s Coronation).

Pictured: Castle Howard’s replica of the Crown Jewels

From April 1

During the last Coronation, the hotel had to secure extra flagpoles in order to fly banners for the many different royals and dignitaries staying there.

The archive overflows with Coronation material, which is why Claridge’s unveiled a space showcasing the hotel’s status as ‘the Royal Hostelry.’

Mementos on display include pages from Queen Victoria’s diary, fans created for the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, and Claridge’s menus and cocktail cards created for the coronations of King George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Pictured: A collection of royal mementos including featuring a book of 53 photographs of the then Prince of Wales, and an order of service from the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Until May 31

The world watched in awe as the newly crowned King Charles III and Queen Camilla processed from Westminster Abbey back to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach.

This extraordinary regal treasure is available to view at the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, alongside the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which transported Their Majesties to the Abbey ahead of the service.

Also housed in the mews? The famous Windsor Grey horses, which drew the magnificent carriages on the day.

Pictured: The Gold State Coach

2 March - 30 October 2023

At the epicentre of the Coronation was Westminster Abbey. So where better to delve into the gilded history of the captivating service?

A new exhibition in the Chapter House reveals the key elements of the royal ceremony, which has taken place at the Abbey for nearly a thousand years.

Featuring historic illustrations and archive photography, it promises to unpack and explain the Coronation’s magnificent ceremonial regalia and objects.

8 April - 30 September 2023

[thecrystalcrux]

Book Review: The Crystal Cave

(Warning: This writing contains spoilers)I’ve read several interpretations of the Merlin legend by various authors.The Crystal Cave: Book One of the Arthurian Legend by Mary Stewart is one of the best, if not the best yet.The book was written in 1970, and it’s only taken me 54 years to get around to reading it. Even if I had not intended it, it would have happened. The lamp shook in my hand, and…

[atdawn]

what book are you reading currently?

i'm sort of reading two but also keep being too busy to read :o) the crystal cave by mary stewart and sharpe's havoc by bernard cornwell!

send me questions!

[isabelleneville]

THE KING'S SISTERS

Margaret and Mary, Princesses of England, were daughters of Henry VII, King of England, and Elizabeth of York, Queen of England, making them the sisters of Arthur Prince of Wales and Henry VIII, King of England. Margaret became the Queen Consort of Scotland by her first marriage to James IV of Scotland, becoming Dowager Queen of Scotland after his death and at times Queen Regent of Scotland on behalf of their son James V, King of Scotland their only child to reach adulthood. On the occasion of her second marriage to Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus she became the Countess of Angus, they had one child Margaret Douglas who grew up in the court of her brother, Margaret's marriage to Angus ended in divorce which Margaret instigated and successfully obtained at the astonishment of courts abroad including her own brothers. By her third marriage to Henry Stewart, Lord Methven she became Lady Methven no issue came of this union. Through her son, she became the grandmother of Mary I, Queen of Scotland commonly known as Mary, Queen of Scots who was later executed by her niece Elizabeth I of England. Through her daughter, she was the grandmother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Charles Stuart, Earl of Lennox. She was the great-grandmother twice over of James VI of Scotland and I of England making her the ancestress of all monarchs of England and then Great Britain. Mary became the Queen Consort of France by her first marriage to Louis XII of France, their marriage only lasted two months and three weeks (shorter than any of her brothers' marriages) with the sudden death of her husband, she then became Dowager Queen of France no issue came from this union. Her second marriage was to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk making her the Duchess of Suffolk, their marriage caused quite a stir as Henry wanted to arrange another marriage of alliance for her and Henry's court did not want to grant more power to her husband. They later married a second time in the presence of her brother once welcomed back in her brother's court. They were married for eighteen years and she often took her husband's side on major issues of Henry's reign including being outspoken against his want and later marriage to Anne Boleyn, as well as Anne's character and actions. Her marriage to Charles produced four children with two daughters reaching adulthood Frances and Eleanor. Per the Act of Succession 1536 (three years after her death), her heirs took precedence over her elder sisters and were next in line to the English throne after her brothers. Through Frances Mary was the grandmother of Jane Grey, Queen Regnant of England who was made the heir of Edward VI over his sisters, Jane was later executed by Mary's niece Mary I of England. Mary's other Grey granddaughters Catherine and Mary also were points of contention during Elizabeth I's reign.

[As portrayed by Georgie Henley and Sai Bennett in Starz The Spanish Princess]

[reasonsforhope]

Paywall-Free Article

"In one of its first big decisions, Britain’s new Labour government on Friday [July 12, 2024] announced the early release of thousands of prisoners, blaming the need to do so on a legacy of neglect and underinvestment under the Conservative Party, which lost last week’s general election after 14 years in power.

With the system nearly at capacity and some of the country’s aged prison buildings crumbling, the plan aims to avoid an overcrowding crisis that some had feared might soon explode.

But with crime a significant political issue, the decision is a sensitive one and the prime minister, Keir Starmer, a former chief prosecutor, lost no time in pointing to his predecessors to explain the need for early releases.

“We knew it was going to be a problem, but the scale of the problem was worse than we thought, and the nature of the problem is pretty unforgivable in my book,” Mr. Starmer said, speaking ahead of the decision while attending a NATO summit in Washington...

Under the new government’s plan, those serving some sentences in England and Wales would be released after serving 40 percent of their sentence, rather than at the midway point at which many are freed “on license,” a kind of parole.

The even earlier releases will not apply to those convicted of more serious crimes, including sexual offenses, serious violence and terrorism. But Mark Icke, vice president of the Prison Governors’ Association, told the BBC that the plan could remove from the system “between 8,000 and 10,000 people,” providing “some breathing space.”

[Note: And more importantly - breathing space for thousands of people who have been unjustly imprisoned for minor offenses, as well as their families.]

Despite some early releases under the previous government, the strain on the prison system has been relentless. In England and Wales, the prison population stands at 87,505 — very close to the maximum capacity of 88,956 — according to the latest official data...

In its first week in power, Labour has said that it is grappling with a difficult inheritance after years of restraint in spending on public services under the Conservatives. In one of her first acts in government, the new chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has ordered a review of Britain’s public finances.

Before Labour had won the election, it identified the strain on Britain’s prisons as a potentially major problem. The issue was cited on an internal list of key concerns; others included the strain on the overburdened health care system and financial pressure on municipalities and universities.

The prison population of England and Wales has doubled over the last 30 years, despite a decline in crime rates, and it has increased by 13 percent in the past three years...

Rory Stewart, a former Conservative prisons minister, said that Britain had incarcerated too many people, including for minor crimes such as repeated failure to pay council tax, which is levied by local authorities for municipal services.

According to Mr. Stewart in remarks to the BBC, imprisoning people for minor crimes “doesn’t protect the public. It doesn’t help these people get away from offending. And it creates these violent, filthy, shameful places which our prisons have become today.” The Conservative and Labour parties, he added, had “competed with each other on being more and more ferocious in demanding longer and longer sentences.”

Mr. Starmer has raised hopes among those who want to change that policy by appointing a prominent advocate of overhauling the prison system, James Timpson, as prisons minister. Mr. Timpson, a businessman, has a record of employing former prisoners in an effort to give them a second chance."

-via The New York Times, July 12, 2024

[911lsbts]

9-1-1: Lone Star 5x10 “All Who Wander” Synopsis

Judd literally walks straight into the line of fire when an armory catches on fire, sending bullets flying everywhere. Owen questions Judd’s pledge of sobriety. Marjan (Natacha Karam) introduces boyfriend Joe (guest star John Clarance Stewart) to her visiting parents, Waleed (Michael Benyaer) and Nasreen (Anne Nahabedian), but their dinner doesn’t go as smoothly as she hoped.

[justdonotaskmewhy]

i made a mate from university watch Spencer and she showed me this lovely screenshot

it is so nice when people take my interests seriously

[roehenstart]

James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales (1688-1766). Possibly by Pierre Mignard..

[world-of-wales]

The Prince of Wales poses for a group photograph during his visit to The Nelson Trust in Newport, Wales (Photo Courtesy : Alison Stewart) | 20 NOVEMBER 2024

[scotianostra]

John Barbour, the early Scottish poet, died on March 13th 1395.

Barbour was a Poet, churchman and scholar, probably born in Aberdeen, where he spent most his life and held the position of Archdeacon. He was granted passage to study at Oxford and Paris. Several poems have been attributed to Barbour, one of which, The Stewartis Originall, relates the fictitious pedigree of the Stewarts back to Banquo and his son Fleance, yes they were real characters and not just made up by Shakespeare!

His long patriotic poem The Brus, awarded a prize of 10 pounds by the King Robert II, is his most famous work. It supplies some facts of Robert the Bruce, many of which are told in anecdotal style and emphasises Bruce’s exploits in freeing Scotland from English rule. This poem is also where we can find the quotation “A! Fredome is a noble thing!”

Barbour’s The Brus (The Bruce) is considered to stand right at the beginning of Scots literature and history, since it is the oldest Scots manuscript still in existence. It is an epic poem which tells the bloody tale of King Robert the Bruce, Sir James of Douglas and Edward Bruce and their fight for Scottish independence from a ruthless Edward I of England who wanted Scotland (along with Wales and France) to become part of his kingdom. The poem includes a graphic depiction of the Battle of Bannockburn, and also relates the skulduggery and intrigue that surrounded Robert the Bruce in his accession to the Scottish throne. The language is essentially that of 14th century Scotland – which by my clock makes it over 600 years old. A lot can happen to a language in 600 years. Reading it now it’s difficult to get past the weird spellings, obscure words, twisted sentence structure, etc. But if you read it aloud (not recommended in libraries), or read it into yourself and try to hear the words as they are written, then you have won half the battle.

Here is an excerpt, and translation from The Brus

…and led thar lyff in gret travaill

and oft in hard stour off batail

lwan gret price off chevalry

and war voydyt off cowardy

as wes king robert off scotland

that hardy wes off hart and hand

and gud schir james off douglas

that in his tyme sa worthy was

that off hys price and hys bounte

in ser landis renownyt wes he

off thaim I thynk this buk to ma

now god gyff grace that I may swa

tret it and bryng till endyng

that I say nocht bot suthfast thing

translates roughly to Who led their life through great troubles,

Often in the hard struggles of battle,

And won the great prize of chivalry

And never knew what it was to be cowardly.

Such was King Robert of Scotland

Who was strong of heart and hand,

And good Sir James Douglas,

A worthy man in his time,

Who for his esteem and his generosity

Was famous in far off lands.

I make this book with them in mind.

Now God give me the grace that I may

Write it well and bring it to the end

Telling you nothing but the truth.

Imagine the world back then, to technology at all, the church was your main, if only, source of news, in the years after The Brus, the country was flushed with victory and to hear the stories of the struggles of their grandfathers, this poem sang the glories of freedom, and pictured the civic and knightly virtues of Bruce and Douglas. It’s largely thanks to this work that we know s much about King Robert and The Good Sir James.

Barbour called it a romance, it is regarded as being in essential points a faithful history, and was so received by generations of readers. Walter Scott used it for the basis of several of his books and every book that has been written about this period of Scottish history since, has used The Brus as a basis of their research. Barbour spent much of his later life as a courtier to Robert II, who commisioned The Brus and The Stewartis Originall, although the latter is highly embellished to put the Stewarts in a much better light, Robert II being the first of their line would have been the source for Barbour to write the story. As well as the ten pound he received for writing The Brus, the King also granted Barbour a pension of a pound a year for the rest of his life. He went on to write a number of other poems, though most have been lost and the authorship of others is debated. The 33,000 line poem Legends of the Saints was probably written by him, as was as The Scots Buik of the most noble and vailyzeand Conqueror Alexander the Great.

Many view him as the father of Scots language poetry. As well as being in Robert II court, Barbour continued to fulfil his duties at St Machars’ Cathedral until the early 1390s, and he died in Aberdeen in 1395, a plaque in the city remembers him.

The pictures include one of the two earliest surviving manuscripts of The Brus, it shows a description of the initial phases of the battle of Bannockburn. This is a copy made by John Ramsay, Prior of the Carthusian monks at Perth, made this copy of the poem in 1489 and is held at The National Library of Scotland. The link takes you to the NLS page with and interesting timeline and links to important documents held in their archives

The second pic is on the walls of The National Portrait gallery, a magnificent frieze of Scottish history, the aforementioned plaque, that can be found at Castle Street, Aberdeen, and finally the slap at the top of the mound fittingly marking the steps up to Makar’s Court in Edinburgh’s Old Town, the full stanza reads

A! Fredome is a noble thing! Fredome mays man to haiff liking. Fredome all solace to man giffis, He levys at es that frely levys!

It translates to

Freedom is a noble thing! Great happiness does freedom bring. All solace to a man it gives; He lives at ease that freely lives.

Pics are a memorial to John Barbour at St Machars, Aberdeen, an 18th century copy of his work in The National Museum of Scotland and the above mentioned inscription at The Mound, Edinburgh.

[pers-books]

INTERVIEW

Jemma Redgrave: ‘Doctor Who will keep me young’

The actress would be happy to be remembered for the sci-fi series, she tells Dominic Maxwell

Jemma Redgrave: “My character wanted to make her way on merit. That wasn’t difficult to play”

Dominic Maxwell

Saturday November 25 2023, 12.01am, The Times

Jemma Redgrave has a problem. “Every time I get a new office,” she says, “it blows up.” Granted, she admits, the first time we saw her office — in the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special of 2013 that featured Matt Smith and David Tennant — it was in the Tower of London, and that one has stayed standing. Otherwise, though, in her role as Kate Stewart, the head of the Doctor’s paramilitary allies UNIT, her workplaces seem to routinely explode. That they seem to get swankier and swankier each time only seems to make them more vulnerable to the zap gun.

She won’t give anything away, and the BBC is keeping under wraps each of the three 60th anniversary specials, which start tonight. Yet you have to fear for the giant floating Marvel-style Unit HQ that features in the trailer. Redgrave doesn’t appear until the final part, which pits David Tennant’s returning Doctor against Neil Patrick Harris’s Toymaker, a villain not seen since 1966. She will, however, be the one other holdover from the 50th anniversary specials. “Yes,” she says with a disbelieving smile over morning coffee in a north London café, “I think it’s just me and David.”

She and her sons, now aged 29 and 23, had watched the series ever since it returned, after 16 years off our screens (a one-off comeback starring Paul McGann aside), in 2005. She wondered for a while why seemingly every other actor she knew got a role in it. Hers, though, has proved to be the longest-running.

She first played Kate Stewart opposite Smith in an episode in 2012. She didn’t realise the significance of the surname at the time: Stewart is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the head of Unit from 1968 to 1975, during the eras of Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. All of which is catnip to the fans, some of whom, as emissaries from Doctor Who magazine, were on set doing a story on her first day. They helped her to join the dots.

As Kate Stewart in the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC)

Stewart, after all, didn’t use her full name. “She didn’t want to take advantage of her connections and wanted to make her way on merit,” Redgrave says. As the daughter of an actor (Corin Redgrave), the niece of two actresses (Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave), the granddaughter of actors (Michael Redgrave, Rachel Kempson) and the cousin of actresses (Joely Richardson and Natasha Richardson), she knew where Stewart was coming from. It can be tedious spending your time fending questions about how you’ve got where you are today, after all.

“That you’re some sort of nepo baby? It can be, can’t it? Sometimes those questions go on and on and on, many, many, many, many years down the line.” Redgrave, a gifted under-player of a scene, gives a surprisingly full-hearted chuckle. “So that wasn’t a difficult scene to play.”

Redgrave appears only sporadically, but has rubbed shoulders with six doctors: Smith, Tennant, Peter Capaldi, John Hurt (in the 50th special), Jodie Whittaker and, coming soon, Ncuti Gatwa, who will take the lead once Tennant’s celebratory trilogy is done.

There have been rumours that Stewart and UNIT are getting their own show, but Redgrave insists that this is news to her. Then again, it’s rare for her to be permitted to admit even that she is in the first Gatwa series. She has to sign an NDA each time she shoots the show so that nobody, with the exception of her partner, who may be staying with her in Wales during shooting anyway, knows what she is working on.

She understands the rationale for this, although it can become absurd. During lockdown, because travel was restricted, the BBC sent a car to her north London home to pick her up for filming. On the way to the car she bumped into Smith, who lives in the area, walking his dog. He asked where she was heading. Cardiff, she told him. He asked what she was working on. “I said, ‘I can’t possibly tell you. I’ve signed an NDA.’ And he said, ‘Oh well, send them all my love.’”

Redgrave is a young-looking 58. Her extensive stage work includes appearing in a London production of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters with her aunts. Her TV work includes starring in the series Bramwell as well as recurring roles in Holby City, Grantchester, Silent Witness and Cold Blood. How would she feel if the world remembered her most for her sporadic role as the head of UNIT?

“I think that’s OK,” she says. “I grew up watching Jon Pertwee. And Jon Pertwee doesn’t change in my imagination. The people I grew up watching don’t get older in my imagination and I will remain in the imagination of the children who watch this 60th-year episode. And that is a kind of lovely thing. So I’m very happy to be remembered as Kate Stewart. Also, she’s a formidable woman. She has humour and heart and courage. And she’s vulnerable and aware of her limitations. So she’s kind of human in every possible way, even though she exists in a world of aliens and tech.”

On the subject of “the sci-fi stuff”, she admits that jargon and technobabble can be hard to play: the plot may need it, but it’s hard to bring much of yourself to. So she tries to find some emotional resonance of her own. “Either that or you just play it fast. It’s one or the other.”

She has found, too, that the fans will support her in other roles. Recently she appeared in a play, Octopolis, at the Hampstead Theatre in London. “And a lot of Who fans came to see that, which is a lovely thing. She’s a great character, but partly the reason that UNIT has continued through this series is because fans have been very vocal in their love of those storylines.”

When she was growing up, it took her a while to admit that she wanted to be an actress. “My parents split when I was young. My mum [Deirdre Hamilton-Hill] supported me and my brother. There wasn’t a lot of money around, but we did get taken to the theatre. And I think growing up in the theatre, and particularly not having a fear of Shakespeare because I encountered him on the stage and not in the classroom for the first time, was a great privilege.”

It was a trip to see the Wars of the Roses Shakespeare history plays at the RSC in Stratford when she was 13 that convinced her she wanted to act. “Before that I’d played my cards close to my chest. I didn’t have much confidence. I was quiet about it because there were a lot of people in my family who acted.” When she told her father, he gave her a complete Arden set of Shakespeare plays, and wrote “to commemorate your decision to become an actress” on the front page.

She went to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, after which she began to work regularly. She appeared in a TV film, The Relief of Belsen, with her father, and in Howards End with Vanessa, but beyond that has ploughed her own furrow. So is the family connection one she can celebrate at this point?

What’s lovely, she says, is going to a set and having crew members come up to her and tell her they worked with her father, or her aunt, or her cousin or her brother Luke, a successful cameraman. “And usually anybody who says ‘I’ve worked with somebody in your family’ says it because they loved working with them. So it’s suddenly not quite such an intimidating environment.”

Family fame is dwarfed by sci-fi fame anyway. “I’m ‘her from Doctor Who’. And if you’ve got a body of work behind you, people don’t talk about the name. I just feel lucky that I come from the family that I come from because I grew up with books and theatre, which is a proper privilege. There wasn’t a lot of money, but there was that, and that’s worth everything.”

Doctor Who is on BBC1 and iPlayer from November 25. Jemma Redgrave’s episode is on December 9

(Source)