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Carole Ann Ford was pleasantly surprised by the Susan reference, celebrating the series' origins. Susan's potential return is hinted at in season 14, and could tie into the Timeless Child mythology. Doctor Who season 14 may see Susan reunite with the Doctor aboard the Memory Tardis.

Original Doctor Who star Carole Ann Ford shares her reaction to a surprising reference to her 60s companion Susan in season 14, alongside her thoughts on whether a potential return is in the cards. Episode 2 "The Devil's Chord" saw Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor return to the 1960s alongside Millie Gibson's companion Ruby Sunday to visit The Beatles and face powerful deities. When looking over a smoggy London sky, the Doctor reflects on where he would be at this time to Ruby, revealing he lived there in his first incarnation (William Hartnell) with his granddaughter Susan.

With Beatlemania adventure "The Devil's Chord" featuring a surprising nod to Susan,...

Bonnie Langford's Mel was a divisive companion during her first Doctor Who era, but Mel's return is actually a really smart move by showrunner Russell T Davies. Mel will be joining Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson's Ruby in Doctor Who season 14, due to air in 2024. Mel will be the third returning 1980s Doctor Who companion since both Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) returned for Jodie Whittaker's final adventure. Doctor Who in the 1980s was a bumpy time for the show, and - through no fault of the actress - Bonnie Langford's Mel was right at the heart of it.

Anecdotally, John Nathan-Turner cast Bonnie Langford for her scream, which was a retrograde step even in 1986. This piercing scream didn't endear her to viewers, nor did her perky keep-fit routine. However, underneath the affectations forced on the character by Jn-t, there was...

Legendary 1980s companion Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford) joins the cast of Doctor Who season 14. Ncuti Gatwa's inaugural season of the long-running sci-fi series will see his new incarnation of the Time Lord take the keys to the Tardis under returning showrunner Russell T Davies, with Millie Gibson starring as new companion Ruby Sunday. While Gatwa and Gibson will make their debuts as part of a seasonal episode set to air in the fall of 2023, Doctor Who season 14 is expected to air in 2024.

While recent casting announcements have seen stars including Jinkx Monsoon, Jonathan Groff, and Indira Varma join Doctor Who season 14 as new characters, a new announcement has revealed that Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor will be joined by a face from his past.

Mel-come back!

Doctor Who is bringing back 1980s companion Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford), and here's everything you need to know about Mel before her on-screen return. The BBC announced Bonnie Langford's return while filming continues on Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the Fifteenth Doctor, to the delight of Doctor Who fans on social media. While it may seem a surprising choice to bring back this short-lived companion from one of Doctor Who's more troubled eras, it's confirmation that Russell T Davies' new era will be fully embracing all eras of the show as it carves out an exciting new future.

A well-known child star on stage and screen, Bonnie Langford was cast alongside Colin Baker by executive producer John Nathan-Turner in 1986. The characterization of Mel was poorly fleshed out - for story purposes - but this ultimately sabotaged her in the eyes of fans who were still recovering from Doctor Who...

The new era of Doctor Who is set to have a number of spinoffs, which could be led by former companions. Russell T Davies previously created The Sarah Jane Adventures as a spinoff vehicle for Elisabeth Sladen following her emotional return in Doctor Who season 2, episode 3, "School Reunion". Season 1 companion Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) also led his own spinoff series, Torchwood, and it's expected that Rtd will continue this trend with his new era as showrunner.

Speaking at a BFI event to promote the release of Doctor Who Season 8 on BluRay, Jo Grant actress Katy Manning teased (via Radio Times) that "spinoffs (were) coming" and people were coming back. As a regular on the convention circuit, who also made a guest appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures and the recent Jodie Whittaker finale "The Power of the Doctor", Manning is a reliable source. Just what companions, and from which eras,...

Doctor Who's centenary special "The Power of the Doctor" completed the journey of one classic series companion. In the closing moments of the special, as the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) prepared to regenerate alone, it was juxtaposed with scenes set at a support group for former Doctor Who companions. Spearheaded by Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh), the group featured at least one companion from every decade of the show from the 1960s to the 2020s.

Although the 2000-2010 companions were notable for their absence, Chris Chibnall toyed with bringing back Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) to Doctor Who via a laptop. The absence was consistent with Chibnall's reasoning for not including the modern Doctors, as he believed they may appear in 2023's 60th-anniversary specials alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate. The most surprising member of the support group was Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford), companion of the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), mainly...

They are the Sweeney, son. And they haven’t had any dinner…Relive the most ground-breaking British police drama ever made which coincides with the big screen remake. Regan and Carter are part of New Scotland Yard’s infamous Flying Squad. Mixing with London’s seedy underworld they tackle the crimes to hard to handle for your everydaypolice officer. Remember what the fuss was all about by picking up this diamond 4-disc set which is available in High Definition for the first time now, Rrp £39.99. Seventies London has never looked this good. And neither has The Sweeney, son.

We have two copies of the Blu-ray to give away to our readers.

Check out the HD clip at:

Rough, tough and politically incorrect in the way that only the best 70s drama series can be, ‘The Sweeney’ is one of the major television successes of the last fifty years. Featuring John Thaw...

The Sweeney are back. With Nick Love’s update of the iconic 70s cop show starring Ray Winstone and Damian Lewis set for release on 12th September, fans of the original show will be able to revel in an all new High Definition re-release of the 70s classic with the 10th September release of The Complete First Series blu-ray boxset.

Those fans will be able to relive the most ground-breaking British police drama ever made for the first time in HD, ensuring that the 70s and The Sweeney have never looked this good before. This is where it all began for gritty cop dramas, and if it wasn’t for The Sweeney we undoubtedly wouldn’t have seen the likes of Life on Mars’ brilliant Gene Hunt.

Here’s the official synopsis of the boxset:

Regan and Carter are part of New Scotland Yard’s infamous Flying Squad. Mixing with...

.This is mega-naff.. The Doctor wants to meet a dragon so he heads towards a frozen planet that doubles as a shopping center. Along the way he.ll meet an old acquaintance, lose a companion, and gain an ace new one. Maybe he can also pick up some frozen foods as well. The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Mel (Bonnie Langford) materialize on Iceworld, a space trading colony on the dark side of the planet Svartos. They stop by a local malt shop and encounter con-man Sabalom Glitz (Tony Selby) and learn that he has come here to search for a supposed treasure guarded by a dragon. Official Belazs (Patricia Quinn) informs Glitz that he owes the state money and...

Sci-fi fans can step into the Tardis and travel back 25 years when Doctor Who: Ace Adventures materialises on DVD this coming Monday, May 7.

The box set contains two classic stories featuring Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy's companion Ace, played by Sophie Aldred.

A special documentary to celebrate the release has been sent to us and is embedded below.

In the 1987 story Dragonfire, the Doctor and Mel unexpectedly encounter old friend Sabalom Glitz on the planet Svartos. Joined for the first time by Ace, a teenage waitress with a love for explosives, the group ventures off to find the fabled Dragonfire treasure.

And in 1988's The Happiness Patrol, the population of the planet Terra Alpha constantly displays happy smiles. Anyone feeling remotely glum disappears - quickly. Having heard disturbing rumours, the Doctor and Ace arrive to topple the entire regime.

The documentary features three cast members of Dragonfire.

Tony Selby...

Everywhere we look, it seems like we're constantly told what films we should love. Visit a bookshop, and there will be at least half a dozen brick-sized tomes purporting to be the definitive guide of the Quintessential Films That You Should See In Your Next 50 Lifetimes. Not only that, but TV channels are also getting in on the act by listing the Top 100 Films Of All Time, during which the likes of Paul Ross or Nikki from Big Brother 7 chat inanely about the first time that they saw The Phantom Menace or some other movie “classic”.

Why bother with all that though? Both lists would take a good few hours to wade through, so instead, how's about tracking down a copy of season 24 closer, Dragonfire?

Yes, really. Dragonfire has so many visual and textual references to past classic films that you half expect Barry Norman to have penned the story.