Happy Birthday, Carole Ann Ford!

For those who are long-time Doctor Who fans, today is a special day.

Today is the birthday of Carole Ann Ford (Carole Ann Lillian Ford (née Higgins)), who played the role of the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan Foreman opposite William Hartnell‘s First Doctor, William Russell‘s Ian Chesterton, and Jacqueline Hill‘s Barbara Wright. She is a sprightly 84 years old today. And she is the last surviving member of the original TARDIS crew from 1963.

Carole Ann Ford has had a remarkable career in both the theatre and in television and films. Her theatrical work is quite varied with comedies, dramas and musicals (I think I saw her in The Jungle Book), but I first saw her in The Day of the Triffids (1962), where she played the blind French girl Bettina. I also saw her in The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery (1966) and on television in Dial M for Murder (1967). It is with her role as Susan Foreman in Doctor Who that I am most familiar with her.

According to various sources, an appearance on Z-Cars prompted Ford’s screen test for the role of Susan in Doctor Who in 1963. Susan was originally intended to be a character similar to those in The Champions, with telepathic abilities as well as the skills to fly the TARDIS, but in the series she was made to be far more ordinary. Ford’s character departed the TARDIS at the conclusion of the 1964 serial “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”, but returned briefly for both the series’s 20th Anniversary TV special, “The Five Doctors” (1983), and the 30th Anniversary charity special, “Dimensions in Time” (1993).

Susan (Foreman) was a remarkable character for 1963, when she first appeared in the series. She had a pixie-ish quality to her that was moderated by her mysterious nature and origins, her vast knowledge, and the character’s obvious love for her grandfather, the First Doctor. While I had a tremendous crush on Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford’s Susan was the character I most associated with in those early days of Doctor Who back when I was eight years old. I’ve never met Carole Ann Ford, but I hear she is a terrific lady. Here’s hoping Susan makes an appearance in current Doctor Who with Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor.

Here’s wishing Carole Ann Ford a very Happy Birthday, and many more. 🙂

An unearthly child, indeed! 🙂