|
|
 |
Russell T Davies and Freema Agyeman on Doctor Who's Martha Jones - Radio Times, June 2008 |
|
|
|
 |
|
Doctor Who's Russell T Davies and Freema Agyeman talk to Radio Times about Martha Jones as she returns to Doctor Who for the climax of the show's fourth season.
"Martha came along at just the right moment for the Doctor, when his heart was broken after losing Rose. They forged a brilliant friendship, underscored by absolute trust - the tragedy being that she fell quietly in love with him, and he barely noticed." Davies laughs, before adding: "Who hasn't been there?"
The irony, then, is that Martha meant everything to the Doctor, except what she wanted. "Yes, but that's hardly his fault. If anything, that brought out his alien side, his sheer inability to cope with ordinary human relationships. No matter how wonderful and dazzling he might seem, he's still an alien, from a different time and place, and he still has so much more to learn about people.
"By this series, it's a measure of how much Martha's relationship with the Doctor has matured that they don't need to miss each other; she's got him on tap, at the end of a phone! Her mobile is still on board the Tardis. When she needs him, she rings. He's never allowed anyone else to do that." Martha has already called him home once, to fight the Sontarans, and Davies hints that the phone is going to be "very important" in the forthcoming series finale.
Martha's defining scene
"It's the climax of Last of the Time Lords, when Martha faces the Master, at the height of his powers, and she's about to be executed, in front of her family…when she laughs. She simply laughs at him. That's because she's fooled him, but the laugh is far more than that: a laugh makes a megalomaniac utterly powerless. In one moment, she faces down the power of an evil Time Lord and makes him impotent. Freema handles the danger of that scene perfectly."
Freema Agyeman on Martha
"She's had a right old journey!" says Freema Agyeman of Martha Jones. And she's not wrong. Seconded to UNIT, battling for Torchwood and back at the Doctor's side when those stubby megalomaniacs the Sontarans threatened Earth - all in a season's work for the doctor with a small 'd' but a big heart.
"Inevitably she's harder, just because of all she went through," Agyeman explains. "It affected her so much that she decided not to travel with the Doctor any more, because she needed to concentrate on her own life. She's a lot more independent of the Doctor and when you see her again, she looks more capable of doing the alien investigations solo. You start to see her slightly separated from the group.
"[Talking now] I've just realised she's become much more of a solo agent who works under her own steam. She's continued to develop her knowledge, based on Earth and working with UNIT, and she's in a relationship [with NHS doctor, Tom Milligan], and her family are close by so she can keep them safe. So she's a lot more grounded."
Martha's return comes next week, in episode 12, The Stolen Earth, when the finale line-up suggests a Doctor surrounded by adoring females: Donna, Rose, Sarah-Jane...
"And Captain Jack!" Agyeman laughs. "Actually, it doesn't quite work like that. There's a lot going on and there's a wonderful moment - I can't go into detail - and you will know exactly which one I'm talking about, which just emphasises how much he needs them all in different ways, and how they are very much part of a team within his life.
"He has something different with all of them, but it's a mutual thing so there's never a feeling of adoring women and Captain Jack around. It's very much about them playing their different parts and it was really great to be a part of that. It's going to be one of those iconic moments, I think."
Find out more about how Russell T Davies sees the companions - and what the women who play them think too:
Read what Russell thinks about the role of companions in Doctor Who
Read Russell's thoughts - and Billie Piper's - about Rose and the Doctor
Catherine Tate and Russell T Davies on the evolution of Donna
**
Now take a look at our full Doctor Who guide.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Advertiser link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| EMAIL A FRIEND |
|
| Want to share this page with a friend? It's quick and easy! |
| Email a friend |
|
|
|
|
|
