Chinese Doctor Who fans have a nickname for Karen Gillan that only true Whovians will understand

The former Amy Pond actress discovered she has a surprising following in China

Karen Gillan as Amy Pond for Doctor Who

BBC

Published: Monday, 8 January 2018 at 11:52 am

Former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan has come on great strides since leaving the sci-fi series in 2013, starring in multiple big budget films including the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Ad

But of course, you never truly leave the Tardis behind, as Gillan has discovered on the Chinese leg of her press tour for the recently-released Jumanji sequel.

While there she met some fans who had a rather interesting nickname for her – one which only really makes sense if you followed her time on Doctor Who closely.

Want to see this content?

To show this content, we need your permission to allow a third party and its required purposes to load content on this page.

"The most magical thing of all was finding out from the Chinese fans that I am known as 'The Great Mother-in-law' in China," Gillan posted on Instagram. If you're a Doctor Who fan you should get that reference. If you don't then get studying."

Did you get it?

If not, we suggest a quick rewatch of Matt Smith’s Tardis tenure, but in short: the nickname comes from the fact that Gillan’s character Amy Pond is actually the Doctor’s mother-in-law, following the revelations in 2011 episode A Good Man Goes to War that the Time Lord’s mysterious wife River Song (Alex Kingston) was actually the time-displaced daughter of Amy and her husband Rory (Arthur Darvill).

Melody Pond = River Song – remember?

Want to see this content?

This page contains content provided by YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as YouTube may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow YouTube and its required purposes.

Accept and continue

Anyway, as Amy herself realised to her horror, this makes her the Doctor’s mother-in-law. Given their early flirty relationship, this was definitely a pretty weird revelation – but it got even weirder when fans realised that Amy was technically his mother-in-law twice over, having accidentally (and briefly) married Henry VIII during the events of 2012 episode The Power of Three.

Given that the Doctor’s earlier self (David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor) had married Henry’s daughter Queen Elizabeth I (yes, time travel is confusing), this kind of makes Amy his mother-in-law again, or at least stepmother-in-law.

Overall, then, we’d say the Chinese fans’ nickname for Gillan is more than appropriate. Where else but in Doctor Who could you have a character who thought she fancied the Doctor, only to find she was his mother-in-law twice over?

Ad

Doctor Who returns to BBC1 this Autumn

Authors

Radio Times commissioning editor Huw Fullerton. He sits in front of a shelving unit, looking at the camera and smiling. He wears glasses and has a moustache

Huw FullertonCommissioning editor

Huw Fullerton is a commissioning editor for Radio Times magazine handling comedy, entertainment and specialist drama. In a previous regeneration, he covered all things sci-fi and fantasy for RadioTimes.com.

Ad

Ad

Get the Christmas double issue

Too much to watch at Christmas? Let Radio Times do the choosing to find something the whole family will enjoy.

Subscribe by 3 Dec

Loading...

Ad

Loading...