Lalla Ward | |
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 Ward in 2014 | |
| Born | Sarah Jill Ward 28 June 1951 London, England |
| Alma mater | Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |
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| Relatives | William Maxwell David Ward, 8th Viscount Bangor (half-brother), Edward Ward (brother) |
Sarah Jill "Lalla" Ward [1] (born 28 June 1951) [2] is an English actress, voice artist and author. She is best known for playing the role of Romana II in the BBC television series Doctor Who from 1979 to 1981.
Ward's stage name, "Lalla", originates from her attempts as a toddler to pronounce her own name. She left school at age 14 because she "loathed every single minute of it", and took her O-levels on her own. Ward studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama from 1968 to 1971. [3] After spending a few years painting, she auditioned at London drama schools "as a sort of dare" to herself:
It was a 'see if you can do it' sort of thing, because it was the thing I hated most—just like somebody who's scared of heights might go rock climbing, or, I don't know, go potholing if they're claustrophobic. [3]
Ward began her acting career in the Hammer horror film Vampire Circus (1972), and played Lottie, the teenage daughter of Louisa Trotter (Gemma Jones) in The Duchess of Duke Street , the BBC drama series of the mid-1970s. [4] She appeared in the films England Made Me (1973), Matushka (1973), Rosebud (1975), and Crossed Swords (or The Prince and the Pauper) (1977). In 1974, she acted in a film called Got It Made, directed by James Kenelm Clarke. Club International magazine ran a set of nude pictures, claiming they were of her but actually featuring images from the 1978 film Sweet Virgin, and Ward successfully sued the magazine. Her television work included The Upper Crusts (1973) as the daughter of Margaret Leighton and Charles Gray, Van der Valk (1973), The Protectors (1973), Quiller (1975), Who Pays the Ferryman? (1977), as Jill Haydon, daughter of the underworld crime boss William Henry (Bill) Hayden in an episode of the hard-hitting British police drama The Professionals , the episode entitled When the Heat Cools Off (1978) [5] and Hazell (1979). [6] In 1980, she played Ophelia to Derek Jacobi's Hamlet in the BBC television production. [7]
She was the second actress to play the Time Lord Romana in Doctor Who . After a guest appearance as Princess Astra in the Doctor Who story The Armageddon Factor in 1979, Ward was chosen to replace Mary Tamm, who had decided against continuing in the role. [8] She appeared in all of Season 17's stories and then her character was written out in the third to last story of Season 18 in the story entitled Warriors' Gate . [9]
After Doctor Who , she appeared in the TV movie Schoolgirl Chums (1982), [10] and The Jeweller's Shop and The Rehearsal on stage. Ward decided to end her acting career after marrying Richard Dawkins. [6] However, she has since reprised the character of Romana in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, the 2003 webcast version of Shada , and in several Doctor Who and Gallifrey audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions. [11] She also played the 'Mistress' opposite John Leeson's 'K-9' in two audio plays from BBV. In addition, she has appeared at a number of Doctor Who conventions and related special events. In November 2013 she appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot . [12]
Ward has recorded audio books, including Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and Shada by Gareth Roberts and Douglas Adams. She co-narrated The Selfish Gene , The Ancestor's Tale , The God Delusion , The Blind Watchmaker and The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution with her then husband. In the 1980s. She also wrote two books on knitting and one on embroidery. Ward is a keen chef, and she contributed a recipe to The Doctor Who Cookbook which was edited by Gary Downie. [13]
She also provided illustrations for Climbing Mount Improbable [14] and Astrology for dogs (and owners) by William Fairchild (1980). [15]
Ward is a textile artist and ceramicist. Her subjects are rare and endangered animals. She refers to her technique of creating fabric pictures as thread drawing, considering this a more accurate term for her work than the commonly used thread painting. [16]
In 2009, at the suggestion of the Gerald Durrell Foundation, she prepared an exhibition of textiles and ceramics on the theme of Galapagos wildlife. The auction raised £24,000 for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust's campaign for the Floreana mockingbird and other wildlife of Galapagos. [17]
She has shown three exhibitions at the National Theatre, London. Her 2010 textiles exhibition, Stranded, was inspired by the evolution of animals on islands. [18] In 2011, Migration featured works which combined textiles and ceramics, the subjects seeming to move across both media. [19] The theme of Vanishing Act, 2013, was camouflage. As with previous shows, Ward made available detailed instructions explaining her techniques. She also used one glass case to recreate her workspace, including such sources of inspiration as music, quotes, and a photo of her dog. [20]
Ward has served for almost 20 years on the committee of the Actors' Charitable Trust (TACT) and 10 years as a trustee.
Ward was in a relationship with her co-star Tom Baker while working on Doctor Who, and they lived together in a flat in Deptford. The couple married in December 1980; however, the marriage lasted only 16 months. Ward attributed the separation to work commitments, different lifestyles and conflicts of interest. Regarding her marriage to Baker, Ward is quoted as saying:
It's something I still feel sad about. I loved – and, in many ways, still love – Tom very much. The trouble is, our careers came to be just as important as each other, and we grew apart. I was angry at suggestions that it didn't work because I was too young, or that Tom was unreasonable to me. We just irritated each other occasionally – we weren't close enough, I suppose. It was a decision we discussed and felt was for the best. [21]
Ward said in 2004 that her long friendship with Douglas Adams, with whom she worked on Doctor Who, meant more to her and was "more valuable and more enduring" than her marriage to Baker. [6]
In 1992, at his 40th birthday party, Adams introduced her to his friend Richard Dawkins, the biologist and author of books including The Selfish Gene , The Blind Watchmaker and The God Delusion . [6] [22] Ward and Dawkins married later that year. In 2016, in a joint statement, the couple announced their amicable separation after 24 years of marriage. [23]
In 2020, she married her third husband, Nicholas Rawlins.
Sarah Ward is the daughter of Edward Ward, 7th Viscount Bangor, and his fourth wife, Marjorie Alice Banks, Lady Bangor; as such, she is entitled to use the courtesy title "The Honourable". [24] Her father was the BBC's war correspondent in Finland at the beginning of the Second World War, while her mother was a writer and BBC producer specialising in dramatised documentaries. [3] Her mother committed suicide in July 1991. [25]
She has a younger brother, Edward and an older half-brother, William, who is The 8th Viscount Bangor. Through her father, she is descended from The 1st Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III, and from The 1st Earl of Peterborough, from The 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and from The 1st Viscount Bangor.
Her great-grandmother Mary Ward was an Anglo-Irish illustrator and amateur scientist, documented as the first person in the world to die in a motor vehicle accident. [26] [27] [28]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Vampire Circus | Helga | |
| 1973 | England Made Me | Young Kate | |
| Matushka | Matushka | ||
| 1974 | Got It Made | Tessa Carmichael | |
| 1975 | Rosebud | Margaret Carter | |
| 1977 | The Prince and the Pauper | Princess Elizabeth |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Dr. Finlay's Casebook | Lesley | Episode: "The Visitation" |
| 1972 | Crime of Passion | Madeleine | Episode: "Janine" |
| 1972 | Shelley | Harriet Shelley | TV film |
| 1972 | Armchair Theatre | Lady Margaret | Episode: "High Summer" |
| 1973 | The Upper Crusts | Davina Seacroft | All 6 episodes |
| 1973 | The Protectors | Eva Anderson | Episode: "Bagman" |
| 1973 | Van der Valk | Judith Stolle | Episode: "The Rainbow Ends Here" |
| 1974 | Late Night Drama | Georgie | Episode: "Handle with Care: Anna" |
| 1975 | Ten from the Twenties | Kay Wargrave | Episode: "An Adventure in Bed" |
| 1975 | Quiller | Tracy Fischer | Episode: "Thundersky" |
| 1975 | Centre Play | Gemma | 2 episodes |
| 1975 | The Ash Tree | Lady Augusta | TV film |
| 1977 | Leap in the Dark | Antonie | Episode: "The Fetch" |
| 1977 | Jubilee | Gilly Hamilton | Episode: "Almost Tomorrow" |
| 1977 | Who Pays the Ferryman? | Jo Hebden | Episode: "Some Talk of Alexander" |
| 1977 | The Duchess of Duke Street | Lottie | 5 episodes |
| 1978 | Hazell | Sarah Courtney | Episode: "Hazell Meets the First Eleven" |
| 1978 | The Professionals | Jill Haydon | Episode: "When the Heat Cools Off" |
| 1979 | Doctor Who | Princess Astra | 6 episodes |
| 1979–1981 | Romana II | 40 episodes | |
| 1980 | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | Ophelia | TV film |
| 1982 | Schoolgirl Chums | Anastasia Devine | TV film |
| 1987 | Riviera | Laura Grayson | TV film |
| 1992 | Doctor Who: Shada | Romana | 6 episodes |
| 1993 | Dimensions in Time | Romana | TV film |
| 2013 | The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot | Lalla Ward | TV film |
| 2017 | Doctor Who: Shada | Romana | 6 episodes |
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a humorous detective novel by English writer Douglas Adams, published in 1987. It is described by the author on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic".
Shada is a story from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by the series' script editor Douglas Adams, it was intended as the final serial of the 1979–80 season but was never originally completed, owing to strike action at the BBC during studio recording. Entering production as a six-part story in 1979, plans were later revised for the story to be broadcast as a four-part story in 1980. Ultimately however, the story would never be completed in either format.
City of Death is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the BBC and first broadcast in four weekly parts between 29 September 1979 and 20 October 1979 on BBC1. The serial was written by "David Agnew" – a pseudonym for the combined work of David Fisher, Douglas Adams, and Graham Williams – and directed by Michael Hayes.
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, she is a companion to the Fourth Doctor.
Thomas Stewart Baker is an English actor and writer. He played the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1981.
Gerald Malcolm Durrell, was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1959. He wrote approximately forty books, mainly about his life as an animal collector and enthusiast, the most famous being My Family and Other Animals (1956). Those memoirs of his family's years living in Greece were adapted into two television series and one television film. He was the youngest brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell.
State of Decay is the fourth serial of the 18th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 November to 13 December 1980.
Dimensions in Time is a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and the soap opera EastEnders. The special was broadcast in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993 and was filmed on location at Greenwich and the EastEnders Albert Square set.
Viscount Bangor, of Castle Ward, in County Down, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland.
K9, occasionally written K-9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977. K9 has also been a central character in three of the series' television spin-offs: the one-off K-9 and Company (1981), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011) and K9 (2009–2010). Although not originally intended to be a recurring character in the series, K9 was kept in the show following his first appearance because he was expected to be popular with younger audiences. There have been at least four separate K9 units in the series, with the first two being companions of the Fourth Doctor. Voice actor John Leeson has provided the character's voice in most of his appearances, except during season 17 of Doctor Who, in which David Brierley temporarily did so. The character was created by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, to whom rights to the character still belong; consequently, Baker's spin-off series K9, which is not BBC-produced, could not directly reference events or characters from Doctor Who, though it attempted to be a part of that continuity.
Mary Tamm was a British actress, who appeared in many British TV drama series and serials, and is best known for her role as Romana I in the BBC's science fiction television series Doctor Who, appearing opposite Tom Baker in the 1978–1979 story arc The Key to Time.
Richard Graham Williams was an English television producer, script editor and screenwriter. He produced three seasons of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who during Tom Baker's era as the Fourth Doctor, the ITV children's series Super Gran (1986–1987), and thirteen episodes of Tales of the Unexpected (1982–1984).
The Leisure Hive is the first serial of the 18th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 August to 20 September 1980. It marks the return of John Leeson as the voice of K9.
Warriors' Gate is the fifth serial of the 18th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by Stephen Gallagher and was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1981.
Destiny of the Daleks is the first serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 September to 22 September 1979. The story introduces Lalla Ward as the newly regenerated Romana.
Mary Ward was an Irish naturalist, astronomer, microscopist, author, and artist. She was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins. As the event occurred in 1869, she is the first person known to have been killed by a motor vehicle.
The Creature from the Pit is the third serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 October to 17 November 1979. It was the first serial to feature David Brierley as the voice of K9.
The eighteenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who consisted of seven four-episode serials broadcast from 30 August 1980 with the serial The Leisure Hive, to 21 March 1981 with the serial Logopolis. The season is Tom Baker's final as the Fourth Doctor before his regeneration into the Fifth Doctor, as well as Lalla Ward's as companion Romana II and John Leeson's as the voice of K9. For the second time, the entire main cast changed over the course of a single season. The season also sees the debut of Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, and Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka, the three of whom would remain regular companions into the Fifth Doctor's era, as well as the return of the Master, portrayed both by Geoffrey Beevers and Anthony Ainley.
The seventeenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 1 September 1979 with the story Destiny of the Daleks, and ended with The Horns of Nimon. This was Graham Williams' final series producing Doctor Who. The script editor was Douglas Adams.
In 2012, Big Finish Productions began producing audio dramas featuring Doctor Who's fourth Doctor, as portrayed by Tom Baker. Baker had previously declined to feature in any Big Finish releases, but after recording a trilogy of full cast audio boxsets for BBC Audiobooks, he decided to participate. This was also part of a spin off series of the Monthly range.
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