Sophie Aldred

File:Sophie Aldred.jpg

Sophie Aldred (publicity photo from 1992)

Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) portrayed Ace in the original television series from Dragonfire to Survival, and reprised the role for Dimensions in Time and audio dramas produced by Big Finish. Aldred also had a part in the 1998 Doctor Who spin-off Mindgame. She was born in Greenwich and raised in Blackheath, London.

Biography

Sophie attended Blackheath High School and studied drama at the University of Manchester before embarking on a career in children's theatre. In 1987 she was cast as Ace. The Doctor found Ace serving milkshakes on Iceworld in the story Dragonfire, at the end of which she joined the Doctor on his travels. Several stories (Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric, and Survival) explored her character to an extent that previous companion characters had not seen.

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Sophie Aldred in 2008.

Before and since Doctor Who, Aldred has had a varied and busy television career, particularly in children's programming, where she has presented educational programmes such as Corners, Melvin and Maureen's Music-a-grams and the long running BBC series Words and Pictures. She has performed on radio and in the theatre. She has also reprised her role as Ace in the charity special "Dimensions in Time" and continues to perform the role in Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions.

She co-wrote the hardback reference book, Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era with Mike Tucker, published by Virgin Publishing in 1996. (ISBN 1-85227-574-X). She also edited a special issue of Doctor Who Magazine (Issue 255).

Sophie Aldred married Vince Henderson on 12 July, 1997. They have two sons, Adam and William.

Selected credits

Television

Doctor Who

• Dragonfire
• Remembrance of the Daleks
• The Happiness Patrol
• Silver Nemesis
• The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
• Battlefield
• Ghost Light
• The Curse of Fenric
• Survival

Doctor Who Mini-episodes

• Search Out Space
• Dimensions in Time

Doctor Who Confidential

• I Get a Side-Kick Out of You

Specials

• Thirty Years in the TARDIS
• The Story of Doctor Who

Audio Dramas

Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories

• The Fearmonger
• The Genocide Machine
• The Shadow of the Scourge
• Dust Breeding
• Excelis Decays
• Colditz
• The Rapture
• The Dark Flame
• Project: Lazarus
• Flip-Flop
• The Harvest
• Dreamtime
• Unregenerate!
• LIVE 34
• Night Thoughts
• The Settling
• Red
• No Man's Land
• Nocturne
• The Dark Husband
• Forty-Five
• The Magic Mousetrap
• Enemy of the Daleks
• The Angel of Scutari

Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Series

• Beyond the Sun

Webcasts

• Death Comes to Time

Prose

Short works

• Timewyrm: Genesys (introduction)
• Set Piece (introduction)

Books

• Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era (with Mike Tucker)

Direct-to-Video

Drama

• Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans as Mari
• The Zero Imperative as P.R.O.
• Mindgame as 'Human'
• Mindgame Trilogy as 'Human'

Documentary

• The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
• I Was a Doctor Who Monster
• Lust in Space

External links

• Sophie Aldred at the Internet Movie Database