Carole Ann Ford

Carole Ann Lillian Ford (born 16 June 1940^[1]), or Carol Ann Ford as she is sometimes credited, played companion Susan Foreman from "The Pilot Episode" to The Dalek Invasion of Earth and again in the anniversary stories The Five Doctors and Dimensions in Time. She also played Zorelle in the Reeltime Pictures spin-off video Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans. She voiced Sura in Gallifrey: Forever.

Career[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ford has had a long and varied acting career. Her theatrical work includes many comedies, dramas and musicals such as The Jungle Book, Stranger in the House, Bakerloo to Paradise, The Owl and the Pussycat, The Rumpus, Pride and Prejudice, Inadmissable Evidence, Enrico, Expresso Bongo, Sleeping Beauty, You Never Can Tell, Ned Kelly, Mother, MacBett, The Boy Friend, Have You Seen Manchester and Private Lives.

Her films include Sarah (about the life of Sarah Bernhardt), Hiding Place, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery, Mix Me a Person and the part of the blind French girl Bettina in the 1963 science fiction film The Day of the Triffids. She also worked as a glamour model in the late 1950s.

Carole in the 1960's

In addition to Doctor Who, her television appearances include Suspense (in the play Man on a Bicycle), Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Public Eye, Emergency – Ward 10, Attorney General, Moonstrike, Compact, Probation Officer and Dial M for Murder. According to the documentary Doctor Who: Origins, it was an appearance on Z-Cars that led to Ford being tested for the role of Susan Foreman in Doctor Who. According to The Handbook: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Production of Doctor Who, Waris Hussein, director of the first Doctor Who episodes, recommended Ford after seeing her image on a studio monitor; this came after a number of other actresses (including future companions Jackie Lane and Anneke Wills) had been passed over for the part.

Carole with then-current companion Janet Fielding.

Playing the granddaughter of the Doctor, she was one of the first companions to appear in the show in 1963; although Ford was twenty-three at the time, Susan was depicted as being fifteen. She left the series in an emotional farewell scene in 1964 at the conclusion of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but briefly returned for the twentieth anniversary special The Five Doctors in 1983 and also appeared in the thirtieth-anniversary charity special Dimensions in Time. She has also appeared on Juke Box Jury (in fact she appeared on the programme only a couple of days after her first wardrobe fitting for Doctor Who) and numerous quiz shows. She has done a multitude of voiceovers, dubbing, post-synching and audio tapes.

Ford remained close friends with William Hartnell after leaving Doctor Who and was devastated by his death in 1975.

She is currently teaching voice, presentation skills and dialogue coaching to politicians, businessmen, after dinner speakers and actors.

She has also reprised the role of Susan in two Doctor Who Unbound audio plays by Big Finish Productions, Auld Mortality and A Storm of Angels. She again returned to the role in several other Big Finish dramas, including An Earthly Child, Relative Dimensions, Here There Be Monsters and Quinnis, the latter of which co-starred her daughter Tara-Louise Kaye as the story's villain Meedla.

She is older than Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston and Peter Capaldi, almost twice the age of David Tennant, and more than twice the age of Matt Smith, Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa, all of whom play her on-screen grandparent.

In 2024, she became the last surviving member of the original Doctor Who cast.

Personal life[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ford is married with two daughters. One of her daughters, Tara-Louise Kaye, is also an actress and starred alongside her in the Big Finish audio Quinnis.