The Big Picture

Bonnie Langford’s return as Mel Bush in
Doctor Who
showcases her evolution from companion to UNIT agent.
Langford discusses how reconnecting with
Doctor Who
allowed her to embrace her character and feel proud to be part of the franchise.
Langford says the upcoming season finale will be bigger, scary, and heartfelt, with twists that will keep fans on the edge of their seats.

Across its more than 60-year history, and counting, Doctor Who has featured dozens of companions, each of whom brings something wonderful and unique to the series and to the Doctor. While the show has been rebooted twice now, the continuity remains the same, and recently we’ve been treated to the return of another classic Who companion in Bonnie Langford’s Mel Bush. Originally traveling with the sixth and seventh Doctors, Mel returned in “The Power of the Doctor” along with several other classic Who companions, including Ace (Sophie Aldred) and Tegan (Janet Fielding). Then late last year, Mel appeared in the 60th anniversary special “The Giggle,” as a member of UNIT, finally getting to flex the computer programmer skills she’s always had. And now, in classic Russell T. Davies fashion, a full ensemble of supporting players has returned for an epic finale.

Ahead of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” I sat down with Langford to discuss her magnificent return to the series, what it was like to get to be Mel the UNIT agent instead of Mel the companion, and what it was like to come back to the series after decades away. During our conversation, Langford also spoke about how, until now, she was never really proud to be in the series, and coming back allowed her to right that wrong. She explained how recording audio adventures for Big Finish helped her to fully realize Mel as a character, and went on to tell a hilarious story about filming that pep talk scene with Ncuti Gatwa. Langford even teased what we can expect from the upcoming finale episode, noting it as bigger and scarier, as well as meaningful and hopeful. You can read the full transcript of our conversation below.

Doctor Who The show follows the adventures of a Time Lord, “The Doctor,” who is able to regenerate, and the Doctor’s human friends. The Doctor and his companions journey through time and space in the TARDIS – a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box – saving the universe with a combination of wit, bravery, and kindness.Studio BBC America Streaming Service(s) Disney+

Coming Back to ‘Doctor Who’ Finally Made Bonnie Langford Proud To Be in the Franchise
COLLIDER: You get to do some really super, super cool double agent stuff in this episode, and so I want to know what it was like to dive into Mel as a UNIT agent versus Mel as a companion.

BONNIE LANGFORD: It’s sort of different. She has more of a mission. Sort of a separate mission. As a companion, Mel was just four steps behind the Doctor at pretty much all times. It was a long time ago — a long, long time ago — and so she’s moved on, and so has life. I think she really enjoys working for UNIT. She’s found her home. She’s very stable there, but she loves the fact that no work day is ever the same twice, especially when the Doctor turns up. She absolutely adores him. She knows that we’re really cranking up a few places here. She’s been informing on this Triad, and she knows there’s something fishy and dodgy about it. She can’t work out what, and she’s really pleased that the Doctor has come and that she is able to give him all the information he needs to try and support him in every way she can. She’s literally wingman number two now, and she’s going to help him in any which way she can, even if it’s turning around and saying, “Shut up, get on with it.” She feels that she has that authority now. She feels that she’s much more empowered, and that’s fantastic.

She can be fun, as well. There were times when we were on set quite often, as well. It’s a real responsibility for Ncuti [Gatwa], and it can get quite heavy. When the time is appropriate, we’ll make something funny. [Laughs] We just need that occasionally, and I tend to be one of those people that go, “We’ll do a cartwheel or something, just for the hell of it.”

I love that. When you look at your own performance, what’s something that you’re super proud of from the ‘80s to now?

LANGFORD: It’s funny because I had this conversation with Russell [T. Davies] the other day, because I was lucky enough to watch Episode 8, and I usually hate watching myself. I hate watching myself in anything. Most actors, we’re, like, “Ugh!” Couldn’t do it. And not only was I really moved by the show, I was really touched that I was able to be there as a character so much. I was just so grateful to Russell for not only giving me a lot to do to be really involved as a character, but also when I did it in the ‘80s, the world was a very different place, and I was in a very different place in myself. If I’d seen the scripts that Russell showed me for now in the ‘80s, I would have shied away from it because there were things in there that were really quite blunt, quite out there, very strong, very empowered, and also quite scary, and yet now I embraced it. I was like, “Wow! That’s great she gets to do that. Fabulous!” Driving a Vespa and all that stuff, it was like, “Yes! Come on, let’s do it!” Whereas, I may have been a bit, “Oh, no, I should be the one that’s trailing behind.”

So, that was probably the greatest thing and the greatest gift that I had, and I was proud to be able to do that. That touched me a lot. I only did two seasons of Doctor Who before, and that was it for me. I thought that was the end of it. Like most jobs, you just move on to the next. But I was never proud of it. I was never proud of being part of it. I mean, at the time, it was a niche program to be part of, and I didn’t feel that I had done a good job. She was far too perky and bouncy and high-pitched and all those things. So, I’m just hoping that I’ve been able to embrace that and right that wrong. Now I’m really proud to be in Doctor Who.

Bonnie Langford Explains What Makes a Good ‘Doctor Who’ Companion
Image via Disney+

I love that. I love how Mel instantly takes Ruby under her wing when they meet. Do you feel like there’s a kindred connection from the fact that they’re both orphans to a degree?

LANGFORD: Yeah. Well, Mel wasn’t originally an orphan. She’s become an orphan, so she does feel that way. But I think it’s more the fact that it’s this connection with the Doctor, to be honest. I think Mel sees her younger self, how it was when she was traveling with the Doctor, and that you do spend a lot of time in this kind of confused state going, “What are you doing? Where are you going? Where do I fit in with this?” The companions of today have a lot more to contribute, and I think that’s absolutely great. There were times on set when Ruby would just go, “Oh, I just feel so whingey. Why am I just saying…?” And I was able to say to her, “Try to see it that you are the voice and the presence of the audience because you’re asking questions that we at home are going, ‘Why is he doing that?’” So, apart from anything else, he can tell her. It’s not just a program about one man running everywhere and fiddling with something and then running everywhere and not speaking. It gives him a chance to explain what we think might be coming up next, so there’s lots of exposition.

But also, she’s that person who represents all of us who are sitting home thinking, “I wonder what it would be like traveling with the Doctor?” Because he doesn’t travel with scientists. He travels with mere mortals like the rest of us, who have a lot to contribute. And at the time, as well, she’s able to question his judgment sometimes and say, “Why are you doing that?” She gives him that moment to rethink. So, she has a lot to give. She has a very important role to play. And yeah, maybe there were times when I said, “Oh, yeah, I completely get it, but it’s very different now from how it was, so enjoy it.”

You mentioned earlier that you get that moment where you get to give the doctor that, “Get up and fix it” pep talk. Can you talk about shooting that scene?

LANGFORD: I can. I just remembered something, and I wish I’d had a GoPro camera on me. I was shooting this thing, and we had to go into a building, and we were going up, supposedly to find Susan Triad and all that, and then he has to get upset and say, “Why is this happening?” He gets angry, which is fabulous because you would. You would be like, “Oh, when is this ever gonna end? Why am I always having to save the planet and universe, and all that, by people who are just power hungry and not kind?” He gets really upset about it and about what he’s had to leave behind, and Mel is able to turn around and say, “We don’t have time to indulge in this. I get it. I get how you’re feeling, but we need you. Everybody needs you. You’ve got to get on with the job. There are times when we have to put our feelings in a box.”

As I was filming this, we were actually rehearsing, thank goodness, so we were in a building that was just an ordinary office building, and we were much later there than had been planned. We were running behind, and so everyone was leaving their offices. It was home time. So, where we planned to be, in this area where nobody would be, lots of people were back and forth. Now, that was fine because there were runners holding people back, and what have you, but we were in an elevator area, and as I was filming the scene, and I was going, “You really got to get it together,” I look up and the door’s open of the elevator and there’s this poor guy standing there, looking at me as if to say, “What have I walked into? Why are you standing there?” Because I’m quite recognizable in England, for myself anyway. So he’s thinking, “Why is Bonnie Langford standing, shouting at someone who’s sitting on a floor?” He goes back to the panel, and he’s just pressing to close the door, and his face was just this picture of sheer surprise and horror at what was going on. All he wanted to do was go home, and he’s walked into this mad world of people acting at him, and he realizes he’s completely in the wrong place. I never saw the guy again to be able to explain what we were doing, so hopefully he’ll watch the show and go, “Oh my god, I was there!” [Laughs] Because, also, it was side-on, so none of the cameras knew what was happening.

Oh my goodness, that’s hilarious!

Bonnie Langford Teases What to Expect From the ‘Doctor Who’ Season Finale
Image via Disney+

So, Mel and the Doctor are in a pretty precarious situation when this episode ends. Without spoiling anything, what can you tease about the finale?

LANGFORD: It’s epic. It only gets bigger and worse and more scary, and really quite moving as well, because there’s the whole storyline of Ruby, and whether she will find the missing links to her life or not. That’s not necessarily a given, so it’s very heartfelt. There’s that very beautiful thread going through there, but also, at the same time, we really are teetering on the brink of disaster. It might not go the way the Doctor wants it to. There’s a lot of heartbreak, but it’s very heartfelt and very hopeful. But then, there’s always a twist at the end. [Laughs]

Excellent, I can’t wait to see it. You’ve done a bunch of Big Finish audio dramas. Is there any chance that we’ll see Mel do some more of those, with maybe 14 or 15 in the future?

LANGFORD: I can’t tell about that! At the moment, I’m pretty sure Ncuti hasn’t got time, and I don’t know that he’s allowed. But I do them quite often. It’s really amazing, this world of Doctor Who, that I didn’t realize when I was first in it would still be carrying on this late in the day. I think, certainly, doing the audio dramas helped me to come back to Mel again, because I think if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t know who on earth she was. So, it’s given me this continuation. You can completely use your imagination. You don’t have to put any of that makeup on or anything, it’s great! [Laughs] But who knows? There is an absolute mind of creativity that is open to anything. It’s limitless.

Lastly, is there any chance we’ll see Mel in Season 2?

LANGFORD: You’ll have to wait and see.

Stay tuned at Collider for more Doctor Who coverage ahead of the season finale. New episodes are available to stream on Disney+ on Fridays at 7 PM ET.

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