Gillan has mixed emotions about life after the Doctor

Karen Gillan has now become a house hold name thanks to her role as Amy on Doctor Who and with her departure already set in motion what will the future hold for this 24year old from Inverness?

Karen has played Amy Pond alongside Matt Smith since Smith became the Doctor in 2010 and now relishes what life has to offer her next

 “My greatest fear is saying, ‘what if?’" she admitted. "Being in Doctor Who has been so amazing. I don’t think I will ever have a job quite so fun ever again. I feel sad because I am going to leave, but with any story, it has to come to an end.”  She explains “It was a mutual decision with me and Steven Moffat. We had this lovely dinner and decided when the best time for me to go was. So I’m excited and slightly scared.”

Both Karen and Arthur Darvil (her on screen husband) will leave the show this year after “a few really good episodes”.

Doctor Who made her a star but we will see there’s more to her than just a sidekick, when she plays 60s model Jean Shrimpton in BBC 4’s “We’ll Take Manhattan.”

We’ll Take Manhattan is about Shrimpton’s relationship with photographer David Bailey and a wild 1962 Vogue photo shot in New York. Which may not be that big aleap for Karen as she used to be a model and she recently split from her long term photographer boyfriend Patrick Green.

 “I know what it’s like to be a model and go to castings where some people like what they see and others look at you with distaste.

“It’s a strange sensation to be completely judged on how you look and that’s something I can ­understand because I used to be in that situation.”

Karen studied Acting in Edinburgh at 16 and at 18 continued her studies in London where she was offered a job that meant she would leave collage, however, once the job finished she had no income, no collage and had to work in a pub to make ends meet.

Which is why, as she contemplates a life without the  financial security and celebrity status the Doctor Who brought her, Karen knows she is doing the right thing.

She says: “It’s good to go with your gut instincts.

“You just should. Even if it doesn’t work out, something good will come out of it.”

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Sources:
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
news.whoviannet.co.uk

Wishing you a Pond Farewell...

Next year will see series 7 of Doctor Who returning in the fall, however there's going to be two BIG changes, firstly there will be no more two parters, each episode will be its own standalone story which for me I dunno if I'm a huge fan of this idea.  Personally, I feel that sometimes the story requires more than 45mins, otherwise it can seem a little rushed.  I don't think we could have got through season 6 if each episode was a standalone.

Here's what Stephen Moffat had to say in the Doctor Who Magazine:

“I was looking at the facts and stats and it’s not true that the two-parters save us money. We’ve assumed it for years. They don’t save us money at all. Not a penny. So what’s the point in them? The viewing figures always go down. The AI [Audience Appreciation Index] goes down, even if the second episode is the better one. The press coverage goes down. The trailers are a bit boring. I want to be able to say, every week, we’ve got a big standalone blockbuster, and then a trailer that makes it look like nothing compared to what’s going to happen next week! That’s the form for next year. Interesting point of order on this—the AI’s change from part one to part two on any given episode is usually negligible. In fact, there are many occasions when it goes up. Look, AI is a nice way of saying “Did the audience actually like the episode?” In the grand scheme of things, that matters very little to the BBC. What does matter is viewership.”

The second bit of news is that series seven will say goodbye to both Amy and Rory (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill) there was hints of this sometime ago, I believe Moffat even made mention that the Ponds will appear now and again but not as full time companions however it has now been confirmed that they will be making a heart breaking permanent departure and the Doctor will be getting a new 'exciting' companion...

Screen Shot from The 11th Hour copyright BBC

Moffatt said: "The final days of the Ponds are coming. It's during the next series. I'm not telling you when and I'm not telling you how. That story is going to be a heartbreaking one."

He went on to say that The Doctor would be "taking a new friend", adding: "I'm not going to tell you anything about he, she or it."

Me with Arthur Darvill from November 2011 at Hurricane Who