10 Most Unusual Demands Made By Doctor Who Guest Stars

6. Kate O'Mara Swapped Hollywood Sunshine For A Damp Gravel Pit - Time And The Rani

Steven Berkoff Doctor Who
BBC Studios

Kate O'Mara always brought a bit of Hollywood glamour to Doctor Who in the 1980s. She only appeared twice, but the character was such a hit with fans that any time a big-name female actor is cast as a villain, she's immediately rumoured to be the Rani. Keeley Hawes and Michelle Gomez were certainly speculated to be new incarnations of the villainous Time Lady. To date, she's not made a return, perhaps due to how Kate O'Mara made the role her own.

Indeed, O'Mara was very keen to return to the role for 1987's Time and the Rani in spite of her success in the USA in popular soap Dynasty. She also had a few requests for Executive Producer John Nathan Turner when she wrote to him. "I can't stand the eternal sunshine...You've got to help me. I want to be in a gravel pit somewhere in the pissing rain, changing in a caravan in front of twenty nosey crewmembers".

Whilst the hours and hours of location footage on the new Blu-rays don't dwell on her changing room arrangements, she certainly gets her wish for a soaking wet gravel pit!

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Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies.