Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Rani
8. Anita Dobson Isn't The First Rani Recast
Although there's a neat symmetry to one soap actress regenerating into another, Anita Dobson isn't technically Kate O'Mara's direct successor.
In 2014, Big Finish announced that they had recast the character for an upcoming audio drama, The Rani Elite. The play had originally been written for Kate O'Mara, prior to her death in March of that year.
Three months later, Big Finish announced Siobhan Redmond as the new Rani and revealed that the recasting was given the blessing of Kate O'Mara herself. Producer David Richardson said:
"Kate’s agent got in touch, and said that it had been Kate’s wish that we proceed with a new incarnation of the Rani."
To date, Redmond has played the Rani twice – in 2014's The Rani Elite and 2015's Planet of the Rani. After that, the rights to the character appeared to revert back to her creators.
With an extensive list of film and TV roles dating back decades, including Karen Gillan's directorial debut, The Party's Just Beginning, it's utterly bizarre that Siobhan Redmond has never been in televised Doctor Who.
That said, we do have more than enough Ranis at the moment.