Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Rani
5. Kate O'Mara Preferred Doctor Who To Dynasty
By the time Kate O'Mara returned to Doctor Who in Time and the Rani, she had spent time in Hollywood, appearing in several episodes of the popular soap opera Dynasty in the mid 1980s.
O'Mara played Caress Morrell, the long-lost younger sister of Joan Collins' Alexis Carrington. Introduced in Season 6, Caress caused problems for Alexis by attempting to publish a tell-all memoir.
While Hollywood is a dream for many British actors, Kate O'Mara soon grew tired of the relentless Californian sunshine and sought a release from her five-year contract. Heading back to the UK, O'Mara wrote to Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner saying:
"I can't stand the eternal sunshine. You've got to help me. I want to be in a gravel pit somewhere in the rain, changing in a caravan in front of twenty nosey crewmembers."
Unable to resist opening his new series with a guest turn by a legitimate Hollywood soap star, JNT jumped at the chance for another Rani story. It says a lot about how down to earth Kate O'Mara was that she swapped the Californian sunshine for a drizzly quarry in Somerset!