Jodie Whittaker: ‘I’m immensely jealous of new Doctor Who cast’
She was the first woman to play one of British TV’s most iconic roles, but as Dr Who returns without her this weekend, Jodie Whittaker is back on our screens in new Australian drama One Night.
The series follows three female friends whose lives have been shaped by the traumatic events of one night when they were teenagers.
Now as grown women, they are reunited and the truth of what really happened is revealed throughout the show.
One Night promotional poster
With each episode told from a different character’s perspective the programme examines the complexities of friendships and memories, as well as dealing with sexual assault.
Whittaker told Sky News’ Backstage podcast that the way it was written allowed her to do something she felt hadn’t been done before.
“Sexual assault has been portrayed in many TV shows and dramas but this point of view of it for me was completely unique,” she said.
Jodie Whittaker and Kat Stewart on One Night Pic: Lisa Tomasetti
“Very often, we’re with the detectives, the people it most affects are the people being talked about, not listened to, and [with] this it was as if Emily [Ballou – the show’s writer], went into everybody’s brain that this really affected and gave them a voice.
“But also it showed the challenging thing of ownership of memory, what a thing to be the main thread throughout – that it’s about ownership of who has the right to tell a story.
“I found that fascinating because within this story that, on paper, is a narrative that we’ve seen before, it isn’t done like this.”
While it’s clear from the first episode that something terrible happened on the night in question, Whittaker’s character Tess has memory loss.
The actress says she read real impact statements to prepare for the role.
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“There is a lot that you can find that is particular to someone who has no memory of the assault and that was very helpful,” Whittaker said.
“But also it was really important as well for myself that I was playing someone who didn’t know, so therefore I didn’t read episode six and no one was allowed to talk about episode six around me.
“I’m not method and I don’t stay in character, but there’s certain things you can do to help yourself, and sometimes actors have knowledge of things but their characters don’t, so I tried to separate that completely and keep it there – if my character didn’t know, I didn’t know, and that really helped.”
Jodie Whittaker as Tess, Nicole da Silva as Simone and Yael Stone as Hat in One Night Pic: Joel Pratley
One Night has come out soon after the release of Time – the second series of the prison drama which saw Whittaker playing a woman serving time for not paying for her electricity.
Both shows look at real-world issues that affect many women in the UK, but Whittaker says it wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice to do something so different to the time-travelling sci-fi she had previously been working on.
“Doing Doctor Who I’ve been unavailable for however many years and it was just such a joy to have had a year off and then go do [Time],” she explained.
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“Sydney [where she filmed One Night] was a kind of beautiful gift of a place because I was there when I got sent Time, and at the time it overlapped… So then I missed the first two weeks of filming [Time] and I got back in a completely different time zone and ran into it.
“But it was very method because I was totally out of my depth, but [so was her Time character] Orla in every scene, so that’s fine.”
As for the much-anticipated return of Doctor Who – which will celebrate its 60th anniversary with three specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate before a full series return with Ncuti Gatwa taking on the role of the Time Lord – Whittaker says she, like the fans, can’t wait.
“I’m absolutely desperate to see it, it’s the first time since I’ve been a part of the universe of Doctor Who that I don’t know what’s about to happen,” she said.
Whittaker alongside John Bishop and Mandip Gill in Doctor Who Pic: BBC Studios/James Pardon
“So I don’t know anything, I have zero spoilers – I’m definitely not in it and there’s no way of me giving anything away, there’s no pressure, I can’t ruin it.
“I am so excited and I’m just immensely jealous.”
One Night is streaming on Paramount Plus – to hear more on the show and the return of Doctor Who listen to the latest series of Backstage, the film and TV podcast from Sky News.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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