Katy Manning

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She played the part of Jo Grant from 1971 to 1973 alongside Jon Pertwee's incarnation of the Doctor. Manning struck up an immediate rapport with her co-stars Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates) and Roger Delgado (the Master). Fans of Doctor Who often refer to these characters as the UNIT family — UNIT, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, being the fictional United Nations organisation that the Doctor worked for. Manning is the only surviving companion from Pertwee's era.

Making her debut in the episode Terror of the Autons, the character of Jo Grant instantly became liked by audiences to the extent that she is often thought of as the archetypal companion along with Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler. Manning said of her performance: "The little kiddies really got me. Older men found it quite pleasant to look at me. The mothers and girls didn’t feel threatened and loved Jo’s trendy clothes and rings". Patrick Mulkern of the Radio Times said of Manning's portrayal that "she had it all: innocence and gumption, courage and a terrific scream, an irresistible bubbly mixture of tomboy and sexpot." Unlike other companions, Jo wore clothes that were in fashion at the time including go-go boots and miniskirts although the latter had an occasional tendency to show Manning's underwear. In an interview with Radio Times in 1972, Manning said she wore her own clothes when playing Jo.

Manning had a particularly close relationship with Pertwee to the extent that he would pick Manning up every day from outside her house, either in his car or on his motorbike where Manning would ride pillion, and take her for filming or rehearsals for Doctor Who. They had races with Dick Emery and Sir Ralph Richardson to see who could get to the BBC studios first. Manning would also spend time at Pertwee's villa in Ibiza with Pertwee and his family.

After three years in Doctor Who, Manning decided to leave the show to move on to other acting work. Pertwee was reportedly very sad at her departure due to their close working relationship and cited Manning leaving and the death of Roger Delgado as two major reasons why he left the show a year later. In Manning's exit in The Green Death she leaves the Doctor to marry Professor Clifford Jones (Stewart Bevan); Mark Harrison of Den of Geek named it "a bittersweet exit for one of the most popular companions."

Manning's connection with Doctor Who continues: she voices Jo Grant in the audio adventures by Big Finish Productions, and she is also the voice of the Time Lord Iris Wildthyme in several of the Big Finish Productions audio plays. She has also contributed to a large number of documentaries and DVD commentaries detailing her time on Doctor Who.

She is also involved with fan events and conventions, and she is the patron of the Doctor Who Club of Australia.

In 2022, Manning made a cameo appearance as Jo Grant in the Doctor Who special "The Power of the Doctor".

Straight after leaving Doctor Who in 1973, Manning presented her own ten-part TV series for the BBC on crafts, entitled Serendipity shown in the daytime schedules. She then appeared as one of the first lesbians on television in an episode of Armchair Theatre before starring in her first film Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! (1974) alongside Leslie Phillips, Joan Sims and Joanna Lumley; the film was written by Pertwee's brother Michael. Manning followed this with a role in the comedy film Eskimo Nell (1975) as Rosalind Knight's rebellious daughter before she was reunited with Jon Pertwee when she appeared in Whodunnit? on ITV; at the time that Pertwee was chairing the panel. In 1976, Manning aroused controversy when she posed nude with a Dalek for the Girl Illustrated magazine. She responded to critics by saying "you'd need a magnifying glass to see anything". In 1977, she appeared topless as a drug addict in the hard-hitting crime drama Target with Patrick Mower. Manning starred with Sion Probert in a BBC Wales comedy pilot entitled How's Business? in 1979.

After leaving Doctor Who, Manning appeared predominantly on stage consistently. From 1973 to 1975, she appeared opposite Derek Nimmo in Why Not Stay For Breakfast? in the West End, as well as appearing in There's a Girl in My Soup with Gerald Flood. She then starred in the play French Without Tears in 1975 and So Who Needs Men with Peter Denyer and Jeff Rawle in 1976 before joining the Young Vic for a time in 1977 and taking part in many of Shakespeare's works including playing Ophelia in Hamlet. From 1977 to 1978, she toured in Doctor in the House, a production that also starred Jimmy Edwards, Bob Grant and future Doctor Who actor Colin Baker, before starring as Myra alongside Lionel Blair in The Monkey Walk in 1978. In 1978, she toured Rhodesia in a run of Bedroom Farce. From 1979 to 1980, Manning toured in the thriller play The Gentle Hook, then in 1980 toured in Peter Terson's VE Night alongside Ian Cullen and Jane Goddard before appearing on stage in Thark alongside Brian Murphy and Reginald Marsh in 1981.

After moving to Australia in 1982, she appeared as Mary Smith in the first run of the play Run for Your Wife with Bernard Cribbins before appearing in Otherwise Engaged opposite Martin Shaw in 1983, The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman in 1984 and then in another tour of Run for Your Wife from 1987 to 1988; other members of the cast in the production were Jack Smethurst, David McCallum and Eric Sykes. Manning appeared as Rita in Educating Rita from 1989 to 1991 at the Sydney Opera House, the venue at which she also played Elvira in Blithe Spirit in 1990. She also appeared in the films Melvin, Son of Alvin (1984) and Frog Dreaming (1986).

Manning wrote a comedy pilot entitled Two in the Bush in 1986 with her friend and fellow actress Penelope Whiteley. Manning also wrote the TV series Private Wives and has been involved in other writing and directing projects. Manning was also offered a role in popular Australian soap Home and Away but she had to turn it down due to busy work commitments. In 1993, Manning was reunited with Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney for the first time since she emigrated to Australia at the PanoptiCon 93 event; their interview was filmed and released on DVD.

Some time between 1994 and 1996, Manning moved to live in Los Angeles where she shared a flat with her best friend Liza Minnelli and had large house parties that had guests including Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine and Whoopi Goldberg. In 1996, Manning and Minnelli appeared drunk on Ruby Wax's television series Ruby Wax Meets... which has since gone on to become one of the most popular and well-known moments in the show's history. Wax's interview was initially to be with Minnelli but Manning appeared with her and spent most of the interview on the floor.

While living in the U.S., Manning and Minnelli started up a production company. It was living in L.A. that Manning started writing her first one-woman show called Not a Well Woman in which she portrays twenty-six characters all with different voices and some scenes depict several of these characters interacting with each other. Not a Well Woman's opening performance was in New York and Minnelli invited some top producers to watch the premiere including Blake Edwards. After the show, Edwards personally complimented Manning on her performance calling it "extraordinary". The show was only limited to a few shows as it started to take its toll on Manning. She later recorded an audio version of Not a Well Woman for Big Finish Productions in 2011, as part of their Drama Showcase anthology series.

By 1998, Manning had returned to Australia where she appeared as Dotty in a production of Noises Off before making a documentary for Reeltime Pictures called Where on Earth is Katy Manning? which is shown in a day-by-day format showing Manning's time attending various fan conventions on a trip to the U.K. Manning was the voice of Australia's UKTV television channel in the late 1990s and provided voiceovers for the indents. She also hosted her own chat show from 2001 until 2008 called Preview with Katy Manning and had guests including Lenny Henry, Edgar Wright, Petula Clark and Basil Brush.

Manning also voiced characters for the animated films D4: The Trojan Dog (1999), Easter in Bunnyland (2000) and Jungle Girl and the Lost Island of Dinosaurs (2002) for Burbank Animation Studios. From 2000 to 2001, she voiced the main character Gloria in the Australian children's animated television series Gloria's House, amongst countless other animated films and television series. In 2002, Manning appeared in an episode of All Saints and also starred in a production of the Ray Cooney play It Runs in the Family with Robert Coleby and Judy Cornwell. Also in 2002, she released another documentary about her life for Reeltime Pictures as a sequel to Where on Earth is Katy Manning? called Katy Manning's Life Down Under showing her life in Australia. In 2003, Manning directed the original run of the musical play Eureka as well as other productions including Banjo Paterson and Shirley Valentine.

She also starred as Miss Harrington in the film noir When Darkness Falls (2006) directed by Australian filmmaker Rohan Spong; a role for which she would win Best Supporting Actress at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. In June and July 2007, she appeared as Yvette in the stage show 'Allo 'Allo! alongside Gorden Kaye as René Artois at Twelfth Night Theatre in Brisbane as original actress Vicki Michelle was unavailable. Guy Siner and Sue Hodge also reprised their original roles from the television series, and the other characters were portrayed by Australian television actors including Steven Tandy and Jason Gann.

In 2009, Manning returned to the UK as part of her one-woman show Me and Jezebel. The play was based on a true 1985 story about Bette Davis inviting herself to a fan's house for a night and staying for a month, with Manning playing all the parts. It toured through March and April in England and also played at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe at The Gilded Balloon Wine Bar in August. The show received a five-star review in the Edinburgh Evening News, which described Manning as "one of Britain's best actresses". Manning also received two other four-star reviews and appeared on STV news promoting the show.

Manning moved back to live in the UK in 2009. In October 2010, Manning reprised her role as Jo Jones (née Grant) in the fourth series of the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. The two-part story, entitled 'Death of the Doctor', was written by former executive producer of the programme Russell T Davies. She meets the Doctor again, and stars with her grandson Santiago Jones. In 2011, Manning appeared as Blodwyn Morgan, a Welsh busybody and clairvoyant, in the touring stage play Death by Fatal Murder. This was a Peter Gordon play, and part of the Inspector Pratt trilogy. Manning, among many other well-known actors, had a cameo in the comedy film Run for Your Wife in 2012. In November 2013 she appeared as a fictionalised version of herself in the Doctor Who one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.

Manning returned to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014 in the play 'Keeping up with the Joans' with Susan Penhaligon. The play also toured to The Customs House, South Shields & Greenwich Theatre London. She also appeared as Susan Payne in the 2014 supernatural gangster film Evil Never Dies (originally titled The Haunting of Harry Payne) starring Tony Scannell and Graham Cole. In 2015, Manning appeared in an episode of Casualty. From 2016 to 2017, Manning played Suzy alongside Tom Baker in the audio sitcom Baker's End about life in a fictional rural village. She also starred in the short films Memoria (2017) and The Power of One Coin and provided her voice for two Doctor Who video games.

In both 2019 and 2020, Manning reprised her role of Jo Jones for two specially filmed scenes to promote two Doctor Who blu-ray box sets. She also starred in a special episode to mark the conclusion of The Sarah Jane Adventures, released via YouTube in 2020 on the anniversary of Elisabeth Sladen's death.

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