Louise Jameson: How Doctor Who paid for my pension

Louise Jameson has been a regular presence on TV for 40 years. Now starring on stage in The Mousetrap, she talks to Phil Penfold.
Actress Louise Jameson.Actress Louise Jameson.
Actress Louise Jameson.

Louise Jameson’s last acting role couldn’t have been more convenient.

For a good many years now, the actress has lived in Kent’s old spa town of Tunbridge Wells, so when she was offered the part of the Fairy Godmother in the local panto, she grabbed it. “Nice show, lovely people, lots to do and best of all, home for Christmas and the New Year,” she says. Fast forward a few weeks and things are rather different.

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Jameson is out on the road with the record-breaking anniversary production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which continues its box-office bonanza around the UK. It is not her first visit to Yorkshire. In fact when she was just starting out in the early 1970s, she was cast in Emmerdale as the village postmistress Sharon Crossthwaite.

“It was back in the days when it was a daytime soap, so things were not as lurid as they are today. While my claim to fame was that I was the first character ever to be raped, and then murdered in a British soap, it was all done very tastefully in the sense that I went to meet my maker off-screen.”

Since those early days, Louise has kept on working, but it was three iconic TV series – Bergerac, Doctor Who, and Tenko – which made the 64-year-old a household name.

“Tenko was my all-time favourite job. Ever. It was appalling subject matter and harrowing to make, all those poor women, who were Japanese prisoners of war being treated abominably by their captors. However, the almost all-women cast bonded immediately. And, I think because of the dreadful, and true, story we were telling, there were a lot of laughs in the breaks. I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many naughty stories.

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“Bergerac was completely different, and I was with that for five whole years. Filming on Jersey with dear John Nettles was a delight. Even better that I played his girlfriend, Susan Young. Again, we had a lot of laughs together, and I think we made some memorable television. Actually, we must have done – because it is still being repeated on some channel somewhere or other. The repeat fees are ludicrously small, but yes, they do occasionally come fluttering in. But my pension, my little nugget of a job that has taken me all over the world to so many conventions and meetings of fan clubs that I have, quite honestly, lost track, was Doctor Who. I was Leela, a sort of barbarian warrior and companion to the Doctor, in his fourth reincarnation. Tom Baker, another great actor to work with. He is a bit like Brian Blessed in that he just booms at you – if he’s in the room, you are definitely aware of it.

“The marvellous thing though about that show is that I’ve been offered so many specials and spin-offs from Who, including an awful lot of audiobooks. It has been part of my life since 1977 and shows no signs of stopping. It will be with me, I guess, for the rest of my days, and God bless it for that. It gave me a very strange, rather particular, longevity.”

Doctor Who, along with Bergerac and Tenko have also given Jameson what she describes as a “weird ‘recognition factor”.

“I walk down the road, on my way somewhere, and I see people with that little ‘don’t I know you from somewhere?’ flicker. I think the penny probably drops when I am about 300 yards past whoever it was.”

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In The Mousetrap, she has the pivotal part of Mrs Boyle, who harbours a deep, dark secret.

“It has been quite a challenge to bring her to life. Like a lot of people, I think, I resisted seeing the play in the West End for many years because a bit like the Tower of London, I dismissed it as the one that all the tourists flocked to. But then the inevitable happened. One of my chums was cast in it, so went along as a bit of support. While it didn’t grab me at first, I could see what the appeal was and since then, I’ve seen it on another two occasions, each when a friend was in it, and now I think that it is a hugely compelling gem of storytelling. It really is very entertaining, and it does have a brilliant twist at the end.

“There is, of course, the caveat that, if you have seen it, you must never ever tell anyone else about the climax. It is devilishly clever.”

Jameson’s has been a long, and hugely successful career. In recent years she has been a regular in Doc Martin as well as appearances in Holby City, Doctors and the late-lamented The Bill. If there was one regret, it was when she was axed from the cast of EastEnders, having played Rosa di Marco, head of the di Marco clan, for more than two years.

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“It’s a familiar story in soapland, you get a fresh producer and the ‘new broom’ always feels that they have to sweep clean and make some changes. So, rather implausibly, the di Marcos went – to Leicester, where Rosa died of a heart attack a few years later. How did I feel? ‘Betrayed’ is perhaps too strong a word, but very, very let down. Especially when I’d been called in a few months before, assured that there were some good storylines in the future for me, and that a new contract was in the offing.

“I think that the writers could have done far more with her, and that, possibly, she could have had a really passionate fling at some point. Just to learn that the axe was going to fall on our necks was a huge shock. It wasn’t done with any tact, or indeed regard, for anyone’s feelings. You get the news, you work out your time, and you leave. Finito. But... you move on.”

Post-Mousetrap, Jameson is going to tackle a two-hander, written by Greg Ashton, in one of Islington’s smaller venues.

“It’s a bit of a try-out, and it’s called Diva Drag, and it is all about a drag artist on the day of his mother’s funeral. He didn’t go, and she turns up to berate him, and to discover why. It’s a great piece of writing and again, something that I haven’t done before.”

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Louise was a prison visitor in her early career (in fact, it was she who met Leslie Grantham inside and encouraged him to try acting. He became, of course Den Watts in EastEnders) and she is still concerned about the way that prisons are run.

“Two things I’ll say. The first is that I never ever met a prisoner who admitted that he or she was guilty. They were all in for the wrong reasons, and had their own ‘mitigating circumstances’. But if you are going to cut-back on skills and learning services, deny access to libraries and workshops, how in heaven’s name are you going to reform anyone? It’s simply ludicrous.”

She no longer does prison visiting and her spare time is spent teaching drama and writing.

“The former is very active and there is often a lot of energy to be channelled. Truth be told, I rather like the cheekier teenagers, the ones with a little bit of chutzpah. Because I think, they have the more fertile imaginations. The ones who are polite are always a little more reticent to make that leap.

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“Writing is, of course, very solitary. I write anywhere I can – often in my dressing room between or before shows. I have to have quiet around me. I get a lot of things out of my system and on to the page. I’m no hermit when I’m on tour, I love exploring new places, but I think that sense of curiosity fuels my writing.”

The Mousetrap, Grimsby Auditorium, February 15 to 20, 01472 31130; Grand Opera House, York, February 22 to 27, 0844 871 3024; Harrogate Theatre, May 3 to 7, 01423 502116.

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