ARTICLE: Whatever Happened to the 'Other' Susan Foremans?

Way back in 1963, when the nuts and bolts of Doctor Who were being put together to build its foundations, the core cast was made up of the Doctor (played by William Hartnell), two schoolteachers called Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and the Doctor's quirky granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford). But before Ford was cast, a plethora of other girls auditioned for the role, on June 25th, 1963. So who were they? What became of the Susans that never were? Prepare for tragedy and mystery...

MAUREEN CROMBIE (1943-1999)

Born as Maureen Patricia Blott, Maureen graduated from RADA in 1962 and got a part in a stage play in Coventry. Maureen secured an uncredited role as an auxiliary nurse in the Val Guest thriller 80,000 Suspects in 1963, starring Claire Bloom, but it was when she was cast in the wartime comedy Joey Boy in 1965 that her life took a turn.

Playing Joey Boy was star Harry H Corbett, and although Maureen's role (as Katie) was small and uncredited, she and Harry found love on set, and later married in 1969. Harry was 18 years her senior, but their relationship lasted, and produced two children: Jonathan (born 1966) and Susannah (born 1968, and who went on to become an actor herself, most notably in detective series Dalziel and Pascoe). The four of them are pictured here at home in September 1972.

Maureen's acting career didn't really survive her role as a mother, with her only other roles being as Nurse Maddox in five episodes of Dr Finlay's Casebook (1965), various roles in an instalment of Comedy Playhouse starring Roy Hudd (1965) and finally playing Marcia Askett in the 1966 film The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (ironically also starring Carole Ann Ford).

Harry H Corbett died of a heart attack in 1982, aged just 57. Tragically, Maureen had battled against cancer for some years before she finally succumbed while at home, surrounded by her family, on November 4th, 1999, aged just 56 (even younger than her late husband). The two are buried together at St Michael the Archangel Church in Penhurst, East Sussex.

ANNE CASTALDINI (1942-1997)

Bournemouth-born Christine Anne Castaldini began her acting career in very minor roles as a teenager in productions such as Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), The Golden Disc (1958), and John Gabriel Borkman (an ITV Play of the Week starring Laurence Olivier, pictured here) before securing her first regular role playing Julia in the 1959 series The Wanderer. After that she popped up on TV in series such as The Golden Spur (1959), The Young Lady from London (1959), The Angry Gods (1961) and Suspense (1963).

Her major breakthrough was playing Ruth Munday in 23 episodes of the BBC soap Compact in 1962, a role she left in April that year. Her unsuccessful Doctor Who audition came before she secured the part of Felicite in the TV adaptation of Madame Bovary (1964), after which her CV runs dry for several years. It is to be assumed that Anne emigrated to Australia during this time, as her next credit on IMDb isn't until October 1971, when she appeared in an episode of Antipodean police series Matlock Police (credited as Anya). There was just one more Aussie credit - an episode of police series Division 4 in February 1973 - before her acting career ground to a complete halt.

Anne with Dame Sybil Thorndike and David Andrews
in TV play A Matter of Age (Saturday Playhouse, 1960)

However, there is evidence away from IMDb to narrow down Anne's movements a little. Nostalgia Central has an article about a 30-minute pilot TV show called View from Beyond, broadcast by Australia's Channel 7 in October 1970 and starring Anne/ Anya as an angel. The show was roundly panned by the Aussie media, and never picked up, but this proves that Anne moved out to Australia sometime between 1964-1970. There's further evidence that Anya appeared in a play called Butley by Simon Gray at Melbourne's Metro Theatre in April 1971, alongside Peter Wyngarde.

What happened after 1973 is something of a mystery, but she definitely returned to the UK at some point, as she sadly died in Launceston in Cornwall in June 1997, aged just 55.

CHRISTA BERGMANN

Not much is known about Christa, other than the fact her screen acting work began with a 1962 episode of Probation Officer, and was followed by roles in The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre's Who Was Maddox? (1964), The Valiant Varneys (1964) and Redcap (1965), after which she seems to disappear.

She did have a recurring role as Gretchen Simpson in nine episodes of medical soap Emergency Ward 10 in 1963, but other than that, Christa's acting career dries up (unless she married and took a different name).

HEATHER FLEMING

This is another young actor who proves hard to trace. The only Heather Fleming credited with acting work in the UK in the 1960s is listed on IMDb as Heather Fleming (I), appearing in one lone episode of anthology series Espionage in 1963.

There was only one Heather Fleming born in the right timeframe for the part of Susan: a Heather S Fleming, born in Reading in the summer of 1942. Whether this is her is very difficult to say, but there was a Heather S Fleming who married a Steven Oxley in Brighton in 1990 (this is the only Heather S Fleming on the FreeBMD database to have married, so could well be the same lady).

CAMILLA HASSE

Born as Camilla Jocelyn Langley in Tendring, Essex, in 1934, Camilla was a good bit older than some of her fellow wannabe Susans. Graduating from RADA in 1958, she'd been acting since 1957 when she made her screen debut modelling fashions in Men, Women and Clothes. She later secured small roles in series such as Dixon of Dock Green (1960), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1960) and The Saint (1964), while also securing a recurring role as Molly in a 1964 adaptation of Silas Marner.

As the 1960s progressed Camilla's CV lengthened to include Sherlock Holmes (1965), The Troubleshooters (1966) and The Prisoner (1967), which was her final credit (as day supervisor Number 22). After that, Camilla seems to disappear, although there have been no reports of her passing away.

WAVENEY LEE

The unusually named Waveney was reportedly born in 1945, making her one of the youngest actors to audition for the part of Susan at the age of just 18. Her first screen credit was in an episode of war dramas O.S.S in 1957, when she would have been just 12 years old.

Further small roles followed in series such as Interpol Calling (1959), Sir Francis Drake (1962) and sitcom The Marriage Lines (1965), after which her CV halts. She also enjoyed roles in films such as 1960's A Touch of Larceny and 1961's Konga, and there are also reports online of her auditioning for the title role in Stanley Kubrik's 1962 adaptation of Lolita. She was apparently prevented from taking the part by her parents who believed she was unsuitably young for the role.

ANNA PALK (1941-1990)

Anna Elizabeth Palk was 21 when she auditioned for the role of Susan in Doctor Who. Born in Looe in Cornwall, Anna trained as an actor at RADA before going into rep at Bristol, Leatherhead, Derby, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne. Her first screen role was in a BBC Sunday Night Theatre called To Whom It May Concern (1962), followed by roles in programmes such as No Hiding Place (1962), Z Cars (1963), Sergeant Cork (1964) and The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (1964).

Anna also broke into films, securing the role of Ann Bryant opposite pop star Billy Fury in the 1962 musical Play It Cool (pictured below), as well as parts in genre movies like The Earth Dies Screaming (1964), The Skull (1965) and The Frozen Dead (1966). She continued to make regular appearances on TV too, such as the supernatural series Witch Hunt (1967), and action series such as Jason King (1971), The Persuaders! (1971) and The Protectors (1972).

Her biggest success was playing Lady Sarah Radchester in 21 episodes of the ITV drama series The Main Chance, starring John Stride, which ran between 1969-1971.

However, as the 1970s wore on, roles began to dry up for Anna - a common problem as actresses moved from their 20s into their 30s back then - and despite the occasional part in series such as The New Avengers (1977) and Bognor (1981), her CV came to an abrupt end in 1983 when she appeared in Secrets, a pilot for a TV series never picked up (part of the Storyboard strand).

In 1964, Anna married stockbroker Derek Brierley, and together they had a son, Jonathan (born 1974). Sadly, Anna died of cancer on July 1st, 1990, aged just 48. She was cremated and her ashes given to her family.

There have been other Susans and nearly-Susans over the years too. Two actresses who didn't make it as Susan later became Doctor Who companions of their own: Jackie Lane (1941-2021) was a favourite of Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert's when she was working under the name Jacqueline Lenya. Although she didn't accept the part of Susan, she later played Dodo Chaplet in six stories opposite William Hartnell (1966). Another future Doctor Who alumnus to be considered for Susan (although she apparently did not audition) was Anneke Wills (born 1941), who would later play companion Polly in nine stories opposite both Hartnell and his successor, Patrick Troughton (1966-1967).

Susan did, of course, make it onto the big screen in two glossy colour movies released in 1965 and 1966. The first film, Dr Who and the Daleks, was an adaptation of the first ever Dalek serial on TV, while the sequel, Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD, adapted the second television serial to feature the metal meanies. In both films the Doctor was played by Hammer stalwart Peter Cushing, and his granddaughter by Roberta Tovey (born 1953), who was significantly younger than the TV Susan at just 12 years old.

Finally, Susan would be portrayed by well-known actor Jane Asher (born 1946) with her tongue somewhat in her cheek in the 1994 BBC Radio 4 play Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?, which featured a researcher interviewing Susan and people who knew her about what happened following the events of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the BBC serial in which the character left the TARDIS.

And then there's the legendary Carole Ann Ford (born 1940), the actor who did get the part back in 1963, and was contracted on July 31st to play Susan for 52 weeks. She was on screen from November 1963 to December 1964, making brief returns for the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors in 1983 and the 30th anniversary production Dimensions in Time ten years later. Will she return to the TV show a third time...?