'Doctor Who was the best experience I've had as a deaf actress,' says Sophie Stone

The episodes, written by Toby Whithouse, see the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) encounter an army of hollow-eyed homicidal ghosts with Cass proving essential to understanding the "ghosts" and ultimately saving the crew's lives.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com almost a decade later, Stone says she thinks that visibility on Doctor Who "changed the landscape" for any deaf viewers watching – especially children.

"So often people think, 'I can't hear you, therefore you're not intelligent,'" Stone explains. "Or that the quality of your voice equals the quality of how much you know, and actually it's a lie.

"To show that in a character in a storyline – yes, it's sci-fi, yes, it's a fantasy world that doesn't exist, but these people could be real people in your real life. Why not show somebody leading a team of hearing people and being the most intelligent person in that room?

"It was sending a message to not just the kids but their families as well to go, 'There's hope, there's belief that there's something else beyond a disability.' So often we're told we can't, and in that situation, she definitely could.

"It was amazing, it changed the landscape and I definitely got a lot of responses and feedback from people for many years after that, letters, and it was a really heart-wrenching moment for me."

Part of the powerful representation was Cass's nuanced character, with Stone adding: "She wasn't just a very good lip reader.

"She was a part of every part of the emotional roller coaster that everybody was on. It never once felt like she was a little bit behind, because often when you have an interpreter or someone translating information, and then it gets relayed to you, you're a little bit behind and it can feel like we don't have time for that in real life.

"If there's an emergency situation, you say something and you go; you don't say something, have it repeated, processed, understood, have a dialogue back and then go.

"Some of the negative aspects of the feedback that we got from the show was that it's not realistic, that deaf people are always the last to know, but in that situation, it really did feel like, 'Just give us one extra second, and you will get so much more from us.'"

Stone says the crew and creative teams behind the episode were in close contact about any accessibility requirements – and had a deaf BSL consultant on set who ensured that Stone's signs were being accurately picked up in the shots.

"They said, 'What do you need? What can we provide for you? What kind of space do you want?'," she recalls. "And we had an amazing, deaf BSL consultant on set and she ended up being very much part of the core team.

"She would come on set and talk to me about where my signs were facing, what would be missed, whether it was out of shot and she felt that the environment was safe enough for her to say, 'That footage didn't work for me, that clip didn't work for me because we didn't understand Sophie's signs,' or 'It just went out of shot,' or 'You cut away from it too soon.'

"They really valued her voice. And they suggested, 'Absolutely, go and chat with Sophie and we'll do it again.' There was a level of respect that I haven't seen anywhere else before or since."

One particularly memorable moment in the two-parter is when a "ghost" creeps up on Cass. She instantly knows something's wrong, and places her hands on the floor to discover something moving behind her, before making her escape.

"[Toby] was amazing, he was constantly in dialogue with myself, the director, and the DOP about what was possible, what made sense, what was icky or a cliché or too far," Stone says of that scene. "It's trying to be as close to reality and not like we're all superheroes who can do the impossible.

"Without my hearing aids, you're on heightened alert, you feel more vulnerable, so you are more likely to feel things that are a shadow, or shape or brush against you. Anything that changes, you're more likely to go 'There's something in the room,' or 'Something's happening.'

"In the edit, it's like static and it's a really beautiful manifestation of how vibration works, maybe not how we see things, but the power, the strength of vibrations, and so when you got something that looks like sonic waves, it makes sense. That's how you see sound, right? So you see sound and you see vibrations – it made it a visual story that is accessible for everybody to understand the power of vibrations.

"I loved it. It's not for everybody, it's not everyone's cup of tea. But it made sense to me. And it's a quick way of showing sensation on screens – you have artistic licence to tell those stories, and if you can do it in that way, why not?"

Almost a decade later, however, there are still plenty of improvements needed when it comes to representation for deaf actors.

Pulling up one example, Stone says: "So often, somebody could do a good job at something and there's a buzz, excitement around it for a little bit, and then nobody interviews you. Nobody invites you to panel shows. Nobody knows what to do with you. Nobody talks about or exposes you on a certain platform to keep you visible.

"It's almost like, 'Oh, that was nice. I need focus on other people.' And I think that's a shame, and I noticed that quite a lot with things like The Sound of Metal – almost every single interview after The Sound of Metal was for the hearing actors and not one deaf actor was invited."

She adds: "It was such a massive opportunity for red carpet events and interviews and panel shows to really get into the inside of the deaf world – not hearing struggles, but the deaf world, the beauty that it can give you.

"Everyone's about to become deaf. Everyone could possibly lose their hearing or become disabled. Everyone is this far away from losing any kind of faculties. You're not always just born with it, it could happen tomorrow.

"What is in place to support you? We are. Use us. We're here, we'll support you, we'll give you language, we'll teach you. If you don't see us, you're going to be frightened of us forever.

"Put deaf people at the front and make them look good. Give them the shiny lens... see our worth and give us worth and lift us up. Give us the red carpet, put us in magazines, let us be important."

Deaf Awareness Week runs from 6th to 12th May in the UK this year.

Doctor Who returns to BBC One and iPlayer on Saturday 11th May 2024.

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