Freema Agyeman would “never say never” to a Doctor Who return

“I know I kept doing audiobooks until after I’d even left the show. So I don’t know – it could be case of maybe one day, maybe one day soon, maybe one day in 30 years time. We will wait and see.”

Martha fans should probably keep their eyes (and ears) peeled for future audio and televisual projects, then – though of course, viewers recently got to see Agyeman back in the main series anyway, with the actress cropping up in a montage of previous companions (below) during a scene late in series 10 finale The Doctor Falls.

It was, however, an appearance that Agyeman herself was unaware of until the story aired...

“I didn’t even know about that!” she told us. “It was only on Twitter that I saw all of this stuff, and I thought ‘Oh gosh, what’s that all about?’

“That’s the world of Who, isn’t it? It’s kind of incredible how 10 years down the line, people do still want to talk to you about it, and those connections will never go.

“It’s such a gift really, to be part of something that is such a happy show. You know, and all the opportunities that it affords you later on. That association is not one that I ever feel I want to disassociate myself from.”

Elsewhere, one companion comeback that fans CAN soon be sure of is a final return for Pearl Mackie (below). Her character Bill was recently revealed to be joining current Doctor Peter Capaldi’s final episode this December after seeming to exit in the series 10 finale – and Agyeman says she’s looking forward to chatting with Mackie once her time in the series is up.

“I sent her a tweet, but I haven’t met her, I haven’t spoken to her,” she explained. “But at this recent con I met up with David [Tennant] again, I hadn’t seen him for years, and Alex Kingston was there too, who I do see more regularly – whenever I’m in LA I catch up with her there.

“So I will probably eventually bump into everybody from the Whoniverse at some point at these events, and then really get the chance to speak to her and find out her experiences. But you know sometimes as well you want to let people get on with it as well.

“Everyone’s experience is totally unique, and that’s when I stepped into it – you know, you can ask other people, you can arrange to sit down and ask ‘What can I expect as a companion, what should I look out for, what should I prepare for?’ But it doesn’t really work like that.

“I think the strength of the show is change – it’s what’s given it longevity and people are hired to give it a new flavour and a new energy.”

Agyeman rehearsing for her new play Apologia

For now, Agyeman is making her West End debut in Apologia, a play written by Alexi Kaye Campbell and directed by Jamie Lloyd which also stars The West Wing and Grease star Stockard Channing and Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael.

“I am absolutely overjoyed to be joining the cast of Apologia. It's right up my street and had me roaring with laughter!” she said.

“It's fun. It's clever. It's deeply insightful. And I feel I couldn't be in safer, more experienced hands for my theatre debut than those of Alexi Kaye Campbell and Jamie Lloyd. Or in better company than the inimitable Stockard Channing.

“So I would say if you’re up for a night of laughs, it’s incredibly funny, it’s incredibly dark – when I read it I was crying, laughing, ruminating, pondering, so it’s highly entertaining, but it will have you talking about it all the way home in the taxi or on the tube. So I would recommend it on all of those levels.”

APOLOGIA is currently showing at Trafalgar Studios until the 18^th November