Minor Doctor Who spoiler ahead.
OK, yeah, it should be "woman", but that ruins the joke. But a whole bunch of blogs are talkin’ about Michelle Ryan:
 |
If she looks familiar, you may remember her from the awful "Bionic Woman" series which lasted about 1.3 episodes. She was also in "Jekyll", which was not bad, and in fact she was quite good in it. Incidentally, and probably not coincidentally, Jekyll was written by Steven Moffat, the new show runner for the good Doctor.
Filming for Planet of the Dead, the next Doctor Who special, has started in Cardiff, and Ms. Ryan has been seen with The Doctor doing science-fictiony things like riding on a bus, standing around, smiling, etc. io9 has more, as does pretty much every other Doctor Who blog on the planet and off.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
First: *RAWR*
Dr. Plait… Now I have that song stuck in my head thanks to you… *thwap*
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Bionic Woman was good for two reasons: 1) Michelle Ryan (pictured above) and 2) Katie Sackhoff, of Starbuck fame.
Speaking of Starbuck, one of my friends ran across Dirk Benedict’s annual whining about the re-imagined series and sent me the question “I didn’t know Starbuck was a dude?” Shows how memorable The Face’s turn was in the short-lived original series.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
She (Michelle Ryan) also started her TV fame in a soap opera called Eastenders which you may bet on BBC Canada & BBC America. It (the soap)is an awful reflection of life in London’s (poor) east end. No jolly ‘cor blimey cockneys in evidence, just awful people shouting at each other most of thime, occasionally sleeping with/shooting/stabbing/bad-mouthing each other.
Michelle was actually quite good in it.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I liked Bionic Woman, too. But that doesn’t make me a bad person, right?
Right?
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Put me down as a fan of the bionic woman show too. Katie Sackoffs character was interesting, too.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Ah, so she’s the new Doctor.
Er, no…wait….
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
She was also in the new BBC series ‘Merlin’ which turned out better than I expected.
I had already guessed Michelle Ryan as the 11th Doctor’s companion, so though I was wrong, I take some comfort in being not quite so wrong as I might have.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I’m getting a serious Avengers vibe here. The next Doctor better have a steel-rimmed bowler and a cane, or I’ll be disappointed.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
One interesting thing about Ryan’s bionic role was her dead-on American accent. She’s not alone. It seems easy for a British actor to adopt an American accent for work here in the states, but somehow every time I think of an American actor playing British I start to laugh.
Can anyone name an American actor who can fake, or has faked, a British accent (and there are many) well enough to convince British viewers?
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Justcorbly – Mike Myers, in the Austin Powers movies, and Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones’ Diary.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Sorry – that should be Bridget Jones’s Diary.
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Gwyneth Paltrow’s English accent in Shakespeare In Love was excellent, as was Natalie Portman’s in V For Vendetta. On the other hand, Excellent should never be used without some sort of qualifier, so it’s probably worth pointing out that technically, everyone’s accent in Shakespeare in Love was wrong, since they (wisely) chose not to correct their pronunciations for the Great Vowel Shift, which was in progress when the film is set. It’s also worth noting that Ben Affleck, although he gives it a very creditable college try, does not entirely convince as an Englishman. Heath Ledger and Shannyn Sossamon, similarly, give spirited but not completely successful performances in A Knight’s Tale, although Alan Tudyk’s accent is good. Russel Crowe’s is also good in Master And Commander – and he pronounces “Lieutenant” correctly, as “Lef-tenant”, rather than “Loo-tenant”*. I appreciate that some of those mentioned are Australian rather than American, but the point holds.
On the other hand, Dick Van Dyke. No Cockney has ever, or will ever, speak like that. Even “Mockney”, epitomised by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, does not descend to those stygian depths.
* In deference, some proofs that we English are quite, quite mad: Among surnames, Mainwaring is pronounced “Mannering”, Marjoriebanks is pronounced “Marshbanks”, Saint-John is pronounced “Sinjen”, and Featherstonehaugh is pronounced “Fanshaw”. In place names, Leicester is pronounced “Lester”, and Edinburgh is pronounced, approximately, “Edinbra”. And whether you say “Barth” (as I do) or, very approximately, “Baff” for the word Bath is a fairly certain indicator of whether you hail from the south or the north of England…
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Matt A: Could you please tell me how to pronounce “Worchestershire”? I’m a cook, and it sucks having to say “worchest… worcesh… warshitser… that brownish black thin stuff with that smells a little bit like ketchup”.
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
@GuanoLad:
I also pegged Ms. Ryan as a perfect new companion, just this week while watching “Jekyll” for the first time. I didn’t realize at the time that she was the Bionic Woman, but I saw Moffat’s name in the credits, I saw her onscreen, and, after I cooled down a bit, thought … “She’d make an AWESOME companion.”
And she still could be. She could come back after this one-off special when the new show starts next year.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Michelle Ryan is teh hawt.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Michelle Ryan was great as Nimueh in Merlin (which also starred Anthony Head [Mr. Finch in the DW episode School Reunion] and Richard Wilson {Dr. Constantine in the Ecclestone 2-parter The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances]).
And, to add to the list of Yanks who can fake British accents, let’s not forget James Marsters, who played Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Captain John in Torchwood.
Going the other way, check out True Blood, which stars a Kiwi, Brit, and Aussie in the three main roles, all of which are supposed to hail from Louisiana.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I liked Bionic Woman. I thought the series had some potential, and was killed too early. In regards to James Marsters English accent; not only is it spot on, but it is so good that he has yet to get a part that doesn’t ask him to play someone WITHOUT a British accent.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I freely admit, I fell in love with her in Jekyll and joked at the time she would make a good companion. Bionic Woman was horribly wonderful. Merlin has been very fun to watch, though I haven’t finished the series yet. But while listing Who alum in that one, Merlin was the kid in the last series episode “Midnight.”
January 24th, 2009 at 12:54 am
I have to admit, when I first saw her, I thought it was Gwen from Torchwood XD
January 24th, 2009 at 3:54 am
She’ll always be Zoe Slater from Eastenders to me.
January 24th, 2009 at 4:42 am
I should really get ’round to see Jekyll as I was present when they filmed one of the scenes.
January 24th, 2009 at 4:44 am
We were all impressed by Gillian Anderson’s perfect English when she played Lady Dedlock in ‘Bleak House’ — then it turned out she went to my old school in North London! Sadly, many years after I was there…
January 24th, 2009 at 6:32 am
For those WHO missed the series finale, the first episode airs on BBCA tonight(In my neck of the woods)- I made the choice to go fishin in New Hampshire rather than stay home to watch it last summer. Tough Choice
January 24th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
@Jura:
James Marsters played an immigration agent in the previous season of Without a Trace, and he didn’t have a British accent in that.
January 25th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Kimpatsu, Holy Cow! Jason Stackhouse is the Aussie. I didn’t pick that. I new about Moyer and Paquin, but crikey. Maybe I should’ve watched more Home And Away… maybe not.
Robin Williams is good with accents too. He does a passable Aussie accent as well. Yanks tend to struggle with the Aussie accent. Poms are better at it.
January 25th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Yes, Shane, Ryan Kwantan does indeed hail from Down Under. In fact, the actor who plays Sam Merlotte is the only American in the main cast (of people who survived for season 2).
Hey, why didn’t we think of Alexis Denisoff? He played Wesley in Buffy and Angel, but is a Yank. (Although we attended drama school in London from age 16.)
January 28th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Gopher65 – Worcestershire is pronounced “wuss-ter-sheer”
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 am
Hii, Yes she was on eastenders her name was Zoey She has also been on other Progams!She was also in the new BBC series ‘Merlin’ which turned out better than I expected.
I had already guessed Michelle Ryan as the 11th Doctor’s companion, so though I was wrong, I take some comfort in being not quite so wrong as I might have.
I have met her before walking down the London roads she didt reil say any thing i just ran up and said OH MY GOSH hii can i hav you singtureand she gave it to me but i was reil Shy :s
xxx Siobhan xxx