Sophie Aldred

Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress, television presenter, and author. She has worked extensively in children's television as a presenter and voice artist. She played the Seventh Doctor's companion, Ace, in the television series Doctor Who during the late 1980s, becoming the final companion in the series' first run.

Early life

Aldred was born on 20 August 1962 in Greenwich, London, but grew up in nearby Blackheath. She sang in the church choir of St James', Kidbrooke, and attended Blackheath High School from 1973 until 1980. She then enrolled as a drama student at the University of Manchester.^[1] She graduated in 1983 and embarked on a career in children's theatre. She also sang in working men's clubs around Manchester.^[2]

Career

In 1987, Aldred was cast as Ace in Doctor Who, initially for Dragonfire, the final story of the twenty-fourth season.^[3] Her tenure on the show spanned the last nine stories of the programme's original run, which ended in 1989.^[4]

In January 1992, she guest-starred in More than a Messiah, one of the videos in the series The Stranger, starring Colin Baker, also formerly of Doctor Who.

Both before and since Doctor Who, Aldred has had a varied and busy television career, particularly in children's programming, where she has presented educational programmes under the name "Sophie Socket" such as Corners, Melvin and Maureen's Music-a-grams^[2] (which ran from 1992 to '96), Tiny and Crew (which she presented, 1995–96), the BBC series Words and Pictures (1992, 1996-2001), and also the CITV paranormal show It's a Mystery in 1996. She also played the character Minnie The Mini Magician from series 8 onwards in CITV's ZZZap! between 1999 and 2001.

Aldred has presented and sung in several BBC Schools Radio series, including Singing Together, Music Workshop, Time and Tune and Music Box. She has also performed on radio and in the theatre. She has also reprised her role as Ace in the 1993 thirtieth-anniversary charity special Dimensions in Time and, since 2000, the Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions. Following the start of rumours in 1994 and 1995, avid Doctor Who fans expressed hope that Aldred would reprise her role in the project that would become the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, but she did not appear, and her character's fate was not mentioned.

Throughout the 2000s she has worked extensively as a voice-over artist for television advertisements,^[4] and has also provided voices for animated series such as Bob the Builder, Sergeant Stripes, the UK dubbed version of the CGI animated version of the Australian TV series Bananas in Pyjamas, El Nombre, Peter Rabbit, Noddy in Toyland, The Magic Key and Dennis & Gnasher.^[5]

She co-wrote with Mike Tucker the hardcover nonfiction book Ace, The Inside Story of the End of An Era, published by Virgin Publishing in 1996. (ISBN 1-85227-574-X).

Aldred provided voices for the 2009 series Dennis and Gnasher, including that of title character Dennis the Menace.^[6]

She was also a former presenter of the 1996 CITV Saturday morning magazine programme WOW!.

Since 2012 Aldred has provided the voice of Tom in Tree Fu Tom, a CBeebies series. The series' other main voice actor, David Tennant (who voices Twigs), previously played the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who. In November 2013 she appeared in the one-off fiftieth-anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.^[7] In 2018, Aldred reprised the role of Ace in an audio drama set during the first season of Class.

In 2019, Aldred reprised the role of Ace in a special announcement trailer for the Doctor Who Season 26 Blu-ray box set.^[8] That same year, she also appeared as Mistress Na in the direct-to-DVD film Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor; a role for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the Accolade Competition in 2020.

In 2020, Aldred released the novel Doctor Who: At Childhood's End, where an older Ace (now a philanthropist) meets the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions while investigating an alien satellite.^[9]

Aldred reprised the role of Ace in the October 2022 Doctor Who BBC Centenary special "The Power of the Doctor" alongside Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka – who was also a companion of the Doctor during the series' original run and in the episode she reunites with Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor.^[10]

In a 2023 interview at Supanova Gold Coast, Aldred expressed her enthusiasm for returning to Doctor Who alongside Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, saying, "Yeah, where’s the contract? I'll sign it!"^[11]

She also reprised the role in the series Tales of the TARDIS.^[12]

In 2024 she read several stories on the indie channel Divas, Dinosaurs and Demons, which also features fellow Big Finish actor Sadie Miller.^{[13][failed verification]}

Personal life

Aldred was in a relationship with fellow Manchester University student Tim Booth of the band James in the mid-1980s.^[14] In 1988, she met Daniel Peacock during the filming of Doctor Who and the pair were in a relationship for a couple of years. In 1990, She met comedian Les Dennis whilst the pair starred in Hull New Theatre's production of the pantomime Cinderella. A relationship began whilst Dennis was married to his first wife, which he documented in his autobiography.^[15] She married television presenter and actor Vince Henderson on 12 July 1997. They have two sons.^[16] Aldred is allergic to cats and is a vegan.^[17][18]

Filmography

Television

Video games

Audio

References

1. ^ David J. Howe; Mark Stammers; Stephen Walker (1996). Doctor Who: The Eighties. Virgin Publishing. p. 112. ISBN 978-1852276805.
2. ^ "The Den of Geek interview: Sophie Aldred". Den of Geek. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
3. ^ "Interview with 'Doctor Who' star Sophie Aldred". independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
4. ^ "Doctor Who: Ace visitor in Norwich". BBC. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
5. ^ "SueTerryVoices : Sophie Aldred female voiceover artist". sueterryvoices.com. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
6. ^ Dennis is a menace to 2012 equestrian plans London Evening Standard, 7 October 2009
7. ^ "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", BBC programmes, retrieved 26 November 2013
8. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (25 November 2019). "Sophie Aldred says she "burst into tears" after reading script for her Doctor Who comeback". Radio Times
9. ^ Doctor Who: At Childhood's End Penguin Books, 6 February 2020
10. ^ Mzimba, Lizo (17 April 2022). "Doctor Who: Former companions to join Jodie Whittaker's farewell". BBC News
11. ^ Crisp, Oscar (Apr 20, 2023). "Doctor Who: Sophie Aldred INTERVIEW 2023 (Ace)". YouTube
12. ^ "Doctor Who: Welcome to The Whoniverse where every Doctor, every companion and hundreds of terrifying monsters live". BBC Media Centre. BBC. 30 October 2023.
13. ^ "Post by sadiemillerwritervo". www.instagram.com. 14 February 2026.
14. ^ "Q&A with Sophie Aldred". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 559. 2024-01-05.
15. ^ Barkham, Patrick (1 April 2008). "Beyond a Joke". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
16. ^ "Exclusive interview with 'Doctor Who' star Sophie Aldred – CultBox". CultBox. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
17. ^ "23 May 2020". Pointless Celebrities. BBC1
18. ^ "What I eat in a week...Sophie Aldred". Vegan Life Magazine. Retrieved 23 October 2022.

External links

• BBC Norfolk interview: Sophie Aldred – Feb '08