Doctor Who star was “depressed” when a call from her agent that changed everything for her career
Doctor Who is returning to BBC screens this year with Ncuti Gatwa’s second full season as the Doctor, alongside his new Tardis companion Belinda Chandra, who will be played by Varada Sethu.
The 32-year-old actress couldn’t believe her luck when BBC producers came knocking on her door in October 2023, explaining that at that time, she’d been fearful of not “finding work again”.
Varada had bravely decided to take five-months out from acting to explore and travel South America but when she returned to London, believing she had a job lined up, it proved not to be the case due to an industry-wide actors’ strike that left her without work.
Speaking to Radio Times about landing her dream job on Doctor Who and how she’d been feeling before the role landed, Varada said: “I was depressed, had the holiday blues and just thought, ‘I guess I’m never working again’.”
However, just as she was contemplating her options, Varada’s agent got in touch with news about playing the Tardis in the forthcoming series with Ncuti Gatwa at the helm.
Casting her mind back to that moment, Varada’s initial reaction was shock as she disbelieved producers had wanted to sign her up as a permanent cast member and thinking they’d made a mistake.
She quizzed her agent, asking: “But I’ve been in it already. They know that, right?” Fans will already be aware that Varada is no stranger to the Doctor Who set.
The actress had previously taken up the role as Mundy Flynn as a guest role in the epic tense ticking-clock episode. Despite her initial fears, she attended a meeting with show chiefs who informed her the job – playing a new and different character – was hers if she was willing to accept it.
It proved to be a whirlwind experience and within a few days she’d struck up a deal with producers and was on set filming as newbie Belinda Chandra.
In the same interview with Radio Times, Varada explained how quickly things materialised: “The turnaround was like whiplash,” adding: “I was dropped into [filming] within two weeks of being told I had it. So a lot of the confusion and stress that [Belinda is] going through is the confusion and stress that I was going through.”
Varada wants to inspire young girls to follow their dreams(Image: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios)
Varada has overcome a lot of personal challenges when it comes to her chosen career, previously opening up about her family not originally supporting her dream of being an actress.
“They had difficulty coming to terms with it initially,” she told BBC Asian Network News. She told the outlet that she feels going into acting is “sadly still not encouraged in the South Asian community. There’s an element of resistance we face.”
However, Varada is looking to change that feeling and is hoping that her success will inspire many young girls to also follow their dreams. “I want to be the person that these girls can point out to and say ‘She made it and she came from a community that looks like mine’. So I think I’ve gone about this with the energy of, I can’t fall flat on my face,” she says.
