How Pearl Mackie was Cast as Bill on Doctor Who
By Leah Tedesco
The casting of a companion on Doctor Who is a long and involved process. There is a lot to consider both for the show and in a larger cultural sense.
Yesterday, we shared an article about when, pre companion announcement, Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie had to pretend to be meeting for the first time when he went to see her show. Today, we are going to back up a bit and talk about the details of the casting process for Bill.
In an interview with James Gill of Radio Times, Doctor Who‘s casting director Andy Pryor told the tale of how Mackie landed the role. The story begins with Pryor and his assistant realizing that Mackie would be a good contender for the coveted role after seeing her in several plays. What made her right for the part was:
"She arrived fully formed, with a strong personality and a strong sense of herself. A great deal of humour too, which is something we were looking for in this case."
Also, her chemistry with Capaldi “had a spark that was new and exciting and fresh.”
"Peter responded incredibly well to Pearl in her audition. It was like they were feeding off each other, swapping ideas of how they might play the scene. That’s always exciting; it’s full of possibility."
And you can see that energy in her introduction video, which is a somewhat modified version of one of the audition scenes that Mackie did with Capaldi:
Mackie was part of an initial list of seventy actors. Pryor recalls a meeting with showrunner Steven Moffat, executive producer Brian Minchin, and Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi. They were gathered to make the final decision as to who would be the new companion from a list that had been narrowed to just five. The vote for Mackie was unanimous.
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Mackie learned from her agent that she got the role. At this point, she has only known for “a matter of weeks.” Since an increasing number of the production team has to know about such decisions over time, it is difficult to keep the news from leaking to the general public. It was the idea of Charlotte Moore, controller of BBC TV and iPlayer, to do the big reveal during the FA Cup semi-final.
When it comes to how a television program fits into a larger cultural context:
"I’m quite proud of Doctor Who’s record on [diversity] in recent years. It’s television’s job to reflect the world that we live in, and if you can’t do that on a show like Doctor Who, then where can you?"
Mackie’s first day on set:
Pryor sees a bright future for Mackie as Bill:
"I’m looking forward to seeing that playfulness that you saw in the clip. How that humour and warmth will play out. I think already it’s clear she’s her own person who’s not going to be impressed easily. I think that’s quite a fun thing to explore, and it’s something that Pearl is brilliantly equipped to do."
Mackie meets her first live Dalek:
(Article continues below the next and related story links.)
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