Doctor Who's latest companion Varada Sethu has revealed the serious mishap she made at what she thought was her audition.
Appearing alongside Ncuti Gatwa on The One Show tonight, Sethu admitted she didn't have to audition for the role of Belinda Chandra... but she didn't know that until she was already auditioning.
The actor confessed she wasn't aware that some guest actors have been asked back to the Whoniverse to play new roles (she previously played Mundy Flynn in series 14), so was surprised when she got a call from the Who team asking her to meet with showrunner Russell T Davies for the upcoming series.
"When I got the phone call, it was all very vaguely worded. It was like, 'Would you maybe, potentially, want to come in to talk to Russell to kind of think about being the companion?'" she told hosts Angellica Bell and Alex Jones. "So I thought it was an audition."
"So I went in, hyping myself up listening to music ready to pitch for the role, and I was sat there and Russell was telling me the whole story arc for the season. And I just thought, 'This is top secret information! Top secret stuff to give [in] an audition.'"
Related: Here's how to watch Doctor Who's entire Whoniverse in the right order
What to Read Next
That's when it clicked that she was actually being offered the role of Belinda. "And then it was like, 'Oh! I just clocked that this is an offer. This isn't an audition,'" she said as Gutwi let out a laugh over her mishap.
Sethu was confirmed to join the show back in July and has since opened up about how she's happy the latest series of the long-running BBC show is "progressive".
Related: Doctor Who fans "manifesting" return of iconic villain after spotting clue
“There's been a couple of Doctor Woke [references] or whatever, but I just think we're doing the right thing if we're getting comments like that," she told Radio Times of the new episodes, which will begin airing on April 12.
“Woke just means inclusive, progressive, and that you care about people. And, as far as I know, the core of Doctor Who is kindness, love and doing the right thing."
Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere. Classic episodes of Doctor Who are available on BBC iPlayer in the UK.
Interested in talking about Doctor Who? Visit our dedicated sub-forum
Read more Doctor Who news on our dedicated homepage
Sub-editor, Digital Spy
Emily has a BA in Media with a pathway in Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and an MA in Film, Television, and Screen Industries from the University of Nottingham. She has worked as a freelance journalist since she was a teenager, and now writes and sub-edits stories about celebrities, TV shows, movies, and lifestyle features.
Emily currently works for Digital Spy and Static Media and has had her work featured in various online and print outlets over the years, including Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, Harper's Bazaar, The Inquisitr, Nicki Swift, Women.com, Mirror and Yahoo.
