Martha in the next specials?

[Cky]

I'm sure this has come up before and I'm sorry if I sound like a little rumour troll! I was out and about yesterday and happened to be listening to Radio 1 and Freema was the guest with Vernan Kay (sorry if I spell names wrong!), and it sounded as though she had just started rehearsing lines for Doctor Who. As some people know she is in Law & Order now, and the series has just finished, she mentioned that she was filming "episode 2" but didn't confirm if it was Doctor Who or Law & Order, but as Vernan was generally speaking about Doctor Who I can only presume she was commenting on rehearshing lines for the second special.

She also mentioned how when they were shooting, all the lines have to be word for word, theres no room for improv which I found interesting, especially since David spews out life stories and it's exactly what is on the script! I wonder if Matt can do the same :P.

 

[wamdue]

it is a rumour that wont go away, but it is still that a rumour.

 

[bigdaddy]

It's a rumor that NEEDS to go away.

God her character is horrible!

 

[CommodoreKong]

Anyone know if Captain Jack will be appearing in any of the specials?

 

[DanTheGrey]

IIRC Freema, by going to Law & Order (which is being done for a rival commercial network) very much burned all bridges for ever doing anything Who related again. As I understand it they reworked some of the upcoming TW because of this, that's how po'd the BBC bosses were with her decision.

There were a few articles I remember seeing in a couple of the UK papers online about this and they were making it sound like she's dropped by the BBC indefinitely.

 

[Brendan Moody]

^That was just tabloid nonsense. It's true that Agyeman was originally going to be in the third series of Torchwood and then ended up not being in it (as did Noel Clarke), but the rest is just the tabloids trying to make a sexy story out of a boring decision. They did the same thing in series three, turning the ending of "Last of the Time Lords" into "Freema sacked!" If RTD really wanted Martha for the specials, I don't think anyone involved would say no.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I still don't quite get all the Martha hate. She was a good companion, but unfortunately she gets caught in the middle between Rose and Donna.

 

[Bacl]

I still don't quite get all the Martha hate. She was a good companion, but unfortunately she gets caught in the middle between Rose and Donna.

People have a bad habit of confusing an actor/actress with the lines they are given to read. Many folks seem to think the actor/actress makes up their own lines, defines their own character.

Rest assured, if Freema had been cast as "Donna" and been given Donna's scripts, line for line, she'd be as popular as...Donna.

 

[Starkers]

Rubbish!

Tate has one thing that Freema is lacking, presence. Seriously I doubt Freema could have delivered Tate's lines anywhere near as well-was she hamstrung in the 3rd season by her crush on the Doctor, yes, but frankly the Sontaran 2 parter put the issue to bed for me, Freema and Tate side by side, no stupid unrequited love, a strong powerful woman in a position of authority and she still seemed bland, uninterested and wooden (she basically spends 90% of her time either blank faced or looking like she's about to cry, does she have another facial expression?)

I am, perhaps, a trifle unfair at her acting skills sometimes, and there were some good moments as Martha, but the simple truth is that, if nothing else, she just doesn't have the screen presence that Billie, Tate, Barrowman, Cribbens etc have.

Tate could have played Martha, but no way could Freema have played Donna.

 

[StCoop]

There were a few articles I remember seeing in a couple of the UK papers online about this and they were making it sound like she's dropped by the BBC indefinitely.

Total fiction. She was asked to host the Doctor Who Prom well after she chose L&O over Torchwood.

I'm not the biggest fan of Freema but the Tabloids have some strange agenda against her that I've never been able to understand. (As mentioned above they ran "Freema Sacked" stories even though Martha's departure was always the end of the S3 Arc.)

 

[Starkers]

^I think the media did make a bit of a mountain out of a molehill, but I do think it was a case of smoke/fire. I find it odd that of Freema's s3 and TW appearances, her role was only really of any importance in the Sontaran 2 parter, and her first ep of Torchwood. She's essentially pointless in the Doctor's Daughter, and in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End (admittedly so was Rose and a few others!) and she was very much just hanging around in the background for the other two TW eps. Whilst the producers obviously have some regard for her, it all smacked of her being shoehorned into a lot of episodes, and that screamed "contractual obligation!" to me.

It's all just guesswork though and I could be (and probably am) wrong, but it did always seem a trifle odd. I'm kinda glad she didn't end up in TW s3, although I'm sad that Mickey won't be, although she probably would have fared better in an ensemble.

 

[Winterwind]

I really hope that we never see Rose or Martha again.

 

[Stevil2001]

I really liked Martha in Season 3, but I don't think the military-type material she got in Season 4 played to Freema's strengths at all.

The Writer's Tale indicates that the reason Martha appeared as she did in Torchwood Season 2 and Doctor Who Season 4 is because RTD didn't think Martha could stay a companion if he wanted to tie off the unrequited love arc, but he liked Freema and the character and wanted to keep on using them somehow. Of course, you can always accuse him of spin/lying as you wish.

 

[The]

I am, perhaps, a trifle unfair at her acting skills sometimes...

This is all you had to say, really...

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I still don't quite get all the Martha hate. She was a good companion, but unfortunately she gets caught in the middle between Rose and Donna.

It seems I'm in the minority that prefers Martha over Rose. Same with the actresses that play them.

 

[Garth Rockett]

I still don't quite get all the Martha hate. She was a good companion, but unfortunately she gets caught in the middle between Rose and Donna.

It seems I'm in the minority that prefers Martha over Rose. Same with the actresses that play them.

I'm with you. Rose was fine with the Ninth Doctor, but I didn't like her as much with Ten. I enjoyed Martha much more with Ten, and would take Martha and Ten over Rose and Nine as well. I'd enjoy seeing Martha back again.

 

[Starkers]

I am, perhaps, a trifle unfair at her acting skills sometimes...

This is all you had to say, really...

A trifle, as in she probably isn't quite the disaster I make her out to be to be honest I think a lot of it comes down to screen presense, which can hide a multitude of sins...

 

[The]

^Heh...no, I agree, she doesn't have a lot of range. But, she doesn't actually bug me the way she does you.

 

[Starkers]

And I don't even know why she bugs me! She's a pretty girl and always seems really nice when interviewed. I dunno she just always seems so clearly out of her depth. I don't actually hate her or anything, she's just one of my least favourite companions is all...

 

[The]

Hey, I hear you! I have an irrational dislike of "Jenny"/Georgia Moffat for some reason. The Doctor's Daughter just offends me! And her dad is one of my favorite Doctors!