JUST a few months ago nothing seemed to be going right for Sophie Aldred.
The talented actress, who played Dr Who's assistant Ace, was out of work and her prospects looked bleak.
And even when she landed a TV commercial for Tennents Pilsner beer, Lady Luck was against her. Because TV watchdogs decided that Sophie's influence on young viewers, through her Dr Who role, was so great, they stepped in to ban her from making the ad.
Watchdogs
Then, her fortunes suddenly took a turn for the better.
For a start, the agency making the proposed beer commercial decided to pay her the agreed fee anyway. Then TV work began rolling in.
And, as a delightful piece of icing on the cake, she learned the happy news that the BBC was to repeat classic episodes of Dr Who, including her adventures with the last of the time lords, Sylvester McCoy.
"I had had six months of not doing very much and I began to wonder where the next pay cheque would be coming from," she says.
"I held out and then suddenly it began to pay off. New opportunities suddenly opened up for me and everything is now looking much rosier."
Sophie, who looks much younger than her 29 years, is currently appearing in the children's TV series Melvin And Maureen's Music-A-Grams (BBC1, 3.50pm) and is also the main presenter of the Beeb's schools programme Words And Pictures.
Of course, all this work for children's TV will mean further restrictions on a potentially lucrative sideline in TV commercials. But Sophie isn't unduly concerned.
"In retrospect I think they were quite right to stop me advertising beer," she says.
"I should never have put myself forward for the job in the first place."
❑ ACE ACTRESS: Sophie Aldred.
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