View source for One to WATCH: Bonnie Langford

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| publication = Belfast Telegraph
| file = 2012-03-03 Belfast Telegraph.jpg
| px = 500
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| date = 2012-03-03
| author = 
| pages = 32
| language = English 
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| text = The 47-year-old actress and dancer became a child star in the 1970s and is best known for playing the character of sidekick Mel in Dr Who. She talks about her time on the sci-fi classic, taking part as a contestant in Dancing on Ice, and her hopes for the future


DANCE IS BIG AT MOMENT, ISN'T IT? 

Do you know what, dance has always been big. But it's funny how it goes round in cycles in the public domain. But it's such an important thing, not just for fitness, but because it makes you feel good. You can do it on so many different levels, even if it's just dad dancing!

What I'm concerned about these days is that talent shows, although they're great, are more about selling a lifestyle, and that lifestyle, quite frankly, doesn't exist. I worry that young people want to be rich and famous, but don't realise they have to do something - and that rich and famous ain't all it's cracked up to be!


WHAT DO YOU SEE YOURSELF AS-A DANCER, ACTRESS OR SINGER? 

I don't know, I'm just any old thing - anything that's employable! It's funny, you meet a lot of young people and they say, "I just want

to do television and film ..." and I think, "Ha! I just want to pay my mortgage!"

You never know what life is going to present you with. At the moment I'm doing Spamalot on tour, which is a completely crazy thing! I think I'd just call myself adaptable.


ONCE UPON A TIME YOU WERE IN DOCTOR WHO... 

I was! I've just read one of the adventures I was in, [[broadwcast:Paradise Towers|Paradise Towers]], as an audio book. That comes out in April. As I read the book, it was hilarious, I was remembering co-stars like Brenda Bruce and Judy Cornwell and trying to do their voices - yes, I was channelling them!


DID YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME WORKING ON THE SHOW? 

I have good memories of the people I worked with. The show used to attract an amazing cast. When you look all the notable people who've been guests on that programme over the years, it's quite extraordinary.


IF YOU WERE ASKED TO REPRISE YOUR ROLE AS MEL, WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED? 

I'd love it because I might get a few lines other than, "Oh Doctor!" That was what I was always like. Now the companions are rounded characters, which is always so much more fun to play. But I had a good time doing it.


ARE YOU WATCHING DANCING ON ICE? 

I am! I love it! It is mad - I feel for them.


DOES IT BRING BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES? 

It does. But you know what, it's a fantastic experience. I was really lucky because I was in the first series, so there wasn't that expectation - in fact, nobody knew what on earth we were supposed to be doing, including the producers! I'd stand there on a Saturday night before going on and think I should have practised more. It's those kind of terrors you have to switch off. But then, afterward, you almost feel invincible, because anything else seems so simple.


BUT SURELY YOU'VE GOT USED TO STAGE NERVES OVER THE YEARS? 

Do you know what, it doesn't get any easier. I wish it did! When I was a kid, nothing fazed me, but now my brain works overtime. You think, "Oh, switch it off," but you can't.


SOME OF THE THINGS YOU DID WERE VERY BRAVE... 

I did fly through the air, and I did do some stupid things. Right from the very beginning they had me doing a headbanger! As far as I was concerned, ignorance was absolute bliss. I had no idea of what I was doing and was completely at the mercy of the trainers.

They would say, "Can you do this?" And I'd say "I don't know, can I?" It's almost quite liberating actually, to just say, "I don't know what I'm doing," and then just do it.


DO YOU HAVE ANY AMBITIONS LEFT? 

Oh, always! You never know what's round the corner. You always have to hope it's something nice. I always hope it's something new that helps you grow as you get older, that interesting parts come along that help you develop. But that's all professional stuff. In real life, my ambition is to raise my daughter as best I can.

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