John Lavalie: Created page with "{{article | publication = The Rugeley Times | file = 1975-03-22 Rugeley Times.jpg | px = 450 | height = | width = | date = 1975-03-22 | author = | pages = 24 | language = E..."

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Actress Elisabeth Sladen - Sarah in TV's "Dr. Who" series - recalls the night her show biz dreams turned into a nightmare..

Actress Elisabeth Sladen isn't likely to forget her first stage appearance for a long, long time.

It was back in her home town of Liverpool where Elisabeth, a stage struck 11 year - old, was playing Alice in a school production of "Through the Looking Glass."

I was the only girl in the class with long hair - that's how I got the part," she recalled.

All went well until the last night and then ... "I was sick on stage. Actually sick. I think I'd been eating too many ice creams.

"It's still about the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me."

Poor Liz had to be carried out over the heads of the choir.

The episode might have killed her appetite for ice creams but It certainly didn't alter her love for the stage.

In fact I never really occurred to Liz that there could be anything else to life other than becoming an actress.

"I suppose like most little girls always wanted to be the fairy at the bottom of the garden."

For two years she studied at a local drama school in Liverpool and then joined the company of Liverpool Rep.

"I was taken on as an assistant stage manager which meant I got a few tiny parts but basically I was just fetching the props and making the tea."

After appearing in rep at Farnham, Manchester and Scarborough, Liz eventually moved to London.

At first, like so many young hopefuls, she found the going tough.

"I had no contacts whatsoever and I was out of work for quite a long time.

"I didn't expect to find it so difficult. Quite honestly I think I was being a bit conceited. I had been working solidly for five or six years and this was first time I had to fight for anything."

But eventually the work came. There were stage and TV parts and finally the chance to take over from Katie Manning in Dr. Who.

"No one knew Katie was leaving, so when my agent rang up and said the producer wanted to see me I thought it was just another small part.

"At the audition I had to read the script for half an hour and then spent an hour rehearsing - that's when I realised it was something bigger."

The Dr. Who series is something of a phenomenon. It's been running for an incredible 11 years and has probably got almost as many avid adult viewers as it has children.

A surprising amount of effort goes into making it technically accurate. "If it isn't there's always some scientifically boffin who'll write in to complain.

And if you're one of those who think it's all rather silly and far fetched try telling the fanatical Dr. Who fan club and see how for you get.

Liz originally planned to spend a year in the series but she's already completed 18 months and has signed up for another season.

"It's taken 18 months tp get people to stop thinking of me as the "new girl," she said.

Caption: Elisabeth Sladen - "I suppose like most little girls I always wanted to be the fairy at the bottom of the garden." Liz always dreamed of becoming an actress but her first appearance - in school play - turned into disaster...

Spelling correction: Katy Manning

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The Night Liz Will Never Forget - Revision history

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