Flip Jackson and Constance Clarke return to Doctor Who
Sixth Doctor Colin Baker’s popular companion duo, Mrs Constance Clarke and Phillipa ‘Flip’ Jackson, are set to return in a trilogy of exciting four-part adventures in 2020.
Story titles and details are still under wraps, but we can exclusively reveal that this ‘odd couple’ companion team are back in the studios after quite a break.
“Their backgrounds are so different,” explained executive producer Nicholas Briggs, “but they just hit it off. Constance is a very prim and proper and from World War Two. Flip is a proper Cockney from the early 2000s.”
Miranda Raison (Spooks, Dirk Gently, Nightflyers) who plays wartime heroine Mrs Constance Clarke recalled: “It must be over two years since we’ve been in a Big Finish studio, because the last time I was here I was eight months pregnant, and now my daughter is over two years old!”
Lisa Greenwood (The Hour, Call The Midwife, Top Boy), who plays streetwise Flip, says, “It’s great to be back! I love playing Flip and it’s lovely to be working with Miranda and Colin again.”
Flip’s journey with the Doctor started way back in 2011 with The Crimes of Thomas Brewster. Back then, she wasn’t a companion, but producers David Richardson and Nicholas Briggs spotted her potential and immediately asked writer Jonathan Morris and Lisa herself if they’d like her to become a regular. This led to The Curse of Davros in 2012 and since then she’s never looked back, battling Doctor Who foes old and new.
In 2015, Flip was joined by Constance Clarke. “Miranda joined us in Colin Baker’s finale box set The Last Adventure,” explained Nicholas. “But her real origins were revealed in a different story, Criss-Cross, later that year. She’s an extraordinary character played by a brilliant actor — who’s also a remarkably lovely person.”
Nicholas also confirmed what fun it is working with Lisa. “She calls me Dalek-face!” he laughed. “Lisa and I have become great chums, having spent a lot of time together at big Doctor Who conventions.”
More details of the return of these great characters will be revealed next year.