Amy Pemberton - Private Sally Morgan.

Hi Amy. Did you know your character was coming back after House of Blue Fire?
I had been told and David [Richardson, line producer] was saying, ‘There is a possibility that we’re looking at Sally coming back in,’ and I thought, ‘That’d be amazing!’ And then as the year went on, I definitely knew I was coming back, so I just kept it a bit hush hush. So I did know, which was great, because I loved House of Blue Fire. I went to it the other day because I wanted to listen to it again and I sat in bed and I was like, ‘This is really scary in parts!’

Sally has a phobia of being forgotten about; could you relate?
Well, not really. I’d love to say that I did because that’d be great! But what a great phobia to play off. Some people think that way, don’t they? Just disappear into life and don’t be remembered
for anything.

What brings Sally back?
Well, basically I completely impressed the Doctor and he loves me a little bit now and so he’s bringing me along on all his adventures! I think in House of Blue Fire she proved herself massively and she’s just dead chuffed that she’s been taken along. There’s a few bits in Black and White where people are questioning the Doctor’s motives and why certain things are happening and she’s like, ‘Absolutely not, he wouldn’t do that’, so I think she’s very much with him on that level and doesn’t think he’d be doing anything against her. I think other people, like Aristedes, may question it a bit.

Ace doesn’t take to Sally very quickly.
Ace has had all that experience; for someone younger to come along and step on her toes a bit and take charge – and she takes charge of a lot and puts all the plans together – I don’t think she likes that too much. I think even Aristedes has a few problems with that to start off with, with Sally’s age. I think there’s a respect there. But Sally is away from her unit now and she’s away from all the guys you meet in House of Blue Fire; she has gone with the Doctor now. Under the thumb? I don’t know. Not far off, maybe. I think Sally just likes to impress everybody. She’s not dominant, she just knows what she’s doing. She’s trying to do things for everybody’s sake, not to prove so much anymore. She’s looking out for everybody.

But there’s still time for a spot of flirting with Hex.
I think she deals with it really well; with Hex, I think especially from his point of view, there’s that attraction there a little bit, so they’ve got that little connection going on. I know that Ace finds that a bit much and ribs Hex for it: ‘Having fun with Blondie, are you?’, all that sort of stuff. But Sally knows her stuff. She knows a lot, so I think that’s probably quite attractive to him, and she’s strong and independent. Obviously Ace doesn’t like that, but Ace and Hex have had their time together and she doesn’t like the fact somebody else is getting in the middle of it. I love it because I’m dealing with a few more characters now being a companion, which is amazing, so I’m striking up those relationships and Sally’s figuring out how she stands with certain people.

It’s quite a female-orientated trilogy with you, Ace and Aristedes leading it.
Strong women together! Maybe we should get someone to write one that’s just the women. No Doctor. No, I’m joking! House of Blue Fire was very male-orientated but that’s what’s great about Sally piping up and coming through: the strong young girl. With the ages the women are, there is a bit of… not jealousy, but competition almost, I think. There shouldn’t be, but there is. And that female drive and hormones, that’s good too. I think everyone’s getting a bit feisty with each other.

At least you’re not all fighting over Hex.
Exactly! I think she’s got that one in the bag…

You’re also in the Companion Chronicle Project: Nirvana.
Wowzers! Actual companion. I’ve made it. Took me five years [Amy first joined Big Finish for Doctor Who Unbound: Masters of War] but I’m here. I was chatting to Maggie about it earlier; I’m really looking forward to doing the narration side of it and telling the story that way rather than just the acting side of it. Obviously you act through the narration but it’ll be nice to get that down. Proper storytelling. I’m just trying to get my head around it because I’m reading three scripts at the moment!

Do you think there’s a future for Sally with the Doctor?
Yeah, I do. I really do because she’s young and she’s feisty and she’s not afraid to say no to someone. Even though she’s very respectful to Aristedes, I think she’s got a lot of guts and she could go quite far and help a lot.

This is your second character for us; would you come back for more?
I’d love to. I’ve done a few monsters in the past, which is quite fun. I’m falling in love with Sally now a little bit, but I’ll always do a monster. That’s fine. I do a good monster voice, and I can scream quite well…

Gus Brown, John Standing and Sylvester McCoy

Blake, Sylvester and Tim