Katy Manning

Catherine "Katy" Ann Manning^[1] (born on 14 October 1946^[2] in Guildford, Surrey, England) played companion Jo Grant in Doctor Who beginning with Terror of the Autons and ending with The Green Death, before reprising the role for Big Finish's audio adventures and The Sarah Jane Adventures television story Death of the Doctor.

She has also provided the voice and likeness for Iris Wildthyme in several of the Big Finish audio dramas. She also portrayed several other characters in Big Finish's Doctor Who-related audio adventures.

Manning is famously short-sighted. A story regarding Manning's short-sightedness is often related about Terror of the Autons, her first Doctor Who story. Manning had not informed anyone of her limited vision, and the script called for her and Jon Pertwee to run across a field. Manning ran straight into a tree, and knocked herself unconscious. From then on, whenever a story called for the Doctor and Jo to run across quarries or down corridors, Jon Pertwee could be seen leading Manning by the hand.

She played the part of Jo from 1971 to 1973 alongside Jon Pertwee's Doctor. Manning struck up an immediate rapport with her co-stars, Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates) and Roger Delgado (the Master).

In 1975, she married Raynor Burton, but that marriage lasted only two months. She gave birth to twins in 1978 with Dean Harris. She was also in a relationship with Stewart Bevan, who played Jo's future husband Clifford Jones in The Green Death. (DCOM: The Green Death)

In 1976, she posed nude with an original Gold Dalek prop for the glamour magazine Girl Illustrated. The infamous photoshoot was parodied in A Life in the Day of a Doctor Who Production, Doctor Who? 220, and A Moment from 'Doctor Who' 3. An image from this photoshoot was stealthily included in the comic Unnatural Selection.

She laughed the furore off, stating, "You'd have to pretty well put me under a microscope to see anything!" Upon being informed of the photos, Jon Pertwee was quoted as saying, "Typical Katy!" In a later interview, she stated that the nude pictorial "went over like a cup of cold sick."^{[source needed]}

Career outside of Doctor Who

Katy Manning appeared on stage in Australia when she appeared in the play Run For Your Wife, during 1987-1988. The production toured the country. Other members of the cast were Jack Smethurst, David McCallum and Eric Sykes. Manning also appeared as herself in the documentary "Where on Earth is Katy Manning ... Because She'd Really Like to Know!"

Returning to Doctor Who

Katy's connection with Doctor Who continued well into the 2010s; she was the voice of Iris Wildthyme in several of the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who Audio Dramas, and the star of the Iris Wildthyme series. Katy's portrayal of Iris has since appeared in over 90 short stories published by Obverse Books and on the covers of most of their Iris Wildthyme anthologies.

She has also reprised the role of Jo Grant for Big Finish's The Companion Chronicles series. In Find and Replace and The Elixir of Doom, she played the dual roles of Jo Grant and Iris Wildthyme, and in Ghost in the Machine, Manning voiced the Third Doctor when he and Jo switch bodies. She also read several Short Trips, voiced Magistrix Borusa in Gallifrey audio story Annihilation and appeared in The Mega, an audio story from The Lost Stories range.

For the first time since 1973 Manning performed the role of Jo Grant on television in 2010's Death of the Doctor, an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. She starred alongside fellow former Third Doctor companion Elisabeth Sladen (who played Sarah Jane Smith) and Matt Smith (the Eleventh Doctor).

In 2013, Manning appeared in the 50th anniversary story The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, voiced Gilda Fairbanks in the Bafflegab Productions audio story Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective, and also contributed to the charity reference book Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who.

In 2015 she voiced Jo Grant in The Defectors alongside Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, and in The Third Doctor Adventures featuring Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor.

In 2019, Manning reprised her role as Jo Jones for a special scene created to announce the new Blu-ray rendition of the Season 10 box set.

Writing

Though most of her experience with the DWU has been as an actor, she's had a limited amount of writing experience in the franchise. In 2001, she wrote the foreword for the Telos novella, Nightdreamers and, in 2009, she contributed an introduction to the short story collection Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus from Obverse Books.

In the DWU

Like with many of the real world Doctor Who actors, Katy Manning has a DWU counterpart. Her nude photo with a Dalek was seen in COMIC: Unnatural Selection, and the in-universe counterpart was alluded to in PROSE: Enter Wildthyme.

Personal life

At the time of recording her last regular story, The Green Death, Katy was in a relationship with Stewart Bevan, who played Professor Clifford Jones in the story. After their relationship ended, they remained close friends until his death in 2022.

Acting Credits

As Jo Grant

Television

Doctor Who

• Terror of the Autons
• The Mind of Evil
• The Claws of Axos
• Colony in Space
• The Dæmons
• Day of the Daleks
• The Curse of Peladon
• The Sea Devils
• The Mutants
• The Time Monster
• The Three Doctors
• Carnival of Monsters
• Frontier in Space
• Planet of the Daleks
• The Green Death
• The Power of the Doctor - Jo Jones

The Sarah Jane Adventures

• Death of the Doctor - Jo Jones

Webcasts

Tales of the TARDIS

• The Three Doctors - Jo Jones

The Collection Blu-Ray Trailers

As Jo Jones

• Hello Boys!
• Return of the Autons
• Defenders of Earth

Doctor Who: Lockdown!

• Farewell, Sarah Jane - Jo Jones
• U.N.I.T. On Call

Video Games

Doctor Who Infinity

• The Orphans of the Polyoptra - Jo Jones

Audio

Doctor Who Main Range

• The Defectors

Special Releases

• The Light at the End
• The Legacy of Time
  • The Sacrifice of Jo Grant - Jo Jones
• Masterful
  • Masterful - Jo Jones

The Lost Stories

• The Mega
• Deathworld

Ravenous 3

• Companion Piece

The Third Doctor Adventures

• Volume One
  • Prisoners of the Lake
  • The Havoc of Empires
• Volume Two
  • The Transcendence of Ephros
  • The Hidden Realm
• Volume Three
  • The Conquest of Far
  • Storm of the Horofax
• Volume Four
  • The Rise of the New Humans
  • The Tyrants of Logic
• Volume Five
  • Primord
  • The Scream of Ghosts
• Volume Six
  • Poison of the Daleks
  • Operation: Hellfire
• Volume Eight
  • Conspiracy in Space
• The Return of Jo Jones
  • Supernature - Jo Jones
  • The Conservitors - Jo Jones
  • The Iron Shore - Jo Jones
• The Quintessence - Jo Jones

The Companion Chronicles

• The Doll of Death
• The Mists of Time
• Find and Replace
• Tales from the Vault
• The Many Deaths of Jo Grant
• The Scorchies
• Ghost in the Machine
• The Elixir of Doom

Short Trips

• A True Gentleman
• Walls of Confinement
• Pop-Up
• Lost in the Wakefield Triangle
• Time Tunnel
• The Other Woman
• The Same Face
• The Infinite Today

UNIT: The New Series

• Tidal Wave - Jo Jones
• United - Jo Jones

The Eighth of March

• The Turn of the Tides - Jo Jones

The War Master

• A Quiet Night In - Jo Jones

Torchwood

• The Green Life - Jo Jones

As Iris Wildthyme

Doctor Who Main Range

• The Wormery
• Muse of Fire

Special Releases

• Excelis Dawns
• The Worlds of Big Finish
• Kronos Vad's History of Earth Vol. 36,379

The Companion Chronicles

• Find and Replace
• The Elixir of Doom

Bernice Summerfield

• The Plague Herds of Excelis
• Many Happy Returns

Iris Wildthyme

• Wildthyme at Large
• The Devil in Ms. Wildthyme
• The Sound of Fear
• The Land of Wonder
• The Two Irises
• The Panda Invasion
• Iris Wildthyme and the Claws of Santa
• The Iris Wildthyme Appreciation Society
• Iris Rides Out
• Midwinter Murders
• Whatever Happened to Iris Wildthyme?
• Iris at the Oche
• A Lift in Time
• Comeback of the Scorchies
• Dark Side
• Oracle of the Supermarket
• Murder at the Abbey
• The Slots of Giza
• High Spirits
• An Extraterrestrial Werewolf in Belgium
• Looking for a Friend

The Verb

• Iris Wildthyme Speaks...!

Other roles

Television

Other

• The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot - herself

Video Games

Doctor Who: Infinity

• The Orphans of the Polyoptra - Zarbi Supremo
• The Lady of the Lake - Delyth

Audio

Doctor Who Main Range

• Invaders from Mars - Reception Guest

Special Releases

• The Worlds of Big Finish
  • The Adventure of the Bloomsbury Bomber - Mrs Waters

The Second Doctor Adventures

• Wrath of the Ice Warriors - Lady Zelanda

The Companion Chronicles

• The Scorchies - Cool Cat / Amble the Ugly Doll / Magic Mice

Bernice Summerfield

• The Winning Side - Yokel Child

Iris Wildthyme

• The Iris Wildthyme Appreciation Society - Wayne Bland II

Gallifrey

• Annihilation - Magistrix Borusa

The Lives of Captain Jack

• One Enchanted Evening - Mother Nothing

Vince Cosmos

• Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective - Gilda Fairbanks

Audiobook readings

Target Novelisations

• Doctor Who and the Green Death
• The Three Doctors
• Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters

BBC Audio

• Horrors of War
• Escape the Daleks!

Doctor Who Audio Annuals

• Dead on Arrival
• Revenge of the Phantoms

Origin Stories

• My Daddy Fights Monsters
• The Big Sleep
• Clara Oswald and the Enchanted Forest
• Velvet Hugs

Iris Wildthyme and Friends

• Enter Wildthyme
• Wildthyme Beyond!
• Iris Wildthyme and the Polythene Terror

Documentaries

VHS

• Where on Earth Is... Katy Manning Because She'd Really Like to Know!
• Lust in Space

Doctor Who Confidential

• Doctor Who: A New Dimension
• The World of Who
• Weird Science
• Why on Earth?
• I Get a Side-Kick Out of You
• Bringing Back the Doctor

DVD and Blu-ray

• Hello Sailor!
• The Rumble in the Jungle
• Destroy All Monsters!
• My Sarah Jane: A Tribute to Elisabeth Sladen
• The Doctor's Moriarty
• Life on Earth
• The UNIT Family
• Blasting the Past
• IMC Needs You!
• Happy Birthday to Who
• Girls! Girls! Girls!
• The Devil Rides Out
• Axon Stations!
• A Dandy and a Clown
• The One with the Maggots
• Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor
• Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty
• Behind the Sofa
• Location Location Location: Season 9
• Time and Atlantis
• The Peladon Saga
• Jon and Katy
• Location Location Location: Season Nine
• Destroy All Monsters!
• The Space War
• The Perfect Scenario
• The Rumble in the Jungle
• The One With the Maggots
• Keeping Up with the Joneses
• Doctor Who and the Third Man
• On Target: Terrance Dicks (extract reading of Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons)

Television

• The Ultimate Guide

Audio commentary

• Carnival of Monsters
• The Three Doctors
• The Green Death (2004 and 2013 releases)
• The Claws of Axos
• Frontier in Space
• Planet of the Daleks
• The Curse of Peladon
• The Mutants
• Colony in Space
• Terror of the Autons
• The Dæmons
• The Mind of Evil
• Death of the Doctor

Writing Credits

Short Stories

Origin Stories

• Velvet Hugs

External links

• Katy Manning at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Official Twitter account

Footnotes