Scottish actress Karen Gillan has admitted that starring in Doctor Who has helped her film career take off, because directors she’s worked with have been such big fans of the BBC sci-fi drama.
Karen played Doctor Who's sidekick Amy Pond and stars in the recently released horror film Oculus.
It has also just been announced that she will star in writer-director Ti West’s revenge Western In A Valley of Violence, with Ethan Hawke and John Travolta.
Karen says: “I didn't really want to distance myself from Doctor Who, because it's never hindered me, it's helped me. I know for a fact that I’ve got offered roles because the directors are Doctor Who fans, so it’s not something I'm keen to shed.”
Karen explained how she was cast in Oculus: “I was in Scotland in my bedroom in my family home, and my agent was like, ‘This American director wants to Skype with you’.
“So I get on Skype with him, and I’m all eager to please, and then he takes a swig of coffee out of a mug that was a Tardis - and he didn't realise - and I'm thinking, ‘Oh, it's in the bag…’.”
In Oculus, Karen plays a woman trying to clear her brother of murder by proving that the killing was carried out by something supernatural.
