Doctor Who's Varada Sethu: "Belinda isn't afraid to stand up to the Doctor!"

"She's a nurse on modern-day Earth, and I think that my favourite thing about her is that she's just so confident in herself; she's very much the main character in her own plot, she's got her own values system and she isn't afraid to stand up to the Doctor. She's super-independent and super-selfless — that's Belinda in a nutshell."

"I actually don't think I can say a huge amount about it! But Russell [T. Davies, Doctor Who showrunner] was telling me that it's one of the first times that the Doctor comes looking for the companion. Somebody has told him her name, Belinda Chandra, he comes crashing into her world, and then chaos ensues!"

"When I got to do 'Boom', it was a three-week shoot in Cardiff, and I got along so well with the team. I had so much fun, and I was really sad to leave. I think I probably wrapped on that around March [2023] and then I got on with my life and went travelling over the summer. When I landed home it was the [SAG-AFTRA] strike, so I thought I probably wasn't going to work for a really long time. Then I got a call from my agent going 'do you want to possibly go in for a meeting to potentially talk about maybe becoming the companion?' — it was so vaguely worded! I went in expecting it to be like an audition, and I was ready to pitch myself. Then I realised about 5-10 minutes in that it was actually a pitch to me, so that was amazing. I really, really did not believe that I would get the opportunity to come back — I thought it was a closed door after 'Boom'.

"I loved working with him, and with Millie [Gibson, who returns as Ruby Sunday later in the season]. They're both such amazing, talented, beautiful people, and they each bring such a special energy. They've got such presences, and as an actor, you want to match it, so you kind of level up your own performance. Yeah, I had the best time."

"Yeah! Everyone was super-collaborative. The 1950s yellow dress was already designed, but I fell in love with that, there's nothing else I could say to make that any better. For every episode, Pam Downe, the costume designer, would have a bunch of things on the rail and I would go in and we'd have a discussion about the kind of stuff that someone like Belinda would wear. I just always got the feeling that she is someone who is super-practical. I think she's got a real thing for jumpsuits because it's one outfit and she doesn't waste time putting lots of trinkets on!"

"Yeah, Mandip Gill [who played the Thirteenth Doctor's companion Yaz Khan] reached out, and I feel like both Millie and Mandip gave me the same advice, which is that it's super-intense and absolutely mad, but to lean in and have as much fun as possible. I was like 'yeah, of course I'm going to have fun', but having now experienced it, you get so swept up and each environment is just so different, so it's quite hard to be able to absorb it all. I'm so glad both of them gave me the advice to make sure I enjoyed it — I would say the same thing to whoever my successor is. It's a great experience!"