Doctor Who’s newest member has confessed to being “depressed” before TV offer landed
Doctor Who is all set to beam back onto BBC telly with Ncuti Gatwa gearing up for his second action-packed series as the Time Lord, and he’s bringing along a brand-new companion for the ride in the Tardis – Belinda Chandra, portrayed by none other than Varada Sethu.
The 32-year-old was in shock when the BBC approached her about taking on the role in October 2023. At the time, the actress had been worrying about finding work again.
She’d boldly taken a five-month trip across South America, leaving acting on the backburner. When she returned to London with what she thought was work waiting, Varada found herself without a job thanks to an actors’ strike sweeping through the industry, reports the Mirror.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Varada reflected on her tough time pre-Doctor Who: “I was depressed, had the holiday blues and just thought, ‘I guess I’m never working again’.”
In a twist of events, she pondered her future when her agent called with jaw-dropping news: an offer to join Ncuti Gatwa in the upcoming series.
READ MORE: Emmerdale fans speechless as they discover Caleb Milligan star’s past role in BBC dramaREAD MORE: Emmerdale viewers ‘work out’ Joe Tate death twist after Dr Crowley ‘mistake’
Varada doubted the BBC’s desire to snap her up permanently and wondered if they’d been mistaken, so she probed her agent. “But I’ve been in it already. They know that, right?”
Of course, Doctor Who fans know Varada is no stranger on the Doctor Who set. The starlet had once graced the screen as Mundy Flynn in a nail-biting, race-against-time episode.
Despite some initial worry, she took the plunge and met with producers who laid out the offer, telling her the role of Belinda was hers to take if she wanted it.
Within days, she found herself on set, breathing life into the character of Belinda Chandra.
Chatting with Radio Times, Varada shared just how rapid the process was: “The turnaround was like whiplash,” she said. “I was dropped into [filming] within two weeks of being told I had it. So a lot of the confusion and stress that [Belinda is] going through is the confusion and stress that I was going through.”
Varada’s journey to stardom hasn’t been without its hurdles, having previously confessed that her family didn’t exactly cheer on her acting ambitions from the get-go.
“They had difficulty coming to terms with it initially,” she told BBC Asian Network News. She expressed to the news outlet that pursuing an acting career is “sadly still not encouraged in the South Asian community. There’s an element of resistance we face.”
Varada is on a mission to transform that sentiment and is eager for her achievements to inspire countless young girls with acting aspirations. “I want to be the person that these girls can point out to and say ‘She made it and she came from a community that looks like mine’. So I think I’ve gone about this with the energy of, I can’t fall flat on my face,” she revealed.
Doctor Who’s second season, starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK on Saturday, April 12, 2025.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
