Actress Freema Agyeman says her role as the Time Lord’s former companion Martha Jones in hit show Doctor Show was the lucky break that has transformed her life.

Freema, 29, said: “I owe a lot to Doctor Who. Before it, I was doing okay but then it came along and, I guess, turned me into a household name and took my career to a whole new level.”

She admits that before landing the role of companion to David Tennant’s Doctor, there were moments when she wondered whether or not to continue with acting.

“I went through a stage where I don’t think I’d auditioned for a year-and-a-half, and I started to think ‘If this doesn’t work out, what else could I do?’,” she recalls.

“I never reached the point where I thought I’m going to have to pack it in, but I did start to wonder how long I should keep trying for.

“I never thought things would happen for me the way they did – one job coming along and changing everything so dramatically.”

Her biggest stroke of luck was landing a small role in one episode of Doctor Who, bringing her to the attention of executive producer Russell T Davies.

“I probably had six lines, but it’s all about doing the best you possibly can with what you’re given, and then you just do not know where it might lead.

“I always used to think that, but now I live by it. Whatever you’re asked to do, do it to the best of your abilities. It was that small part which started this whole journey.

“I feel like I’m now getting opportunities I might not have had before, that the barriers are falling, and I completely feel that doing Doctor Who has put me in that situation,” she says.

“My life has changed a lot in the last two years in ways I could never have imagined, and one of the things that does is hold a massive mirror in front of you. “It can be difficult, but it’s good.”

Freema appeared as a primary school teacher in the new BBC remake Survivors, about the aftermath of a virus which wipes out most of the world’s population, and is also in BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit.

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The skull held aloft by actor David Tennant in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet was a real one, it has been revealed.

Pianist Andre Tchaikowsky left his skull to the RSC when he died in 1982 in the hope it would be used on stage.

But since his death at the age of 46, it had only been used in rehearsals.

Tennant held it on stage during the famous “Alas, poor Yorick” scene in 22 performances at the Courtyard Theatre, in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Doctor Who star has been lauded for his performance as Hamlet since it opened in Shakespeare’s home town in August.

But it was not revealed that Tennant used a real skull in the play’s most famous scene.

Mr Tchaikowsky, an acclaimed composer and concert pianist, died of cancer in 1982 aged 46 and donated his body for medical science.

In his will he wrote that his skull “shall be offered by the institution receiving my body to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical performance”.

Since then it has only been used in rehearsals because no actor felt comfortable enough using it on stage in front of an audience.

In 1989 actor Mark Rylance rehearsed with it for a while, but in the end it was decided using the skull for performances would not be appropriate.

Instead, Rylance used a cast of Mr Tchaikowsky’s skull, and the real thing was returned to the props department, where it resided in a tissue-lined box for almost 20 years.

It remained there until Greg Doran, who directed Tennant in Hamlet, retrieved it for his production.

“It was sort of a little shock tactic. Though, of course, to some extent that wears off and it’s just André, in his box,” Doran told the Daily Telegraph.

He added that he did not want the story to get out before Hamlet opened. He said: “I thought it would topple the play and it would be all about David acting with a real skull.”

It is thought the skull will also be used when Hamlet transfers to London on 9 December.

RSC curator David Howells: “We hope Mr Tchaikowsky would have been pleased that his final wish has been realised in Gregory Doran’s acclaimed production of Hamlet.”

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CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist has commissioned a third series of children’s Doctor Who sci-fi spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The 12 episodes of the teatime show has been ordered before series two, which began in September, has finished its run.

An average of 1.25 million viewers watched each episode of the first series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, which stars Elisabeth Sladen as the former Doctor Who assistant. The BBC Wales-produced show aired on weekdays at 5.05pm last year.

The current run is averaging 700,000 viewers – albeit in an earlier 4.35pm slot.

Russell T Davies, the show’s executive producer, said it was “an honour and a delight to get a third commission”.

“It’s brilliant to see Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane becoming a hero for a whole new generation of kids,” Davies added.

Earlier this week, the controller of BBC Children’s, Richard Deverell, told MediaGuardian that the series passed the test of competition against glossy and high concept US imports “with flying colours”.

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I am pleased to announce that The Medusa Cascade has a new home on the web!

You may notice, however, that some links aren’t working. I am working to fix that, along with the gallery. I’m sorry for this and will hopefully have everything up and running after Thanksgiving.

Regular updates will resume in the coming days

Actor David Tennant hinted Billie Piper could be the next Doctor.

Last week, Tennant announced that he will no longer be playing The Doctor in the BBC’s long-running science-fiction programme Doctor Who.

And when asked on BBC Breakfast on Monday if his one-time assistant could step up into the role, he said: “Why not?”

He said: “It’s one of those parts that any actor could bring something valid to, because it can be anything and it’s a sort of blank canvas everytime.

“The fact is that the difference is a virtue with each Doctor, it’s not like you’re casting Tarzan where you’ve got to have somebody who looks good in a loin cloth, it can be anything.”

Tennant, who is now on stage as the eponymous hero in Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, said leaving the series had been a difficult decision.

He said: “Sometimes you’ve got to take a deep breath and make a decision otherwise I could literally be there when I’m 86 with people thinking ‘Is he never going?’

“Who knows what might happen in the future and it is one of those parts that sticks with you…the door isn’t closed forever, but in a day to day way I’ll be handing over the mantle to somebody else.”

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