Bedford Who Charity Con 10 took place on Saturday 5 April 2025 at King’s House Bedford, raising £16,145 for SMART, Bedford’s homelessness charity. Adam Kendrick writes the last of our reports on the panels.

Jacqueline King has appeared in numerous British television dramas over the decades, but Doctor Who fans will know her best as Donna Noble’s mother, Sylvia Noble. Upon being cast as the matriarch of the Noble household for The Runaway Bride (2006), she decided to play the role with a cockney accent as an imitation of Catherine Tate’s own speaking manner. While some fans may view Sylvia as a controlling or bitter person, Jacqueline is more sympathetic. After all, surely anyone would be upset if their daughter nearly married a monstrous individual, then had their spouse pass away, shortly followed by their daughter disappearing on adventures, only to suddenly return with her life in serious danger months later. According to Jacqueline, Sylvia is somebody who believes in what’s right, and she only acts the way she does out of love and protection for her daughter. She might have been completely aware of how incredible Donna was, having only ever seen her unemployed, unhappy in love, and frustrated, but Sylvia always had great faith in Donna no matter what she did.

When she received the phone call inviting her back to Doctor Who twelve years after The End of Time (2009-2010), she was incredibly excited to return to the role, which “felt like putting on an old jumper”. She deeply appreciates how Sylvia became much nicer and happier in The Star Beast (2023), and that she finally got to see the other side of Donna and be proud of her daughter. What she found most challenging, however, was having to keep her involvement secret for a very long time after filming had wrapped. She often struggled to truthfully answer anyone who asked her if Sylvia Noble would return for the upcoming 60th anniversary specials, even though she was bursting to tell everyone she knew.

Since Sylvia was a recurring character who appeared throughout Series Four, Jacqueline had the pleasure of working with the late Bernard Cribbins, who played both Tom Campbell in Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) alongside Peter Cushing, and Sylvia’s wonderful father, Wilfred Mott. In Jacqueline’s words, Bernard was “exactly as you’d expect him to be”. He was kind, funny, witty, generous, and sweet (although she confessed that she wasn’t too keen on his hobbies of hunting and fishing). She recounted how his thoughtfulness and selflessness was on full display at the advance press screening of Partners in Crime (2008); as soon as he had drawn the attention of the reporters, he made a big show of introducing Jacqueline to them, thus sharing the limelight with her. He was a wonderful man and it was a privilege that his final performance was for Doctor Who, by making a cameo appearance during the final scene of Wild Blue Yonder (2023).

Outside of Doctor Who, Jacqueline’s most prominent role was playing the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May in the drama-documentary, Theresa vs Boris: How May Became PM (2017). Although Jacqueline doesn’t necessarily agree with her political views, she sees Theresa as somebody who genuinely wanted to serve her country, with her lack of people skills contributing towards her downfall. She enjoyed the challenge of playing someone who was more subtle than Boris Johnson (who essentially presents himself as a caricature). The trick was finding what was common between herself and Theresa, as well as nailing the natural croak in her voice. As fate would have it, she happened to encounter Theresa herself while attending an open air theatre after the drama-documentary had been broadcast. Theresa didn’t let on whether she had watched the programme herself, but she complimented Jacqueline for being far too young to have portrayed her.

As for Sylvia’s future adventures? Jacqueline was delighted by one audience member’s suggestion that all the companion’s mothers should meet up sometime – they would be able to moan about everything that their daughters did while travelling with the Doctor and they would get on together famously. Considering that Jacqueline King, Camille Coduri, and Adjoa Andoh have all worked with Big Finish before, surely a Doctor Who audio where Sylvia Noble, Jackie Tyler, and Francine Jones end up saving the world is a no-brainer!