As fans are no doubt aware,
Jenna-Louise Coleman stares out enigmatically from this week’s Radio Times above the tagline ‘Who Am
I?’ and inside she talks about her life prior to travelling with the Doctor and
how she handles the fame it has brought her – seeing an action figure of
yourself must be an undeniably odd experience and one Ms Coleman jokingly
describes as being not ‘completely normal’. On being recognised by the public
she is unfazed, mentioning a boy who said to her, ‘You all right, Soufflé Girl?’,
adding that it made her smile.
Her first experiences with
the intrusive nature of tabloid reporting are touched upon in the interview, in
which her family’s financial troubles became fodder for the Daily Mirror, an incident which
compounded her already-existing wariness
regarding outside attention, going against her natural inclination to be a
‘chatterbox', as she describes herself. More comfortable behind a script and a
character, she finds it difficult to improvise when attending press conferences
and TV appearances with Matt Smith. She adds that playing Clara is somewhat
exposing, stating that the character is; ‘the closest thing to me I’ve ever
played – especially over the last few years – and I find that’s hard. Doing an
accent is much easier.’
When she was fourteen Ms Coleman
persuaded her parents to move her to nearby public school, as the small
Victorian secondary she had attended offered nothing in the way of
opportunities to develop as an actress. She attributes her cautiousness
regarding press attention to this move, saying that it was both the best thing
to happen to her but also the worst.
Describing herself as ‘quite a nervous person’, particularly when on a
one-to-one basis, she says that she’s never been on a date. With age though she
says it’s becoming easier to relax in social situations. ‘I’m making myself
sound socially inept here and I’m absolutely fine in a group of people but I am
quite shy,’ she says.
Speaking about this week’s
episode, The Name of the Doctor, she
gives little away, saying; ‘in the beginning we see a Clara in the '60s, '70s and the '80s, so there are a lot of costume
changes, which I love.’ On working with
Matt Smith she describes the experience as being one that she loves. ‘His first
advice was never Google yourself and, now that I’ve got a three-month break, he
said take your time and choose your next role carefully.’ So Ms Coleman is off
for a holiday in Croatia once filming is complete, leaving the rest of us
waiting till Saturday to find out not only the name of the Doctor, but also the
answer to the question: who is Clara? We get to know Jenna-Louise Coleman a
little better after the Radio Times
interview but the Impossible Girl remains a mystery, for the moment.
