COUNTY NEWS: Sussex actress lands top role in BBC's Doctor Who

Charity Wakefield, 36, stars as the Doctor’s new assistant Lucy Fletcher in this year’s Christmas special episode. Speaking about the show on BBC Breakfast on Monday (December 19), she said: “I was a fan but not as much of a fan as some people are. “I kind of grew up with it. My dad was a big fan of the show when I was a kid.” Charity, an ex-Bexhill College student, said she will be watching the episode, called The Return of Doctor Mysterio, this Sunday on Christmas Day with her family. She told BBC Breakfast that she thought the way Doctor Who had been developed in recent years since the show was revamped in 2005 was ‘amazing’. Charity added: “When I got the job I was so excited and then actually quite nervous.” She was welcomed by Peter Capaldi, who plays the Doctor, and who showed her around the set and introduced her. She said: “He is probably the nicest actor you could ever hope to work with and is incredibly kind.” Matt Lucas is also in the Christmas Day show and Charity said he was so hilarious ‘it is a job not to be laughing all the time’. The action is set in New York and Charity plays an investigative journalist who happens across a ‘terrifying situation’. In 2017, Charity will be seen in The Halcyon, a drama set in the Second World War. She describes her character as ‘a little bit Cruella DeVille-ish’. “It is going to be amazing and a massive hit,” she added. Charity attended Bexhill College and studied acting at the Oxford School of Drama from 2000 to 2003. As well as acting, she plays the violin and has a strong soprano singing voice. In 2012, she starred alongside Eddie Izzard in Mockingbird Lane, a television special developed as a re-imagining of the 1960s sitcom The Munsters. She recently appeared as Mary Boleyn in the BBC2 television series Wolf Hall. Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1) Make our website your homepage 2) Like our Facebook page 3) Follow us on Twitter 4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out! Always the first with your local news. Be part of it.