Fifty Years in Time and Space 18 - Sex and the Doctor

When Doctor Who companion Katy Manning appeared naked draped across a Dalek I was a spotty faced youth just experiencing my first stirrings down below. I can remember these pictures vividly, and reckon I must have developed a fair amount of upper body strength while squinting  at them.

The pictures were taken in 1977 for Glamour Illustrated magazine and caused uproar when they were first published. Although Kate had left the show - alongside Jon Pertwee's third Doctor she played  companion Jo Grant from 1971 to 1973 - the tabloids were outraged that a former star of a children's TV show would appear nude and not only that but seductively straddling a Dalek.

Jon Pertwee upon hearing about the pics commented - 'Typical Katy!'

'I did it for a laugh. The magazine wanted a nude shoot and adding the Dalek was my idea.' Katy Manning.

Haha. Katy played Jo unashamedly as the archetypal Doctor Who companion – sexy, brave, selfless and thoroughly terrified of the monsters!" 
Tom Spilsbury Doctor Who Magazine editor


“As a lad, Jo Grant was the first girl I ever wished I knew, wished I could call my friend and wished I could have mad adventures with. As an adult, I met Katy Manning, she is my friend and we have had a lot of mad adventures. What more could a Doctor Who fan ask for?” 
Gary Russell former Doctor Who/The Sarah Jane Adventures script editor


“Be still the ice-canos of my heart! Katy Manning as Jo Grant practically is my childhood and I still can’t watch the end of the wonderful Green Death without dissolving into tears.” 
Mark Gatiss writer and actor