Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley (born 1 May 1946 ) is a British actress, born in India. She played the Thirteenth Doctor in the Comic Relief episode The Curse of Fatal Death in 1999; although unofficial, this makes Lumley one of only four women to date who have played the Doctor in a BBC-licensed production. The others are Arabella Weir, who played an alternate universe Doctor in the Big Finish Productions audio drama Exile, Jodie Whittaker, who plays the N-Space Thirteenth Doctor and Jo Martin who played a previously unseen incarnation.

Joanna Lumley was the technically the first woman to portray The Doctor in The Curse of Fatal Death (TV story), a special with the Doctor also being played Rowan Atkinson, Jim Broadbent and many others.

Outside of Doctor Who, she is perhaps best known for playing Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous (alongside Jennifer Saunders, Julia Sawalha and June Whitfield), Sapphire in the sci-fi series Sapphire & Steel and Purdey in The New Avengers (a continuation of the series created by Sydney Newman). She also had a small role in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service alongside Catherine Schell and also had a role in the two Pink Panther movies produced following the death of Peter Sellers.