Zienia Merton

Zienia Merton (11 December 1945-14 September 2018 ) played Ping-Cho in the Doctor Who television story Marco Polo and the Registrar in The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith. This made her the first actor from the initial season of Doctor Who to appear in a current episode of the franchise.

Merton was best known to science fiction fans for her role as Sandra Benes in the mid-1970s series Space: 1999. She reprised the role for the 1999 short film Message from Moonbase Alpha. Her other television credits included roles on, , , Bergerac, EastEnders, The Bill and Coronation Street.

In 2018 she recorded the narration for the novelization of Marco Polo for BBC Audio. Sadly, she died three months before it was released in December that year.