Catherine "Katy" Ann Manning[1] (born on 14 October 1946[2][3] in Guildford, Surrey, England) played companion Jo Grant in Doctor Who beginning with Terror of the Autons and ending with The Green Death. She has also provided the voice and likeness for Iris Wildthyme in several of the Big Finish Productions audio dramas, and she has made many theatre appearances.
Manning is famously short-sighted. A story regarding Manning's short-sightedness is often related about Terror of the Autons, her first Doctor Who story. Manning had not informed anyone of her limited vision, and the script called for her and Jon Pertwee to run across a field. Manning ran straight into a tree, and knocked herself unconscious. From then on, whenever a story called for the Doctor and Jo to run across quarries or down corridors, Jon Pertwee could be seen leading Manning by the hand.
She played the part of Jo from 1971 to 1973 alongside Jon Pertwee's Doctor. Manning struck up an immediate rapport with her co-stars, Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates) and Roger Delgado (the Master).
In 1975, she married Raynor Burton, but that marriage lasted only two months. She gave birth to twins in 1978 with Dean Harris. She was also in a relationship with Stewart Bevan, who played Jo's future husband Clifford Jones in The Green Death. (DCOM: The Green Death)

Katy Manning poses nude with a Dalek
In 1977, she posed nude with an original Dalek prop for the glamour magazine Girl Illustrated. She laughed the furore off, stating, "You'd have to pretty well put me under a microscope to see anything!" Upon being informed of the photos, Jon Pertwee was quoted as saying, "Typical Katy!" In a later interview, she stated that the nude pictorial "went over like a cup of cold sick."
Katy Manning appeared on stage in Australia when she appeared in the play Run For Your Wife, during 1987-1988. The production toured the country. Other members of the cast were Jack Smethurst, David McCallum and Eric Sykes. Manning also appeared as herself in the documentary "Where on Earth is Katy Manning ... Because She'd Really Like to Know!"

Katy Manning in an Iris Wildthyme costume with Paul Magrs at a 2012 convention.
Katy's connection with Doctor Who continued well into the 2010s; she was the voice of Iris Wildthyme in several of the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who Audio Dramas, and the star of the Iris Wildthyme series. Katy's portrayal of Iris has since appeared in over 90 short stories published by Obverse Books and on the covers of most of their Iris Wildthyme anthologies.
She has also reprised the role of Jo Grant for Big Finish's The Companion Chronicles series. In Find and Replace and The Elixir of Doom, she played the dual roles of Jo Grant and Iris Wildthyme, and in Ghost in the Machine, Manning voiced the Third Doctor when he and Jo switch bodies. She also read several Short Trips, voiced Magistrix Borusa in Gallifrey audio story Annihilation and appeared in The Mega, an audio story from The Lost Stories range.

Elisabeth Sladen and Katy Manning for Death of the Doctor
For the first time since 1973 Manning performed the role of Jo Grant on television in 2010's Death of the Doctor, an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. She starred alongside fellow former Third Doctor companion Elisabeth Sladen (who played Sarah Jane Smith) and Matt Smith (the Eleventh Doctor).
In 2013, Manning appeared in the 50th anniversary story The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, voiced Gilda Fairbanks in the Bafflegab Productions audio story Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective, and also contributed to the charity reference book Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who.
In 2015 she voiced Jo Grant in The Defectors alongside Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, and in The Third Doctor Adventures featuring Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor.
In 2019, Manning reprised her role as Jo Jones for a special scene created to announce the new Blu-ray rendition of the Season 10 box set.
Contents
- 1 Writing
- 2 Credits
- 2.1 Doctor Who
- 2.2 The Sarah Jane Adventures
- 2.3 Webcasts
- 2.4 Video Games
- 2.5 Audio dramas
- 2.5.1 Big Finish Monthly Range
- 2.5.2 Big Finish Special Releases
- 2.5.3 Ravenous 3
- 2.5.4 The Lost Stories
- 2.5.5 Third Doctor Adventures
- 2.5.6 Companion Chronicles
- 2.5.7 Short Trips
- 2.5.8 UNIT: The New Series
- 2.5.9 Torchwood
- 2.5.10 The Worlds of Big Finish
- 2.5.11 Bernice Summerfield
- 2.5.12 Special Releases
- 2.5.13 Companion Chronicles
- 2.5.14 Iris Wildthyme
- 2.6 Other roles
- 2.7 Audiobook readings
- 2.8 Documentaries
- 3 External links
- 4 Footnotes
Writing[edit | edit source]
Though most of her experience with the DWU has been as an actor, she's had a limited amount of writing experience in the franchise. In 2001, she wrote the foreword for the Telos novella, Nightdreamers and, in 2009, she contributed an introduction to the short story collection Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus from Obverse Books.
Credits[edit | edit source]
As Jo Grant
Doctor Who[edit | edit source]
- Terror of the Autons
- The Mind of Evil
- The Claws of Axos
- Colony in Space
- The Dæmons
- Day of the Daleks
- The Curse of Peladon
- The Sea Devils
- The Mutants
- The Time Monster
- The Three Doctors
- Carnival of Monsters
- Frontier in Space
- Planet of the Daleks
- The Green Death
The Sarah Jane Adventures[edit | edit source]
Webcasts[edit | edit source]
The Collection Blu-Ray Trailers[edit | edit source]
Doctor Who: Lockdown![edit | edit source]
Video Games[edit | edit source]
Doctor Who Infinity[edit | edit source]
Audio dramas[edit | edit source]
Big Finish Monthly Range[edit | edit source]
Big Finish Special Releases[edit | edit source]
Ravenous 3[edit | edit source]
The Lost Stories[edit | edit source]
Third Doctor Adventures[edit | edit source]
- Prisoners of the Lake
- The Havoc of Empires
- The Transcendence of Ephros
- The Hidden Realm
- The Conquest of Far
- Storm of the Horofax
- The Rise of the New Humans
- The Tyrants of Logic
- Primord
- The Scream of Ghosts
- Poison of the Daleks
- Operation: Hellfire
Companion Chronicles[edit | edit source]
- The Doll of Death
- The Mists of Time
- Find and Replace - also as Iris Wildthyme
- Tales from the Vault
- The Many Deaths of Jo Grant
- The Scorchies
- Ghost in the Machine
- The Elixir of Doom - also as Iris Wildthyme
Short Trips[edit | edit source]
- A True Gentleman
- Walls of Confinement
- Pop-Up
- Lost in the Wakefield Triangle
- Time Tunnel
- The Other Woman
- The Same Face
- The Infinite Today
UNIT: The New Series[edit | edit source]
Torchwood[edit | edit source]
The Worlds of Big Finish[edit | edit source]
Bernice Summerfield[edit | edit source]
Special Releases[edit | edit source]
Companion Chronicles[edit | edit source]
Iris Wildthyme[edit | edit source]
- Wildthyme at Large
- The Devil in Ms. Wildthyme
- The Sound of Fear
- The Land of Wonder
- The Two Irises
- The Panda Invasion
- Iris Wildthyme and the Claws of Santa
- The Iris Wildthyme Appreciation Society
- Iris Rides Out
- Midwinter Murders
- Whatever Happened to Iris Wildthyme?
- Iris at the Oche
- A Lift in Time
- Comeback of the Scorchies
- Dark Side
- Oracle of the Supermarket
- Murder at the Abbey
- The Slots of Giza
- High Spirits
- An Extraterrestrial Werewolf in Belgium
- Looking for a Friend
Other roles[edit | edit source]
BBC Red Button[edit | edit source]
- The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot - herself
Video Games[edit | edit source]
- The Orphans of the Polyoptra - Zarbi Supremo
- The Lady of the Lake - Delyth
Bernice Summerfield[edit | edit source]
Vince Cosmos[edit | edit source]
The Worlds of Big Finish[edit | edit source]
Gallifrey[edit | edit source]
- Annihilation - Magistrix Borusa
The Lives of Captain Jack[edit | edit source]
Main Range[edit | edit source]
- Invaders from Mars - reception guest
Companion Chronicles[edit | edit source]
Iris Wildthyme[edit | edit source]
Audiobook readings[edit | edit source]
- Doctor Who and the Green Death
- The Three Doctors
- Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters
- Horrors of War
Documentaries[edit | edit source]
- Where on Earth Is... Katy Manning Because She'd Really Like to Know!
- Lust in Space
- Doctor Who: A New Dimension
- The World of Who
- Weird Science
- Why on Earth?
- I Get a Side-Kick Out of You
- Bringing Back the Doctor
- Hello Sailor!
- The Rumble in the Jungle
- Destroy All Monsters!
- My Sarah Jane: A Tribute to Elisabeth Sladen
- The Doctor's Moriarty
- Life on Earth
- The UNIT Family
- Blasting the Past
- IMC Needs You!
- Happy Birthday to Who
- Girls! Girls! Girls!
- The Devil Rides Out
- Axon Stations!
- A Dandy and a Clown
- The One with the Maggots
- Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor
- Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty
External links[edit | edit source]
Footnotes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Mulkern, Patrick (25 April 2012). "I've been a naughty girl" - Doctor Who companion Katy Manning interviewed. RadioTimes. Retrieved on 13 December 2016.
- ↑ Aveleyman
- ↑ Doctor Who Guide
- Doctor Who regular cast
- SJA guest actors
- The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot cast
- Big Finish Iris Wildthyme voice actors
- Big Finish Bernice Summerfield voice actors
- Big Finish Gallifrey voice actors
- Pre-2005 Doctor Who cast reprising their roles at Big Finish
- Bafflegab Productions voice actors
- Actors who have voiced for the Doctor
- Doctor Who vocalists
- The Lives of Captain Jack voice actors
- UNIT: The New Series voice actors
- BBC Audio audiobook readers
- Telos novella foreword writers
- Actors interviewed on Doctor Who Confidential
- Performers of songs about the Doctor Who universe
- People interviewed on Doctor Who Live
- The Third Doctor Adventures voice actors
- Excelis Saga voice actors
- The Companion Chronicles voice actors
- The Lost Stories voice actors
- Main Range voice actors
- Short Trips voice actors
- Special Releases voice actors
- Big Finish regular cast
- Video game actors
- Actors who portrayed the Third Doctor
- Behind the Sofa contributors
- Ravenous voice actors
- The Legacy of Time voice actors
- BFTW voice actors
- Actors who portrayed Iris Wildthyme
- Doctor Who webcast actors
- Doctor Who cast reprising their roles in The Sarah Jane Adventures
- Actors who portrayed Borusa