INTERVIEW BY BENJAMIN COOK
Michelle Gomez is talking secrets: Doctor Who secrets, and how to keep them. “Oh, I’m just a hall of mirrors, reflecting back out there. In fact, I have many different ways,” she says, her dulcet Glaswegian tones suddenly growing more grandiose, “to protect the product I’ve come to love and live for over the years. Which is true as a fan and as a… staff member, I want to say.” A derisive snort. “I can’t. What am I?” She opts for “somebody that’s in it” instead, then adds, more seriously, “No, I actually feel quite passionately about keeping everything close to my chest, always.”
Answering questions, Michelle likes to go for the gag first, then offer something more sincere. When I ask, for instance, if she gets any surprises when she reads the scripts, or whether showrunner Steven Moffat has already sat her down, at the start of the series, and talked her through what’s coming up for Missy, she replies, “Yes, he straps me to a chair and gags me, and I remain like that until I’m wheeled onto set and I’ve got the lines beaten into me.”