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Melanie "Mel" Bush travelled with the Doctor between Trial of a Time Lord and Dragonfire. During the Doctor's trial, he presented an example of his future time adventures, to defend himself against the accusations of the prosecutor, The Valeyard. This introduced Mel, a bright and bubbly keep-fit fanatic, from Pease Pottage, Sussex. There was no explanation of how, why or WHEN The Doctor and Mel met. They were already travelling together at the point in which the story begins. Mel tried, unsuccessfully, to introduce the Doctor to a regime of exercise and carrot juice. After the trial, she was still travelling with the Doctor, when an attack by a renegade Time Lord, the Rani, caused him to regenerate. After a shaky start she got on well with The Seventh Doctor and had several colourful adventures with him. But after their time on the ice planet Svartos, she decided to join forces with the space rogue Sabalom Glitz, perhaps hoping to reform him. Speculation that there might be a romantic connection between the two remains merely speculation!
Bonnie Langford attended The Arts Educational School and the Italia Conti Academy stage school. She achieved fame as a child actor in the television series Just William and the film Bugsy Malone. But like many child actors she had a hard time being taken seriously as an adult. Her stage work includes Peter Pan: The Musical, Cats and The Pirates
of Penzance. On 23 October 2005, Langford performed in Children Will
Listen, a 75th birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim at the Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane, London. She is also a pantomime regular and most notably appeared at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford for 2 seasons in a row. In 2004–05, Langford played the title role in Dick Whittington, the following season she was invited back and this time played Prince Charming in Cinderella. Although mainly known for her stage work, Bonnie Langford has regularly appeared on television. She translated her stage work to TV as a featured dancer in BBC One's popular 1980s light entertainment series The Hot Shoe Show, which she also co-presented with Wayne Sleep. Bonnie Langford appeared in Doctor Who, playing the role of the Doctor's companion Mel from 1986 to 1987. She accompanied both the Sixth and Seventh Doctors on their adventures (alongside Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as the Sixth and Seventh Doctors respectively). In 1993, as part of the BBC's annual charity spectacular Children In Need, she returned as Mel in Dimensions in Time, a special one-off crossover episode with the soap opera EastEnders. She has since gone on to reprise the role of Mel in audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions. The One Doctor has become a massive fan favourite, becoming the winner of the DWM poll in 2001. Bonnie Langford's first outing was in The Fires of Vulcan, another strong performer coming second in the DWM poll in 2000. Big Finish producer Gary Russell was surprised and delighted that Bonnie Langford wanted to take part in the audio range as he thought she would want to move on from the part. So far she has recorded 11 audio plays and Mel, one of the least popular companions on television, is considered to have been rehabilitated.
She appeared again on the programme on the Champion of Champions show which followed series two. It featured the three finalists from each series of the show and she again skated with Matt Evers. She suffered a fall during her performance but was scored second overall by the judging panel. Again the public vote was less favourable and she was amongst the four teams eliminated in the first round of the competition. This decision was deemed by many to be a shame as if she had not fallen then the judges all confirmed that it would have been perfect 6's across the board. In 2007 Bonnie Langford took part in the tour with Torvill and Dean's
Dancing on Ice Live which ran until 6 May. Whilst competing on Dancing on Ice, bonnie has appeared in an episode of ITV1's new adaption of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. She starred in the episode By the Pricking of my Thumbs playing Betty Johnson alongside Brian Conley who played Eric Johnson. She returned to the West End theatre in April 2006 for the first
time since 1998 as the murderess Roxie Hart in the long-running West
End musical Chicago. She has also appeared in The Catherine Tate Show in a sketch with the fictional character Derek Faye. Over Christmas of December 2006 Bonnie appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire raising money for Childline. Langford raised £16,000 for Childline with celebrity partner Anton Du Beke. She recently recorded another famous quiz show The Weakest Link, aired on January 13 2007. She won the show after being the strongest link for 6 rounds, but decided to split the prize money with another competitor, Zoe Tyler. Her half went to the CdLs Foundation a charity that supports children with the rare condition of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. Bonnie Langford continues her quiz show appearances with Supermarket Sweep in February 2007. The show is a revamp of the classic format on ITV with Dale Winton as host. Bonnie took part in a touring two-woman theatrical show called Short and Curly alongside Sandi Toksvig. From 2003 to 2005, Langford was a regular guest on Toksvig's weekday lunchtime show on LBC radio, sometimes hosting the programme if Toksvig was ill or on holiday.
Film and TV "Doctor Who" (20 episodes)
Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2006)
(TV) .... Betty Johnson
Theatre and Tour appearances * Short and Curly (Dates in May and July 2007)
- Herself
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