"She was really remarkable": Maureen O'Brien, William Russell and Peter Purves recall working with Jacqueline Hill


An excerpt from the DVD commentary of the 1965 Doctor Who serial The Chase. (I've called William Russell "Russell" because Maureen does; it's his real first name.)

Peter: We should spend a little time talking about Jackie …

Maureen: Ohhhh.

Peter: … because she was consistent, she gave a marvellous performance, and of course she was with you right from the start.

Russell: Oh, she was wonderful. She was wonderful, she … Yes, she was, I mean, she was really remarkable, Jackie, because she had such delicacy.

Maureen: Yes.

Russell: She really was a very delicate performer, and in the best sense of the word. She was beautiful. And true. Always absolutely true.

Maureen: Always. And she was like a rock, you knew you could – that you could completely depend on this person.

Russell: Oh, yes. Absolutely, yes.

Maureen: I agree about the delicacy, yes, she was, she never did anything too much, or too little. She was very modern, in fact.

Russell: Very modern. Very modern. She was perhaps the most up-to-date of all of us –

Peter and Maureen: Yes – yes, yes.

Russell: – in a strange sort of way, I mean, looking at it now, you think "Oh, that, that's pretty good!"

Peter and Maureen: Yes, yeah.

Russell: And that lasts, all over the years.

Maureen: Yes. She was a lovely –

Peter: She was a lovely lady, a very sad loss.

Russell: Oh, very. Very.

Maureen: Oh, yes; a terrible loss. She was so kind to me. So were you, Russell.

Russell: Well …

Maureen: So kind to me. I was lost.

They digress into a discussion of how difficult it is to join an established cast, and how much it helps when people are kind.

Later:

Peter: Look, here's Jackie, giving one of the … I mean, she's, she's absolutely lovely in this.

Maureen: Smashing legs, as well, Jackie, I notice.

Peter and Russell: Yes, yes, yes.