Sarah Sutton (born 12 December 1961) is a British actress. She played the role of Nyssa in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

television series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''.

Early life

Sutton was born in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. Sutton studied

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

as a child and was only 11 when she became the youngest British actress to have played

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

on screen, in a 1973 television film of '' Alice Through the Looking Glass''. She began acting at the age of nine in A. A. Milne's ''Winnie-the-Pooh''. She made her first appearance as Baby Roo just five days after her ninth birthday at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End of London, 1970–1972. Besides her performance as Alice, Sutton appeared in a number of television programmes before ''Doctor Who'', including '' The Moon Stallion'' (1978) as Diana Purwell and ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

'' (1980) as Susannah Walcott.

Career

Sutton portrayed the character of Nyssa, a Trakenite aristocrat, in ''Doctor Who''. She is exactly one week older than her co–star, fellow companion '' Matthew Waterhouse''. Her first appearance in the role was in the 1981 serial ''

The Keeper of Traken ''The Keeper of Traken'' is the sixth serial of the Doctor Who (season 18), 18th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 31 January to 21 February ...

''. Initially, Nyssa was intended to appear only in one story, the production team later deciding to keep her as a continuing character. After joining the Fourth Doctor in the subsequent story '' Logopolis'', her final full ''Doctor Who'' serial was with the

Fifth Doctor The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Peter Davison. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord ...

, in 1983's '' Terminus''. Sutton took a break from acting after ''Doctor Who'', focusing for a number of years on raising her daughter. She made a brief appearance in Peter Davison's final ''Doctor Who'' serial, '' The Caves of Androzani'' (1984), played Sarah Dryden in a 1989 episode of the BBC medical drama series '' Casualty'' and Wendy in a 1992 episode of ''Unnatural Pursuits''. Sutton reprised the role of Nyssa in the 1993 ''Doctor Who''

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

special ''

Dimensions in Time ''Dimensions in Time'' is a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and the soap opera ''EastEnders.'' The special was broadcast in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993 and was filmed on lo ...

'', and subsequently in several of the

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and radio drama, audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'' ...

''Doctor Who'' spin-off audio plays from 1999 onwards. In November 2013 she appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage ''

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot ''The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot'' is a 2013 comedy spoof and homage to the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. It appeared on the BBC Red Button service after the broadcast of "The Day of the Doctor", the official 50th ann ...

''. In 1997 she starred in a special episode of the BBC's dramatic reconstruction series '' 999'' marking 10 years since the great storm of 1987. Sutton also appeared in several episodes of MJTV's original audio sci-fi CD series ''Soldiers of Love'' as Colonel Franklyn. She also played Sharon in the Take 1 Productions educational video drama ''TravelWise'' (2000). In 2001 Sutton starred as Sarah in ''Wirrn: Race Memory'', a BBV audio reusing concepts from ''Doctor Who''. In 2006 Sutton played Asaria, a role written specifically for her in the original science fiction audio monologue ''The Jarillion Mercy''.

Personal life

In 1985, Sutton married Michael Bundy, a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

. They have a daughter, Hannah (born 1991).

Filmography

Television

Radio and CD audio drama

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Sarah Living people British child actresses Actresses from Basingstoke 20th-century English actresses English television actresses 1961 births