Lalla Ward (born Sarah Ward, June 28, 1951), also known as The Honourable Sarah Ward^[1], is an English actress and illustrator. As an actress, she is best known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.

Acting

Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes from her attempts as a toddler to pronounce her own name.^[2] She left school at the age of 14 because she "loathed every single minute of it", and took her O-levels on her own.^[2] After spending a few years painting, Ward auditioned at London drama schools "as a sort of dare" to herself:

Ward studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama from 1968 to 1971.^[2]

She began her acting career in the Hammer horror film Vampire Circus (1972), and played the teenage daughter of The Duchess of Duke Street in the popular BBC drama series of the 1970s. She appeared in films such as Matushka, England Made Me (1972), Rosebud (1974), and The Prince and the Pauper (1977) and on television featured in Van der Valk (1973), The Protectors (1973), Quiller (1975), Who Pays the Ferryman? (1977), The Professionals (1978) and Hazell (1979). She acted in a film called Got It Made in 1974 which was later recut with sex scenes featuring other actresses and reissued as Sweet Virgin.^[3] Club International magazine ran nude pictures from the film, claiming they were of her and Ward successfully sued the magazine.^[3] In 1980, she played Ophelia to Derek Jacobi's Hamlet in the BBC television production.

She is best remembered as the second actress to play the Time Lady Romana (Romanadvoratrelundar) in Doctor Who. After a guest appearance as Princess Astra in the Doctor Who story "The Armageddon Factor" in 1979, Ward was chosen to replace Mary Tamm, who had decided against continuing in the role.

She appeared in ten televised Doctor Who serials credited as Romana - "Destiny of the Daleks", "City of Death", "The Creature from the Pit", "Nightmare of Eden", "The Horns of Nimon", "The Leisure Hive", "Meglos", "Full Circle", "State of Decay" and "Warriors' Gate". She also appeared uncredited in "Logopolis" and "Resurrection of the Daleks" during flashback sequences.

One story that Ward worked on, "Shada" was not completed due to a strike, and the material was only televised as part of "The Five Doctors" in 1983.

After Doctor Who, she appeared in Schoolgirl Chums (1982) and The Jeweller's Shop and The Rehearsal on stage.

Ward decided to end her acting career after marrying Dawkins.^[3] However, she has since reprised the character of Romana in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, the 2003 webcast version of "Shada", and in several Doctor Who and Gallifrey audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions. In addition, she has appeared at a number of Doctor Who conventions and related special events.

She has also recorded audio books, including Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale and The God Delusion, in which she co-narrates with her husband.

Personal life

Ward was dating her co-star Tom Baker whilst working on Doctor Who, and they lived together in a flat in Chelsea. After her exit from the programme in 1981, the couple married that December, but the marriage lasted only sixteen months. Ward and Baker later claimed their separation was due to work commitments, different lifestyles and conflicts of interest. Regarding her marriage to Tom Baker, Ward is quoted as saying:

Ward said in 2004 that her long friendship with Douglas Adams, with whom she worked on Doctor Who, meant more to her and was "more valuable and more enduring" than her brief marriage to Baker.^[3] In 1992, at his 40th birthday party, Adams introduced her to his friend Richard Dawkins (biologist and author of such books as The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker and The God Delusion).^[3][4] Ward and Dawkins married the same year.

Aside from acting, her other talents include book illustration, and she is particularly adept at sketching animals. One example of this was the 1985 Shell Calendar, which features embroidered pictures of sea birds. Ward also illustrates Dawkins's books, and has also been known to help create material for his lectures.

In the 1980s, she also wrote two books on knitting and one on embroidery.

Family background

She is the daughter of Edward Ward, 7th Viscount Bangor, and his fourth wife Marjorie Alice Banks. Her father was the BBC's war correspondent in Finland at the beginning of World War II, while her mother was a writer and BBC producer specialising in dramatised documentaries.^[2]

She has a brother Edward, two years her junior; and a half-brother, William, who is the 8th Viscount Bangor, three years her senior.

Through her father she is descended from George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV, via John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough, John, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor.

See also

• Asteroid 8347 Lallaward - Asteroid named after her.

References

External links

• Photos of Ward and information on her knitting books

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