#(most notably Hammer's Vampire Circus). she was still a few years off DW and genre immortality at this point

[mariocki]

Lalla Ward makes a brief appearance as Lady Augusta, intended bride to an ill-fated aristocrat, in A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Ash Tree (BBC, 1975)

#fave spotting #lalla ward #doctor who #a ghost story for christmas #the ash tree #1975 #romana #romana ii #spoilers for the ash tree ig???? #i mean it's pretty obvious from the outset that Ed Petherbridge's aristo is not in for a good time #i mean he's a Jamesian protagonist for one thing.... #lalla had been acting since the beginning of the decade‚ with a fair number of one off appearances on tv and the odd film to her name #(most notably Hammer's Vampire Circus). she was still a few years off DW and genre immortality at this point #it isn't the most rewarding role; James (who i don't think many would argue that he wasn't a bit of a chauvinist) rarely featured #significant women characters in his work (a large number of them being academical in setting didn't help). actually the ash tree #is something of an outlier in that regard‚ as it does feature a significant female character in Mrs. Mothersole‚ but we can hardly consider #her a positive feminine presence... actually one of Lawrence Gordon Clark's regrets about this particular entry in the Ghost Story for #Christmas canon is the failure of him and writer David Rudkin to make a true villain of Mothersile; Clark felt that their shared sympathies #for the historical victims of witchhunting prevented them from capturing the 'evil' of the character (tho it's debatable how much James #himself intended her to be truly evil; this is just Clark's opinion after all‚ and fwiw i think Rudkin's greater complexity of the #character is more interesting‚ more believable and more appropriate) #i rambled. anyway yes‚ not a meaty role perhaps‚ but Lalla sinks her teeth in all the same and in just a few brief scenes successfully #creates a vivid and fully realised character‚ a charming and flirtatious fiancée with something of a rebellious streak #no ash tree post bc i made one the last time i watched it a couple of years ago