MEMORIES OF 1ST FEMALE DOCTOR Dalek bread and a Tardis on the High St.. Jodie’s home town is Who crazy
Picture: SPLASHNEWS.COM rant Volare. Martin Corless, 56, who runs the Mediterranean place, said: “Jodie is a very grounded, likeable girl. She’s never changed. She’s funny, sweet and bubbly and has time for everyone. “She used to eat in here with her family and would always have tapas. We even turned her and her mates away one New Year’s Eve, before she was famous. I’ll never live that one down.” Helen Dickinson, 66, who owns Croft House Bakery, said: “Fame hasn’t changed her. She used to buy our Parkin. She said, ‘You’ll never guess who it’s for – Peter O’Toole. He says it’s the best he’s tasted’.” Jodie wed her drama school sweetheart Christian Contreras in 2008 and they have a three-year-old daughter. Neil Hutton, 53, landlord Drama tutors Bridie and Maureen, far right, coached Jodie at The Grove, says the actress still pops in when she visits at Christmas. He said: “Everyone knows Jodie – she’s one of us. Last time she visited, her husband and dad came in.
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“Her husband drank bitter, which I thought was great – an American actor drinking pints in a little northern pub.
“Then he got a call from Jodie saying dinner was on the table. He was laughing, saying to her dad, ‘It’s on the plate, we’ve got to go.’ They’re just a very normal, lovely couple. Jodie is very funny. Everyone has a laugh with her.”
Mo Hussain, 34, manager at Solo’s takeaway, recalls a young Jodie as being “very cheeky and funny”.
He said: “She always orders the same thing and even brought her husband in, saying he had to taste our curry. Jodie is great, she’s still a proper local.”
Jodie’s old drama teachers glow with pride as they recall her as a talented and dedicated student of Performing Arts at Kirklees College, Huddersfield.
Her acting teacher Bridie Moore, 56, says she knew Jodie would be a star.
Bridie, who taught Jodie between 1998 and 2000, said: “The first time I saw her act, I just knew. She was exceptional and had a brilliant imagination. She has a true gift.
“We didn’t really teach her that much she already had it. We were just there to give her more plays to perform in. “She was really funny, too. You can see her personality in the way she acts.
“She was always really sparky. When she and her friends got dressed up to go out after a show, I used to say, ‘Be careful with the boys,’ because they were so stunning and so amazing.
“I felt sorry for the boys – they would have had no mercy shown!
“Jodie was always very definite about what she felt and thought. She wasn’t going to be pushed aside by anybody telling her otherwise. She had a definite opinion and she would voice that.”
Fellow teacher Maureen Nowodny, who taught Jodie dance, agrees.
Maureen, 65, said: “You couldn’t fault her – you watched Jodie and you were quite amazed at her intuitive response to everything you gave her. She had a raw natural talent. “She will be brilliant as Doctor Who.” But despite her talent and determination, Jodie’s dreams were almost dashed when she was rejected from drama school aged 18.
Bridie recalls: “Jodie didn’t get into drama school the first year she applied. She was shocked, because she’d been a massive fish in a tiny little pond.”
Jodie didn’t let the early rejection hold her back. She packed a bag and went travelling around the world.
She returned a year later, reapplied – and got in. The rest, as they say, is history. Something a Time Lord knows plenty about, of course.