Reveals spooky scare in real life-inspired starring role in supernatural thriller
Christmas Carol actor: I couldn’t scream. I was gripped by fear
up in Scotland auditioning for a number of roles recently without landing them, she is enjoying a purple patch with a succession of TV roles and theatre work, including starring opposite Orlando Bloom in the West End last year.
“It’s nice just to be consistently working,” she admitted. “There was a time when I had a bit of a wobble, but a lot of acting work had dried up and I think loads of people thought they wouldn’t work again, but it’s building back up now.
“I love doing theatre, it’s one of my big passions and I’ve been involved with the Traverse in Edinburgh for a while. There is new writing, especially Scottish voices, coming from there, which is great and I keep my oar in with that. You can’t beat a live audience.”
The role for which she’s best known, and still has Doctor Who fans flocking to speak to her about, is lizard lady Madame Vastra.
“I was a big Doctor Who fan growing up, so to get to do that was great,” she said “I thought it would be one episode and done, but (writer) Steven Moffat kept getting me back and we formed The Paternoster Gang of characters and it snowballed from there.
“The fans seem to love us and our stories, and now we’re carrying that on thanks to an audiobook spin-off series.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll ever be back involved in the TV series due to the way the programme has gone now, which is fine.
“Girls who have made full costumes of Madame Vastra will come up to me at conventions wearing them, which is a real honour.”
Neve spent four hours in make-up each day to be transformed into a lizard while working on the Timelord series. The process for Susan Hill’s Ghost Story wasn’t quite as demanding.
“There was a lot of pale make-up and eyeliner,” she smiled. “There are flashback scenes where I’m more real, so I look a little healthier.
“My costume was pitched to me as being a mixture of Stevie Nicks and Kate Bush, so I fell in love with the designer when she told me that!”
A Christmas Carol’s Andy Serkis also has a spooky tale that stood him in good stead for his latest role.
The Planet Of The Apes actor is part of the all-star line-up for the BBC’S three-part adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ classic.
He plays The Ghost of Christmas Past – and it reminded him of a ghost from his own past, during a stay in a youth hostel on Scotland’s west coast when he was 18.
“I was asleep in a dorm and my bed was next to the door,” Andy said. “I felt the room go extremely cold and saw the door handle turn and the door creep open. I was absolutely paralysed with fear.
“I couldn’t open my mouth – I was choking. Whatever it was, I don’t know. I wanted to scream out but couldn’t actually move.
“Then gradually it went back out the door. The door closed and the room began to warm up again.”
Andy stars alongside Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge, Charlotte Riley as The Ghost of Christmas Present and Line Of Duty star Stephen
Graham as Jacob Marley. While Graham has never encountered a ghost, he believes there is something out there.
“I’ve felt the presence and energy of someone, or something,” he said.
“My auntie passed away not long ago, and I felt her presence at one particular time, when I was meditating actually.
“I personally feel that was her coming back to me to just say, ‘I’m all right, don’t worry about me.”
Neighbours and LA Confidential actor Guy Pearce says he is asked often if his father, who died when Guy was very young, has ever visited him as a ghost.
“And I don’t feel like he has but occasionally – and particularly now I have my own son – I feel like my father is present,” he explained.
“But obviously I’m projecting that myself and manufacturing that in my own head, I get that.
“But I do believe in the spirit world, and I very much believe the energy that inhabits all of us still exists when we die, and it just moves around and reappears in various other forms – whether that’s in a reincarnated version of oneself or whatever.
“I think you’re a pretty strong person to confidently be able to deny that stuff.”