Anneke Wills

Anneke Wills made her acting debut at age eleven in a film called Child's Play (1954). She then studied at a drama school, the Arts Educational, for about four years, winning many children's TV and theatre roles. Subsequently, she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but did not complete the course. More TV work followed, including roles in Armchair Theatre (1956), The Saint (1962) and The Avengers (1961). In 1962, she starred in Some People (1962) alongside Kenneth More, David Hemmings, Ray Brooks & Angela Douglas, a film inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme. Four years later, she became famous on TV as "Polly Wright", the Doctor's companion in Doctor Who (1963) (her then-husband, Michael Gough, having recently played the "Celestial Toymaker"). Later, she won another regular TV role in the crime drama Strange Report (1969) which also starred Anthony Quayle and Kaz Garas. After the cast turned down the opportunity to make a second series in America, she gave up acting and moved to Norfolk, where she ran a craft shop. In 1977, she left England and lived at various times in Belgium, India - where she stayed in a religious retreat and returned to the stage in some Shakespeare productions - and in the USA. She settled in Canada, where she directed a production of the play "Rashomon", but worked mainly as an interior decorator. Recently, she returned to the UK and settled in Devon.