Rise Of The Lizard Queen

Perhaps, though, that has something to do with the somewhat circuitous route that McIntosh — who will grace Brisbane's RNA showgrounds at this weekend's Supanova Pop Culture Expo, much to the delight of many a Whovian — took to assuming Vastra’s mantle, after first appearing on the show in 2010 as a pair of villainous Silurians (ancient, Earth-native lizard people that predate humanity) and expecting that would be it for her brush with the Doctor (who was then still played by Matt Smith).

“Every time I get the call to go on, it’s a bonus,” McIntosh bubbles down the line. “It’s the sort of program that it can take whatever twists and turns, and I never for the life of me thought I would be back in it after I played the initial two bad ones… And then hearing that I’d be coming back and playing a goodie, then the way that that’s expanded, I mean – when they gave us episodes like Crimson Horror and the first one of [new Doctor] Peter [Capaldi]’s, you know – we very kindly heavily featured, thank you very much, Mr Moffat [Steven Moffat, Doctor Who showrunner] – so it’s incredible. It’s gone from strength to strength as a character that people just love. I mean, not just her on her own – the whole Paternoster Gang.

"There’s a whole other history that we haven’t seen, you know, because Vastra was obviously like them when she first came out; met the Doctor, he’s calmed her down; met Jenny, she’s calmed her down even more, that sort of thing. But I think there’s still a lot to explore. Steven Moffat writes it, and I just get a real kick out of getting his work right … he gives us loads of fun stuff to do, and we go, ‘Oh my god, this is great! Look what we’ve got to do! How can we do this?’ So yeah, sometimes it’s a wee bit sort of ‘pinch yourself’!”

Indeed, the entire experience sounds a surreal one — not least of all McIntosh's crucial role in the new Doctor's first episode, as Vastra (and Jenny and Strax) aid companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) in nursing the newborn Twelve back to sanity, and McIntosh found herself reunited with countryman (and previous co-worker, on 10 Minute Tales) Capaldi, spellbound by his transformative performance.

"It was wonderful to work with him again, and to do something like Doctor Who," she gushes. "To see someone — you know, that whole thing of the Doctor changing into the next person, and the worry that, ‘Oh my god, am I gonna love this Doctor as much?’ … I mean, I do remember Planet Of The Spiders, when Jon Pertwee changed into Tom Baker. It’s probably one of my earliest memories, but I’m sure I still remember that. So I didn’t really understand what that was at the time, and then Tom Baker was my Doctor, who, of course, was one of the longest-running — and it was just like, ugh, when he changed into Peter Davison, I remember the fear, like, you know — this is my other father figure about to leave! Who’s coming to replace him? And in the end I did enjoy Peter Davison.

"Then I sort of grew out of it, like, ‘Doctor Who? Pfft – I’m goin’ out. I’m goin’ out dancin’.’ But to actually be there on one of those iconic moments when he first walks out of the TARDIS, and – well, he wasn’t quite his Doctor initially; he did this amazing thing of, it was like he was going through each Doctor, a little bit, their personality, and then cracking that and shedding it until he found his new personality, and I thought, whether he meant to do it or whether that was just what was born out of what he was doing, I was just… I was forgetting I had to actually act in the scene. So yeah, he’s incredible."

Although Capaldi, by virtue of being the new face on the block, indeed stole that first episode of season eight, Deep Breath, the unlikely heroes of the Victorian-era crime-solving team known as the Paternoster Gang – Vastra, her human wife, Jenny, and their alien comic relief, Sontaran commander, Strax – have nonetheless become utterly invaluable to the Doctor as helpers and character builders over his past two incarnations, leading to several calls — especially in the wake of Torchwood’s disappearance — for the trio to earn their own spin-off honours.

“Oh God, I hope so!” McIntosh gushes at the suggestion. “Everyone keeps asking about that, and, I mean, I haven’t heard anything – if Steven Moffat phones me up and tells me it’s happening, then I’ll believe it, d’you know what I mean? – but God, yeah, I’d love to do something like that. Even if we don’t do a series, you know, you start thinking, ‘Well, what about a one-off special?’ Then, of course, I start going, ‘Well, what about a movie? A three-picture deal!’

“There’s the whole steampunk element to it. I mean, you could have us – ugh! It’s such a great time to base stuff in, because it’s the start of the Industrial Revolution… I mean, there’s so much going on in Victorian time. Look at the writing that came out of it – the imagination – so yeah, I think it’s a brilliant time. Fingers crossed!”