MY Bonnie Langford story...
I first saw a photo of her in DWMagazine. I thought, "It's the Vanessa Williams story all over again!" The BBC wanted Nicola Bryant KICKED off the show, under accusations of "sexual exploitation". (One person I knew claimed English men didn't like girls with BIG KNOCKERS.) Williams, if anyone doesn't know, was Miss America-- but after she was crowned, it came out she'd posed for PENTHOUSE magazine. Around the same time, actress Julie McCullough was KICKED off the sitcom GROWING PAINS because its "born-again Christian" star Kirk Cameron had found out she'd posed nude for PLAYBOY magazine.
The next woman crowned Miss America had to be the PLAINEST-looking girl in decades. Obviously, they went out of their way to choose someone based ENTIRELY on talent and personality, not looks.
When I saw this REALLY unflattering photo of Bonnie Langford in DWM, my instant reaction was, "I hope she's got talent."
Only a month or so after that, I happened to go to a DW convention in New Brunswick, NJ, and from a distance, I saw Bonnie Langford was a guest, chatting with someone. Later that night, we went to this small live stage theatre nearby to see the "cabaret" show, at which all the guests performed, doing various things. I believe Nicola Bryant played piano. Mark Strickson recited poetry, repeatedly interrupted by a loud obnoxious rude heckler in the audience-- Colin Baker. (It was hilarious.)
Bonnie Langford got the ENTIRE 2ND HALF of the show to herself. WOW.
I was totally blown away by this girl. This was still 2 weeks before she filmed her first episode.
The following January... I met a girl in art school who, on a personality and energy level, reminded me a LOT of Bonnie Langford, and we became instant friends. Tragically, she had to drop out of school 9 weeks later, and wound up marrying someone else who RUINED her life.
But around that same time, Langford's first episodes debuted here on PBS. "Mel" was FAR from the best-written character the show had ever seen (then again, at that point, pretty much EVERY new regular character on the show since JNT took over had gotten TERRIBLE writing-- even Peter Davison & Sarah Sutton.) I wasn't crazy about "Mel", but I ADORED Bonnie Langford.
I think her best stories were "Terror of the Vervoids", "Paradise Towers", and "Delta and the Bannermen". Even SHE was diasppointed by most of the writing, which is why she decided to leave as soon as she did.
When I saw "Dragonfire", I was appalled by the character of "Ace". And I was deeply offended that they were replacing Mel with that thing. OY.
There was no way I could have imagined that I'd actually get to LIKE Ace in "Remembrance of the Daleks"... REALLY like her in "The Happiness Patrol"... and feel like I could fall for her in "Survival". Shows what a difference in writing can do.
I remember thru the 90s I followed any news I could about Langford, and felt that, if I'd lived in England at the time, I would probably have followed her around the country to whatever live stage plays she was performing in. And this was the "plain" girl.
There are definitely some 80s DOCTOR WHO stories that were well-written and that I love... but too few, and too many of those seem like they happened IN SPITE of JNT, not because of him. I don't think I can ever forgive him for that.