Doctor Who legends reunite in sweet photo years after their last story together

Katy Manning has shared a photo of her reunion with her fellow Doctor Who actor Sir Derek Jacobi.

Manning is best known for her portrayal of Jo Grant, companion to the Third Doctor, as played by Jon Pertwee. The character first appeared in Doctor Who's eighth series in 1971 and featured in 77 episodes. Jo was a junior civilian operative for UNIT, who was initially assigned as the Doctor's assistant on Earth, and later travelled with him in the TARDIS.

Jo left the Doctor's company in 1973's The Green Death, after she fell in love with Professor Clifford Jones (Stewart Bevan) and left to marry him. Manning returned to the role of Jo more than three decades later in the 2010 Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor, which featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor.

Acclaimed actor Sir Derek Jacobi appeared as Professor Yana in the 2007 Doctor Who episode Utopia, alongside David Tennant's 10th Doctor. It turned out – spoiler alert – that he was actually the fifth incarnation of The Master, and by the end of the episode regenerated into a younger version of himself (played by John Simm).

Want to see this content?

This page contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Twitter may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Twitter and its required purposes.

Jacobi had previously appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Deadline in 2003, and the web series Scream of the Shalka in the same year, but it wasn't until the 2021 Big Finish audio drama The War Master: Killing Time where he worked alongside Manning, with her returning to the role of Jo and him playing the Master once again.

Since the pair made the audio drama, Manning has returned to the Doctor Who universe. She voices Iris Wildthyme, a renegade Time Lord, in Big Finish's spin-off audio plays, and she also made a cameo appearance as Jo in the 2022 Doctor Who episode The Power of the Doctor, and in Russell T Davies's companion series Tales of the TARDIS in 2023.

As well as sharing her photo with Jacobi, Manning also posted a photo alongside another stage and screen legend, Brian Blessed.

Blessed was offered the chance to play the Doctor himself in the 1960s, potentially taking over from William Hartnell, but he said that he believed his thoughts on the character did not fit with the BBC's vision at the time.

Blessed is still a part of the Doctor Who universe, however, having appeared in the 1986 story Mindwarp as King Yrcanos, alongside Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor.

Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Dive into our Doctor Who story guide: reviews of every episode since 1963, plus cast & crew listings, production trivia, and exclusive material from the Radio Times archive.

Add Doctor Who to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.