| Anneke Wills | |
| Birth Name: | Anna Katarina Willys |
| Birth Date: | 20 October 1941 |
| Birth Place: | Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England[1] |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Television: | Doctor Who (1966–1967) |
| Years Active: | 1952–1970, 1998–present |
| Children: | 2 |
Anneke Wills (; born Anna Katarina Willys, 20 October 1941) is an English actress, best known for her role as the companion Polly in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.[2]
Wills's father, Alaric Willys, was a captain in the British Army. Her mother, Anna, was Dutch, born in Rotterdam.[3] Anneke is the granddaughter of Richard Raymond Willis VC.[4]
Deciding she wanted to be an actress she studied drama at the Arts Educational School and RADA in London and quickly became one of the busiest actresses of her generation, early roles included an appearance as Roberta in the second TV version of The Railway Children in 1957.[5] Her other film roles included appearances in Some People (1962) and The Pleasure Girls (1965).[6]
Her other television credits include appearances in The Avengers[7] and as Evelyn in Strange Report (1969–70).[8]
In 1966, she took the role of Polly in Doctor Who. She appeared in the show until 1967 alongside William Hartnell and then Patrick Troughton.[9] Her favourite story is The Smugglers.[10]
In October 2013, she recorded an abridged version of Who's There?, a biography of Hartnell written by his granddaughter, Jessica Carney.[11]
In November 2013, she appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.[12]
She has been a popular guest at Doctor Who conventions, and has been employed by the BBC and Big Finish to record various audio and DVD projects related to the show.[13] [14] [15]
The first volume of her autobiography, Self Portrait, was published in 2007[16] by Hirst Books and a second volume, Naked, followed in 2009. Her latest book, Anneke Wills - In Focus, was published in May 2012 by Fantom Films.[17]
At 17, she began a relationship with Anthony Newley while working on the TV series The Strange World of Gurney Slade. Newley fathered Wills's first child, Polly, but left her to marry Joan Collins.[18] During the 1960s Wills spent much of her time at the famous Troubadour Coffee Shop[19] and the Establishment, and was part of the so-called "Chelsea Set".
Wills married actor Michael Gough[9] in 1965, who adopted her daughter Polly. The couple had one son, Jasper, and divorced in 1979. In 1970, she gave up acting and moved to Norfolk, dedicating herself to motherhood and gardening. Her daughter Polly died in a car crash in 1982[9] at the age of 19, believing that Gough was her biological father. She left the UK in 1980 and lived in various places in the 16 years afterwards, including in Belgium, Laos, Vietnam, and India in the early 1980s, in the US from 1983 to 1986, and in Canada from 1986 to 1996, before returning to the UK in 1996.[20] She remarried twice.[9]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Child's Play | Alice Nightingale | |
| 1962 | Candidate for Murder | Jacqueline | |
| 1962 | Some People | Anne | |
| 1964 | Nothing but the Best | Girl | |
| 1965 | The Pleasure Girls | Angela | |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Impostor's Gold | Sybil Hughes | TV film | |
| 1954 | The House with a Secret | Robina | TV film | |
| 1955 | Alibi Children | Molly Wilson | TV film | |
| 1955 | Remember Jane | Jane Eyre | TV film | |
| 1955 | The Prince and the Pauper | Lady Jane Grey | Episode: "Exchange" | |
| 1955 | Passage of Arms | Henriette de Chamborde | TV film | |
| 1955 | The Blakes | Jean Blake | All 4 episodes | |
| 1956 | African Holiday | Megs Wyndham | TV film | |
| 1956 | The Grove Family | Olive Green | Episode: "Olive Green" | |
| 1957 | The Railway Children | Roberta | All 8 episodes | |
| 1958 | From Cover to Cover | Girl | Episode: "#1.1" | |
| 1959 | Don't Tell Father | Diana | 2 episodes | |
| 1960 | BBC Sunday-Night Play | Katrina Hoefler | Episode: "Glorious Morning" | |
| 1960 | Emergency-Ward 10 | Clarissa Wallace | 2 episodes | |
| 1960 | Probation Officer | Miss Shirley | Episode: "#1.27" | |
| 1960 | Miss Field | Episode: "#2.3" | ||
| 1960 | Sheila | Episode: "#2.8" | ||
| 1960 | No Hiding Place | Glenda Williamson | Episode: "The Final Chase" | |
| 1960 | The Strange World of Gurney Slade | Girl on Airfield | 2 episodes | |
| 1961 | ITV Television Playhouse | Woman in coffee bar | Episode: "Ben Spray" | |
| 1961 | Peggy | Episode: "Different Drum" | ||
| 1961 | Golden Girl | Minty | Episode: "Ward of Court" | |
| 1961 | Winning Widows | Sheila | Episode: "The Young Niece" | |
| 1961 | Gamble for a Throne | Kaye Chance | 4 episodes | |
| 1961 | ITV Play of the Week | Kathleen Short | Episode: "The Primitive" | |
| 1962 | The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre | Jacqueline | Episode: "Candidate for Murder" | |
| 1963 | The Sentimental Agent | Sarah | Episode: "All That Jazz" | |
| 1963 | No Hiding Place | Dolly Fenson | Episode: "The Smoke Boys" | |
| 1963 | Our Man at St. Mark's | Dorothy Maxwell | Episode: "Know of Any Reason" | |
| 1963 | The Avengers | Pussy Cat | Episode: "Dressed to Kill" | |
| 1965 | The Likely Lads | Judith Francis | Episode: "Other Side of the Fence" | |
| 1965 | ITV Play of the Week | Chris Durley | Episode: "No Baby, No Baby at All" | |
| 1966 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Julia | Episode: "Keep on Running" | |
| 1966 | The Wednesday Play | Leda | Episode: "Toddler on the Run" | |
| 1966–1967 | Doctor Who | Polly | 36 episodes | |
| 1966 | The Saint | Fran Roeding | Episode: "The Helpful Pirate" | |
| 1967 | Beggar My Neighbour | Episode: "For Better, for Worse" | ||
| 1967 | The Avengers | Judy | Episode: "The £50,000 Breakfast" | |
| 1969–1970 | Strange Report | Evelyn McLean | All 16 episodes | |
| 2013 | An Adventure in Space and Time | Party Guest | TV film | |
| 2013 | The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot | Anneke Wills | TV film |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Bernice Summerfield | Doctor Kitzinger | Big Finish Productions
| |
| 2003-2006 | Nrosha, Louisa Pollard | Big Finish Productions
| ||
| 2009-2019 | Big Finish Productions
| |||
| 2011 | The Five Companions | Big Finish Productions
| ||
| 2013 | The Light at the End | Big Finish Productions
| ||
| 2014 | Charlotte Pollard | Doctor Kitzinger | Big Finish Productions
| |
| 2015-2019 | Big Finish Productions
| |||
| 2016-2022 | Big Finish Short Trips | Narrator | 3 releases |