Neve’s varied career takes in Doctor Who and Shakespeare

Neve McIntosh would probably take it as something of an insult if you were to recognise her from her most high-profile appearance of recent years.

The actor, who is taking on the part of Goneril in the West Yorkshire Playhouse production of King Lear, was most recently seen on screen in Doctor Who as two Silurian sisters. To the none Doctor Who fans, a Silurian looks like a giant lizard.

“Now that I’ve started going to conventions and events like that, I get recognised by fans of the show, but if they recognised me just from seeing me on screen, I’d be a little worried,” she says.

The Doctor Who appearance is just another addition to an acting CV that is probably best described as eclectic.

Television, horror films, a wealth of theatre, a part in the hit series Bodies – filmed in Leeds – and an appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe in Sylvia Plath’s Three Women.

“I just like to do interesting work,” she says.

“TV is great for the money, but theatre really expands and stretches you as a performer. It does look like I’ve done all sorts when you look at my career, but that’s the thing that I love about being an actor.”

McIntosh is being stretched like never before this month as she prepares for the role of King Lear’s daughter alongisde Tim Pigott-Smith as the eponymous king.

“She (Goneril) is an individual twisted by jealousy. As the eldest of the three daughters, if she’d have been a man, she would have inherited everything, but as a woman she doesn’t have that entitlement.

“It’s a great part for an actor to play and to work with Tim is fantastic. He’s going to make an extraordinary Lear.”

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