- She can’t swim. According to Neil Gaiman’s production notes, he had originally written a scene for The Doctor’s Wife in which Amy Pond is swimming in the pool in the TARDIS library. This scene had to be scrapped when Karen revealed that she did not know how to swim. Which is a shame for the fans who wanted to see more of the interior of the TARDIS.
- She is the tallest female companion. Standing at 5’10”, Karen is the tallest woman to grace the TARDIS. The props department had to rebuild the Daleks since they had previously been scaled to Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler and Karen is a good six inches taller than Billie. She has done modeling but has stated that she prefers acting and doesn’t see herself returning to modeling full time.
- She is one of a few actors to have previously been on Doctor Who. Karen had a guest role in David Tennant’s Doctor’s season 4 episode Fires of Pompeii where she played a soothsayer. She was later cast in a recurring role as Matt Smith’s companion Amy Pond. Other actors who returned to Doctor Who in a different recurring role include Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Lalla Ward (Romana II), and Peter Capaldi (the Twelfth Doctor) who also made his Doctor Who debut in The Fires of Pompeii.
- She wants to direct. Karen has directed three films to date. Her first two were short films; Coward, which she wrote and directed, screened at the 2015 Edinburgh Film Festival and Conventional, which she wrote, directed, and starred in, also in 2015. Her first full length feature film was The Party’s Just Beginning, which she wrote, directed, and starred in. This film debuted at the 2018 Glasgow Film Festival. She was inspired to write it upon hearing about the high number of young men committing suicide in the Scottish Highlands.
- She is known for her comedy impersonations. Before joining the cast of Doctor Who, she spent two years on The Kevin Bishop Show, a British sketch comedy show. She played a number of different characters and did impressions of celebrities including Angelina Jolie, Katy Perry, and Julia Roberts’ character from Pretty Woman. She isn’t the first companion on Doctor Who to come from a comedy background. She shares that with her fellow ginger, Catherine Tate, who had her own comedy show.
- She is related to one of her Doctor Who costars. Her cousin, Caitlin Blackwood, was cast as Young Amy Pond and played her in four episodes, including the first appearance of Matt Smith’s Doctor and the first appearance of Amy Pond. This was the first time they had ever met, despite being related. Karen grew up in Scotland and Caitlin grew up in Ireland. The first day that Caitlin showed up on set, Karen declared “Oh, that’s my cousin!” The people in charge of casting had no idea that they were related and casted Caitlin due to her being a dead ringer for a young Karen. Surprise, surprise.
- She loves horror movies. Her favorite horror movie is Scream. She loves to be scared. She likes all kinds of horror movies, even the cheesy ones. She has said that she only wants to be involved with good movies, not cheesy ones, but she does enjoy watching the cheesy ones. She starred in the horror movie Oculus in 2013.
