Was Martha's twin sister killed by Cybermen?

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Three episodes before Martha was introduced the Doctor visited the Torchwood Institute during the Cybermen Invasion.
There was a young woman (manipulated and killed by the ear device) who looked exactly like Martha. Was that the same actress or just a huge resemblance?
And if it was the same actress, why did they cast her so soon again for another role?
Weren't they worried that the audience might get confused why the doctor didn't recognize her only a short period of time later?

 

[Samurai8472]

it was martha's cousin Adiola and the production knew Billie was leaving since the beginning of season 2.

I guess Freema was already cast by the time of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.

I doubt anyone would get confused. There have been many times where actors that will be in WHO later in the future are cast as someone else like Colin Baker and Peter Davidson

 

[captcalhoun]

Freema was cast as Martha on the strength of her performance as Adeola.

Adeola is Martha's identical cousin (TM, Kevin Smith), who is mentioned in Smith and Jones, by Martha in regard to the Cybermen business.

 

[Brendan Moody]

At the time of the announcement there was a certain amount of fan angst about whether audiences would remember a minor character from nine months before and become confused about Martha/Adeola. Somehow this didn't prove to be a problem when "Smith and Jones" actually aired, any more than with Adjoa Andoh and Chipo Chung when they played second roles in the new series (though in their cases they were in heavy alien makeup the first time around).

It's funny: even knowing she had been in "Army of Ghosts" I didn't recognize Agyeman when I first watched "Smith and Jones," but now that she's been an established regular I can't go back to "Army of Ghosts" without thinking "Hey, that's Martha!"

 

[Worf2DS9]

Somehow this didn't prove to be a problem when "Smith and Jones" actually aired, any more than with Adjoa Andoh and Chipo Chung when they played second roles in the new series

That's Martha's mum and Chantho? Which were the other roles they played?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Somehow this didn't prove to be a problem when "Smith and Jones" actually aired, any more than with Adjoa Andoh and Chipo Chung when they played second roles in the new series

That's Martha's mum and Chantho? Which were the other roles they played?

Yes. Andoh plays Sister Jatt in "New Earth" and Chung played the Fortune Teller in "Turn Left."

 

[Worf2DS9]

^ Cool! And strangely, I thought Chung was more attractive as Chantho.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Perhaps you have an insect fetish?

 

[Stevil2001]

It's funny: even knowing she had been in "Army of Ghosts" I didn't recognize Agyeman when I first watched "Smith and Jones," but now that she's been an established regular I can't go back to "Army of Ghosts" without thinking "Hey, that's Martha!"

When I was watching Doctor Who with my fiance for the first time, it was out of sequence, and by the time we got to "Army of Ghosts", she'd already seen most of Season 3. When Adeola bit it, she turned to me and asked "How can they kill Martha!? How does that work?" And I will admit that I turned that question over in my mind for a few moments before I remembered what was really going on.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I see.... Thanks for all the replies.... So how do you think the casting for Martha went?
perhaps like this:
"Well, Freema, we think you were absolutely great in that short scene a couple weeks ago, we want you to come back as the Doctor's companion, now that we ditched that Rose-chick."
"Err, I'm flattered, but didn't I kind of die in that episode?"
"That's not a problem at all, I'm sure no one remembers anyway. And you won't play the same character. You'll be your own identical.... COUSIN! Genius, eh?"
"My own identical cousin?! Now that's believable... You're right, cousins look the same all the time. It's a shame nobody has ever heard of TWINS looking identical, because that would have been a real twist!"
"Shut up and sign your 1-year-contract riiight here."

 

[Guy Gardener]

It's like no one remembers the Patty Duke show.

Identical cousins.

It's in the theme song.

besides how did the Doctor describe Gwen looking just like Gwendoline form Ghosts of Christmas in Journeys end?

I think it probably has something to that time fractured bugger from City of Death getting down with the natives.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Martha and Adeola being twins would require a certain amount of "The Doctor killed her sister- will she ever find out?" angst of the least interesting kind.

The cousin "explanation" is a little wink at the audience, and a way to set up some bonding between the Doctor and Martha over their shared losses in the Battle of Canary Wharf. It's not some grand plan they would have been thinking of when they cast Agyeman as the new companion.

 

[Phillip Culley]

You wonder just how the audience coped in 1965 seeing Morton Dill on the Empire State Building becoming spaceman Steven Taylor on the planet Mechanus, and then join the TARDIS crew within the space of a few weeks

 

[Stevil2001]

That was easy because everyone was more than happy to forget Morton Dill...

 

[Starkers]

That was easy because everyone was more than happy to forget Morton Dill...

Who?

Interesting to note that Freema's character in Doomsday was wooden as well...and they still hired her!

 

[diankra]

You wonder just how the audience coped in 1965 seeing Morton Dill on the Empire State Building becoming spaceman Steven Taylor on the planet Mechanus, and then join the TARDIS crew within the space of a few weeks

They didn't recognise him because of Steven's beard, silly!

Actually, that does seem to have been the working principle then - you can reuse people as fast and often as you like, so long as they've got a beard to make them look different - so, for instance, Bernard Kay is in The Dalek Invasion of Earth as Tyler, under stubble and grime, and then 12 episodes later he's in The Crusade as Saladin, under false beard and blacked-up make-up that would cause as storm of complaints nowadays.
Mind you, even in the early days, there's a joke in Dalek Masterplan where the Doctor asks another character if they've met before, mistaking him for the last part the actor had played (in The Crusade, oddly enough!).

Apparently it was Philip Hinchcliffe who introduced a ban on reusing actors within two years if they'd been recognisable (so Michael Wisher could still appear all the time as he was usually under make-up), which his successors extended to three years.

 

[matthunter]

If the fans could cope with the Doctor suddenly looking like a member of the Gallifreyan security services who had previously tried to kill him, I'm sure they can let this one pass.

 

[ClayinCA]

^^ I always wanted to see a story where you found out that Maxil's next regeneration was played by Sylvester McCoy....

like Colin Baker and Peter Davidson

Davison.

 

[The Mule]

Adeola is Martha's identical cousin (TM, Kevin Smith)

more like (TM, Patty Duke)

ah, already beat to the punch:

It's like no one remembers the Patty Duke show.

Identical cousins.

It's in the theme song.

 

[Worf2DS9]

Interesting to note that Freema's character in Doomsday was wooden as well...and they still hired her!

Wooden?! Well, her mind was being controlled by metallic cyborgs!

Anyway, I remember thinking at the time that Freema was quite gorgeous as Adeola, so I was quite pleased to discover she was going to be the full-time companion the following year.