After more than a year of speculation, it was finally confirmed at the end of The Interstellar Song Contest that Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) is, in fact, the Rani, or rather “a Rani" - one half of the newly bi-generated duo.
Up until now, the Rani had appeared exclusively in classic Doctor Who. She made her debut in the 1985 Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) story, The Mark of the Rani and had only been portrayed on-screen by one actress, Dynasty legend, Kate O’Mara.
So, we now have a brand-new pair of Ranis primed and ready to cause devastation in the big finale, announcing during last week’s tantalising mid-credits scene: “As for the Doctor... I will bring him absolute terror!”
When the Rani made her debut, we hadn’t seen many Time Lord contemporaries take on the Doctor who didn’t turn out to be the Master, and audiences had rarely seen such a strong female adversary to the Doctor. The classic era’s Missy is the simplest way to describe the Rani (despite lacking that intriguing redemption arc).
In The Mark of the Rani, she was explicit in the fact that she considers the Master’s rivalry with the Doctor to be beneath her. In a conversation with Anthony Ainley’s incarnation of the Master, the Rani informed him that she had seen the Doctor and stated: “I am not interested in your pathetic vendetta one way or the other. Now clear off and let me get on with my work.”
The character was created by husband and wife writing duo, Pip and Jane Baker. The producer of Doctor Who at the time, John Nathan-Turner, proposed bringing in a Time Lord adversary in addition to the Master. It was Pip and Jane who suggested that this should be a female character.
In this serial she played him for a fool in his post regeneration haze by dressing as his companion, Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford). It was a farce of Shakespearean proportions. The Rani helped the Doctor pick out his new outfit before rolling her eyes as her patience grew increasingly thin with his antics. That she felt superior to everyone around her to the point of apathy was the Rani’s core personality trait.
Back in the '80s, the Rani may have looked like your classic femme fatale, all shoulder pads and high camp. However, beyond the light-heartedness of the Rani’s final appearances, the character actually represented a serious female adversary to the Doctor and like a great many elements of Doctor Who from 1985 onwards, the Rani perhaps wasn’t fully appreciated at the time for the groundbreaking character that she was.
In order to preserve the true personality of the 1980s Rani, she must remain a cold-blooded scientist with a thirst for knowledge who views the Doctor as completely beneath her contempt, rather than an arch-nemesis that must be destroyed at all costs.
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