Lalla Ward played the second incarnation of
Romana, the no-nonsense
Timelady companion of
Doctor Who, who at that time was played by
Tom Baker. Ward had originally played the part of Princess
Astra in 1979, and Romana had been
Mary Tamm. When Tamm left, Romana regenerated into a copy of Astra. I'm not sure what this says about the mechanics or genetics of Timelord regeneration. (And I'm not sure whether this appearance was chosen, or whether like the Doctor's it was a surprise.)
After she left the series in 1980 she and Baker were rather distressed at the thought of not seeing each other again, so got married in December. It only lasted sixteen months.
In 1992 she married Richard Dawkins; and as they're both such very attractive people, you can imagine the scene in the morning: she gets up and thinks, wow, that's Richard Dawkins! And he thinks wow, that's Lalla Ward! They were introduced to each other by Douglas Adams at his fortieth birthday party. She has given up acting, except for guest reappearances as Romana.
She has done line illustrations for some of Dawkins's books, and some by others, and has come up with one of her own, the Countryside Embroidery Book, a manual and picture-book spin-off from some embroidery she had done for a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds calendar.
This new direction reversed the early choice she had had to make between art and acting. She studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and her first television part was in 1971/2, as a vampire called Helga in Vampire Circus. She was also in The Duchess of Duke Street in 1977, as the "Duchess"'s daughter Lottie, who was a very up-to-date flapper. Other parts include an Ophelia in 1980.
Lalla is a pet form of Sarah: she is the Honourable Sarah Ward, born in London on 28th June 1951, daughter of the Viscount Bangor.
My dreadful E1 node finally update properly in 2005, with new information from:
http://members.wap.org/kevin.parker/chp/lalla.html
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0911677/
Dhericean