Trailers for the upcoming episode feature Karen Gillan, a former pupil at Charleston Academy. But former schoolmates might struggle to identify Karen at first, as she's dressed in a dramatic red cloak with her face painted white!

Cast as a soothsayer, Karen is predicting doom as the doctor and his new companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) arrive in Pompeii, just as volcano Vesuvius is about to blow.

"I play someone having visions," said Karen. "It was so much fun playing a villain – you can really go over the top."

Karen won the role in second episode, The Fires Of Pompeii, and filmed it last year on the series' regular set in Cardiff.

But lucky Karen was also whisked off to Rome with the current Doctor Who, David Tennant, Catherine Tate and a handful of other central characters to complete the episode there.

Karen explained: "There were only about five of us who went out there. The BBC was filming the series Rome at the time, so because our episode was set in Roman times we were taken over there to use the set."

Karen, who has now moved to London to be on call for auditions, first appeared on TV two years ago. She left her drama course at the Italia Conti Stage School early for the chance to appear as a teen gone of the rails in hit ITV detective series Rebus alongside Ken Stott.

"I had a bit of a quiet time after that," Karen revealed.

But she is certainly making up for it now.

"I've got a small part in the film Hippie Hippie Shake about the 60s hippy revolution which tells the story of a guy called Richard Neville who was behind the magazine Oz," said Karen, who plays a groupie in the movie due for 2009 release and starring Sienna Miller.

"I play an anorexic nun from the 1600s in a short film called Thinspiration for a Channel 4 series being shown in November called Coming Up. And I'm playing a self-harming model in a new medical drama for ITV called Harley Street!"

Karen Gillan as The Soothsayer in this week's episode of Doctor Who.

And Karen has had some personal experience of the modelling world. When she's not acting, Karen's been known to enjoy a spot of modelling. She appeared at London Fashion Week last year for designer Allegra Hicks' autumn/winter catwalk show.

"It's something I was doing as a hobby, really," said Karen, who is a catwalk-friendly 5' 11" tall. I really enjoy it, but I'm not doing so much of that at the moment."

But it looks as if concentrating on her acting is paying off – on-screen Karen's career seems to be blossoming, though it means leaving behind stagework which she has loved since acting in amateur productions in Inverness as a youngster.

"For the time being, I'm focusing on screen stuff, though I would like to return to the stage in the future," Karen revealed.

She has just been chosen to appear as a regular on Channel 4's new Friday night comedy sketch show, The Kevin Bishop Show, which can be seen in the autumn.

But first, there's a role closer to home. Karen returns to Scotland next week to start filming in Edinburgh for new horror feature film, The Newtown Killers, directed by former Skids' frontman turned film director Richard Jobson.

"I play a girl conspiring with the killers," laughed Karen, looking forward to getting under the skin of another baddie!

* You can see Karen in Doctor Who on BBC1 at 6.45pm.

m.chrystall@highland-news.co.uk

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