The Honourable Lalla Ward
Ward in 2014
Born	Sarah Jill Ward (1951-06-28)28 June 1951 (age 74) London, England
Alma mater	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupations	Actress author voice artist
Years active	1969–1993, 2013, 2017 (actress) 1985–1988 (author) 2000–present (voice artist)
Spouses	Tom Baker ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 1982)​ Richard Dawkins ​ ​ (m. 1992; div. 2016)​ Nicholas Rawlins ​ (m. 2020)​
Father	Edward Ward, 7th Viscount Bangor
Relatives	William Maxwell David Ward, 8th Viscount Bangor (half-brother), Edward Ward (brother)

Sarah Jill "Lalla"Ward^[1] (born 28 June 1951)^[2] is an English actress, voice artist and author who is best known for playing the role ofRomana II in the BBC television seriesDoctor Who from 1979 to 1981.

Ward's stage name, "Lalla", originates from her attempts as a toddler to pronounce her own name. She left school at age 14 because she "loathed every single minute of it" and took herO-levels on her own. Ward studied at theCentral School of Speech and Drama from 1968 to 1971.^[4] After spending a few years painting, she auditioned at London drama schools "as a sort of dare" to herself:

It was a 'see if you can do it' sort of thing, because it was the thing I hated most—just like somebody who's scared of heights might go rock climbing, or, I don't know, go potholing if they're claustrophobic.^[4]

Ward began her acting career in theHammer horror filmVampire Circus (1972), and played Lottie, the teenage daughter of Louisa Trotter (Gemma Jones) inThe Duchess of Duke Street, theBBC drama series of the mid-1970s.^[5] She appeared in the filmsEngland Made Me (1973),Matushka (1973),Rosebud (1975), andCrossed Swords (orThe Prince and the Pauper) (1977). In 1974, she acted in a film calledGot It Made, directed byJames Kenelm Clarke.Club International magazine ran a set of nude pictures, claiming they were of her but actually featuring images from the 1978 filmSweet Virgin, and Ward successfully sued the magazine. Her television work includedThe Upper Crusts (1973) as the daughter ofMargaret Leighton andCharles Gray,Van der Valk (1973),The Protectors (1973),Quiller (1975),Who Pays the Ferryman? (1977), as Jill Haydon, daughter of theunderworld crime boss William Henry (Bill) Hayden in an episode of the hard-hitting British police dramaThe Professionals, the episode entitledWhen the Heat Cools Off (1978)^[6] andHazell (1979).^[7] In 1980, she playedOphelia toDerek Jacobi'sHamlet in the BBC television production.^[8]

She was the second actress to play the Time LadyRomana inDoctor Who. After a guest appearance as Princess Astra in theDoctor Who storyThe Armageddon Factor in 1979, Ward was chosen to replaceMary Tamm, who had decided against continuing in the role.^[9] She appeared in all ofSeason 17's stories and then her character was written out in the fifth story ofSeason 18 entitledWarriors' Gate.^[10]

AfterDoctor Who, she appeared in the TV movieSchoolgirl Chums (1982),^[11] andThe Jeweller's Shop andThe Rehearsal on stage. Ward decided to end her acting career after marryingRichard Dawkins.^[7] However, she has since reprised the character of Romana in the 1993 charity specialDimensions in Time, the 2003 webcast version ofShada, and in severalDoctor Who andGallifrey audio plays produced byBig Finish Productions.^[12] She also played the 'Mistress' opposite John Leeson's 'K-9' in two audio plays fromBBV. In addition, she has appeared at a number ofDoctor Who conventions and related special events. In November 2013, she appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homageThe Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.^[13]

Ward has recorded audio books, includingSteven Pinker'sThe Language Instinct andShada byGareth Roberts andDouglas Adams. She co-narratedThe Selfish Gene,The Ancestor's Tale,The God Delusion,The Blind Watchmaker andThe Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution with her then husband. In the 1980s. She also wrote two books onknitting and one onembroidery. Ward is a keen chef, and she contributed a recipe toThe Doctor Who Cookbook which was edited byGary Downie.^[14]

She also provided illustrations forClimbing Mount Improbable^[15] andAstrology for dogs (and owners) by William Fairchild (1980).^[16]

Ward is a textile artist and ceramicist. Her subjects are rare and endangered animals. She refers to her technique of creating fabric pictures asthread drawing, considering this a more accurate term for her work than the commonly usedthread painting.^[17]

In 2009, at the suggestion of the Gerald Durrell Foundation, she prepared an exhibition of textiles and ceramics on the theme of Galapagos wildlife. The auction raised £24,000 for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust's campaign for the Floreana mockingbird and other wildlife of Galapagos.^[18]

She has shown three exhibitions at the National Theatre, London. Her 2010 textiles exhibition,Stranded, was inspired by the evolution of animals on islands.^[19] In 2011,Migration featured works which combined textiles and ceramics, the subjects seeming to move across both media.^[20] The theme ofVanishing Act, 2013, was camouflage. As with previous shows, Ward made available detailed instructions explaining her techniques. She also used one glass case to recreate her workspace, including such sources of inspiration as music, quotes, and a photo of her dog.^[21]

Ward has served for almost 20 years on the committee of theActors' Charitable Trust (TACT) and 10 years as a trustee.

Ward was in a relationship with her co-starTom Baker while working onDoctor Who, and they lived together in a flat inDeptford. The couple married in December 1980; however, the marriage lasted only 16 months. Ward attributed the separation to work commitments, different lifestyles and conflicts of interest. Regarding her marriage to Baker, Ward is quoted as saying:

It's something I still feel sad about. I loved – and, in many ways, still love – Tom very much. The trouble is, our careers came to be just as important as each other, and we grew apart. I was angry at suggestions that it didn't work because I was too young, or that Tom was unreasonable to me. We just irritated each other occasionally – we weren't close enough, I suppose. It was a decision we discussed and felt was for the best.^[22]

Ward said in 2004 that her long friendship withDouglas Adams, with whom she worked onDoctor Who, meant more to her and was "more valuable and more enduring" than her marriage to Baker.^[7]

In 1992, at his 40th birthday party, Adams introduced her to his friendRichard Dawkins, a biologist and author of books includingThe Selfish Gene,The Blind Watchmaker andThe God Delusion.^[7][23] Ward and Dawkins married later that year. In 2016, in a joint statement, the couple announced their amicable separation after 24 years of marriage.^[24]

In 2020, she married her third husband,Nicholas Rawlins.

Sarah Ward is the daughter ofEdward Ward, 7th Viscount Bangor, and his fourth wife, Marjorie Alice Banks, Lady Bangor; as such, she is entitled to use the courtesy title "The Honourable".^[25] Her father was theBBC's war correspondent inFinland at the beginning of theSecond World War, while her mother was a writer and BBC producer specialising in dramatised documentaries.^[4] Her mother killed herself in July 1991.^[26]

She has a younger brother, Edward and an older half-brother, William, who is The 8thViscount Bangor. Through her father, she is descended fromThe 1st Duke of Clarence, brother ofEdward IV andRichard III, and fromThe 1st Earl of Peterborough, fromThe 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and fromThe 1st Viscount Bangor.

Her great-grandmotherMary Ward was an Anglo-Irish illustrator and amateur scientist, documented as the first person in the world to die in a motor vehicle accident.^[27][28][29]

• Asteroid8347 Lallaward – named after her

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