Lane began her career as an actress in the early 1960s, including an guest appearance in Coronation Street. She was cast in Doctor Who in February 1966 by producer John Wiles, who had been unable to find a permant female companion since firing Maureen O'Brien three months earlier.
Lane joined the show in the final episode of "The Massacre", playing Dodo Chaplet, a teenage schoolgirl from the 1960s (despite being 24 at the time) who accidentally wandered into the TARDIS. In her initial appearance, she had a Northern accent, which quickly became a Cockney accent, then just as quickly Received Pronunciation due to an edict from the BBC higher-ups that it was unacceptable for show regulars to talk in a regional or working-class accent.
After only four full serials, new producer Innes Lloyd decided that Lane was surplus to requirements; he felt that the show, which was suffereing declining ratings, needed to become more in tune with the "Swinging Sixties" and that a young adult woman would be more suited to this than a teenaged schoolgirl. As Lane's contract expired halfway through the next serial, "The War Machines" he ordered that Lane be written out after the second of its four episodes; her character Dodo simply disappears from the story without even receiving a goodbye scene.
Doctor Who would prove to be Lane's final credit, as she left acting thereafter. After spending several years out of the entertainment industry altogether, Lane later set up a voiceover agency, which counted Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor) among its clients. While running the agency, Lane got her own back on Innes Lloyd, who asked her to represent him. Lane reminded Lloyd that he had abruptly sacked her from Doctor Who and turned him down.
Jackie Lane was notoriously publicity-shy, and declined to engage much with the Doctor Who community for the remainder of her life. She gave almost no interviews, never attended conventions, never participated in DVD extras or commentaries, and was the only companion actor who was still alive when Big Finish started producing Doctor Who audio dramas in 1999 who never reprised her role for them.
Despite this, her death in 2021 was met with great sadness from the Doctor Who community, who recognised that she had been unfairly treated while she was on the show and respected her efforts while she was there.
Tropes associated with her work:
- Dawson Casting: This was a feature of her entire acting career; she was generally cast as teenagers despite being in her 20s. This continued right up to her final role as teenaged schoolgirl Dodo Chaplet, and her frustration with this led her to leave the acting profession.
- Stage Name: She was credited under the name "Jackie Lenya" for most of her (brief) acting career, to avoid confusion with the American actress Jocelyn Lane who went by the stage name "Jackie Lane". For Doctor Who, which was her final acting role, she was credited under real name as the American actress had reverted to using her real name.
