Karen Gillan may not play the youngest companion in the modern Doctor Who era to board the TARDIS. Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler has that honor. On the other hand, she may be the one pushing the envelope the farthest.

Karen Gillan talked to the London Evening Standard about standing up for what she thinks Amy Pond would want and her newest project, Jean Shrimpton in We’ll Take Manhattan.

That Karen has entered the national consciousness so completely seems astonishing when you consider that only two years ago she was an unknown actress from Inverness, working in a South London pub and doing a spot of modelling to subsidise her career. But then Steven Moffat came knocking and selected her to be Matt Smith’s companion, Amy Pond, in his rebooted Doctor Who. Her first appearance, as a police officer kissogram dressed in the shortest skirt the Tardis has ever witnessed, ensured her life would never be the same again.

Karen, who at 23 is the same age as her on-screen alter ego, happily takes full responsibility for the skirt that sent so many sci-fi fans into an interdimensional spin. ‘They kept trying to put me in various denim ensembles. And I was like, “No, no, no. It has to be a short skirt, because that is what girls my age wear.” And when I wore that skirt, I felt like Amy.’ As if to prove a point, today she is wearing an equally short black Lycra mini and a pink woollen jumper sewn with tiny pearls, booty from one of her many trips to the vintage clothing emporia of Brick Lane. ‘Amy is basically the person I want to be,’ she explains. ‘I just don’t have her sassy attitude. But I like that about her, and I like that about other people. I am attracted to people who are mouthy and brave and adventurous.’

Check out the rest on the Evening Standard, especially the photo spread featuring Gillan in Jean Shrimpton inspired looks to classics.

Do you think Amy Pond’s wardrobe is inappropriate? Will you be interested in watching Karen Gillan in a TV movie outside of Doctor Who?