“I think Osgood’s popular because, in a world like Doctor Who, or, you know, in science fiction in general, I think a lot of female– not all the female characters, but a lot of the female characters, are very– they’re very strong, capable women who are also very attractive. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them, that’s brilliant. But the majority of us are quite vulnerable and flawed and don’t look like supermodels, so I think Osgood– people can relate to her, I think, and I think that’s very important. And also, she’s a scientist, and that’s what makes her cool, if that makes sense. I like the fact that people looking at her are not going, ‘Oh, she’s super sassy and super cool and super sexy.’ She’s really clever and very good. She’s a good person. And those are qualities that maybe sometimes aren’t brought to the forefront as much in characters sometimes, particularly female characters. They’re often, you know, lost objcects or things like that, and I think it’s just really refreshing for people to see something– that’s not why she’s there, and that’s not why she’s in the middle of the story doing things. She’s there because of her skills. Her super-skills. Her brain skills.”
–Ingrid Oliver, UNIT: Shutdown behind-the-scenes