Name:
Mrs Smith
Species:
Human
Place of Origin:
Earth
Children:
Mike Smith
Spouse:
Mike Smith’s father
Appearance:
Remembrance of the Daleks
Other Appearances:
Remembrance of the Daleks
Main Actor:
Kathleen Bidmead
Mrs Smith was the widowed mother of Mike Smith.
Mrs Smith lost her husband in 1943 during the Royal Navy’s wartime convoy operations in the Arctic Sea. (Remembrance of the Daleks)
By 1963, she was running a boarding house in the Shoreditch area, where the Seventh Doctor and Ace stayed during the Shoreditch Incident that November. (Remembrance of the Daleks) She laboured to keep the boarding house spotless out of a stubborn pride, including dusting the television Mike had bought her but she never watched. The local community she lived in was slowly becoming less trustful as the young left the area. (Remembrance of the Daleks)
While Mrs Smith was kind to Ace, the girl learned of the woman’s prejudiced views after she found a sign hanging in the living room window reading NO COLOUREDS. When Ace discovered the aforementioned sign, she was openly disgusted, though she masked it well.
Her son Mike was killed when he confronted Ace back at the boarding house. He answered a knock at the door and was killed by Judith Winters. Mike was denied a military funeral, so Mrs Smith had her son buried privately five days later in a service attended by Group Captain Gilmore, Rachel Jensen, Allison Williams and a couple identified as Mike’s uncle and aunt. No-one else came, as The Doctor and Ace chose to turn away at the church doors. (Remembrance of the Daleks)
BEHIND THE SCENES
Mrs Smith is never identified with a first name either on-screen or in Ben Aaronovitch’s novelisation.
Mrs Smith was played by Kathleen Bidmead, who remained uncredited both on-screen and in Radio Times for parts two and four — despite having dialogue in part two.