Doctor Who's Karen Gillan on being "too sexy"

The 22-year-old Scottish actress has won positive reviews for her performance as the Time Lord's travelling companion but has also attracted a rumble of disapproval from observers who think her character's frankness about her attraction to the Doctor - and her fondness for short skirts - is inappropriate for the BBC's flagship family show.

"I really didn't see that coming," says Gillan. "I just don't get it with the skirts. It's what any girl on the street is wearing. I mean, Amy's not a schoolgirl, she's 21, pretty much the same age as me, and we all wear stuff like this."

Nevertheless, Gillan sees only positives in her new-found fame. "It's weird," she says, "but nice-weird… Of course, it's strange to wake up and find journalists staking out your house, but no one's been nasty. And it's not like I'm cowering inside, scared to put a foot wrong.

"I went on the Tube the other day, at night, and no one looked twice. Bit of an anticlimax, really… If there were a lot of children around, it would probably be impossible. But that's not something you can worry about. I mean, Doctor Who is just the most brilliant job. I'm not going to take that for granted and start moaning about 'the cost of celebrity'."

Having got her big break, does Gillan have a plan for her career beyond Doctor Who? "There really hasn't been time to think of all that," she says. "We start on the new series in a couple of weeks and I'll be filming for nine months, so I can't even get into talks about anything else. Once I've finished Doctor Who, I'm just going to see what the world has to offer!"

The series is massive in America, and fans can't get enough of Gillan, so Hollywood seems a distinct possibility. One thing's for sure, when Karen Gillan's time-travelling days come to an end she has a bright future ahead of her.