Doctor Who star Karen Gillan to play Jean Shrimpton
Actress Karen Gillan has landed her first lead role since playing Amy Pond in Doctor Who, it has been announced.
The 23-year-old TV star will play sixties supermodel Jean Shrimpton in a BBC Four film, which will be screened later this year. We'll Take Manhattan will explore Shrimpton's relationship with British photographer David Bailey. "I am so excited to be playing somebody who had such a lasting impact on the fashion world," Gillan said. Bailey and Shrimpton helped shape the Swinging London era of the 1960s. 'The Shrimp' became one of the world's most recognisable faces after appearing on various magazine covers such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Vanity Fair. As well as being dubbed the world's first supermodel, she was also credited with helping to make the mini skirt popular. The film focuses on a particular week in 1962 in New York when the model and photographer first met at a photoshoot. BBC4 Four controller Richard Klein said the channel was committed to "dramatising moments that have changed the course of cultural life". Gillan, from Inverness, developed a love for acting after attending several youth theatre groups and taking part in various school productions.