Can Doctor Who save Michelle Ryan?

The news that Michelle Ryan will appear alongside David Tennant in an Easter special of Doctor Who, and perhaps become the assistant to his replacement Matt Smith, gives the actress her second shot at the big time. Her first – she starred in the recent American TV remake of the 1970s TV classic The Bionic Woman - ended very badly, with low ratings and bad reviews leading to its demise after just one series.

Rightly or wrongly, the blame for the show's appalling ratings was placed at the feet of 24-year-old Ryan (pictured in Bionic Women), who first came to public attention playing Zoe Slater in the BBC soap EastEnders. Reviewers were particularly scathing about her inability to master an America accent, and also sniped about the fact that she was an unknown.

A source at NBC/Universal said at the time: "Frankly, the bosses at the network decided to blame Michelle for the show's failure. Their bet was that American viewers would fall in love with her looks, personality, and the character she played. But that just didn't happen. She went back to England because the writing was on the wall."

The source added: "Her career in the US is over right now... She has to do something that really breaks out for her to get more American jobs. She's back to square one."

The show's failure was costly for NBC. The network invested up to $6m in each episode, spending lavishly on special effects. In addition, more than $15m was spent on marketing the show last summer, with the advertising campaign hinging entirely on Ryan's sleepy-eyed sex appeal.

Hopefully, this will be better deployed in Doctor Who, in which she will play Lady Christina de Souza in an episode called Planet of the Dead.