Born: 20th October 1941 (as Anna Katarina Willys)
Episodes Broadcast: 1966-1967

Anna Katarina Willys was born in Berkshire. During World War Two, her mother moved the family around the United Kingdom as she worked to pay off her husband's gambling debts. At age eleven, Willys won a role in the film Child's Play; she was billed as “Anneke” Willys, conflating her first and middle names. As a teenager, she made frequent television appearances, and appeared on the front cover of the Radio Times to promote The Railway Children. Willys attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, but was expelled.

In 1959, her professional name became “Annika Wills”, and she began to earn roles in non-juvenile programming such as Emergency -- Ward 10 and No Hiding Place, as well as films including Some People. A relationship with actor Anthony Newley arose from her work on The Strange World Of Gurney Slade and produced a daughter, Polly, in 1963. However, Newley left Wills to marry starlet Joan Collins, and Wills became involved with Michael Gough, having appeared with him in an episode of Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre. Gough adopted Polly, and he and Wills were married in 1965; the same year, son Jasper was born.

Wills took the part of Polly after hearing her husband speak glowingly of his guest appearance in Doctor Who

Around the end of 1963, Wills started to be billed as “Anneke Wills”, and it was under this name that she made appearances in The Avengers, The Likely Lads, The Saint, and the movie The Pleasure Girls. She was also invited to audition as Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter, in Doctor Who, but her agent forgot to inform her of the opportunity. In 1966, Doctor Who came calling again when Wills was offered the role of new companion Polly. The character was conceived by producer Innes Lloyd and story editor Gerry Davis in an attempt to infuse the programme with more modern appeal. Wills took the part after recalling how glowingly her husband had spoken of Doctor Who following his recent guest appearance as the eponymous villain of The Celestial Toymaker. Polly was introduced alongside Ben Jackson, played by Michael Craze, in The War Machines.

Wills remained on Doctor Who for a year, bridging the change of leading man from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton. She made her exit in The Faceless Ones, after the production team became dissatisfied with Polly and Ben. She soon found another starring role, in the crime drama Strange Report. However, when she learned of plans to record its second season in Hollywood, she quit the series rather than uproot her children. Eager to provide a stable home life, she decided to leave the acting profession altogether.

Wills travelled widely during the Seventies. When she and Gough divorced in 1979, she decided to join a commune run by an Indian spiritual guru, which eventually took her to Canada, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1982, Polly was tragically killed in an automobile accident. More determined than ever to remain in North America, Wills wedded an American in order to obtain her Green Card. She lived in California for a time before returning to British Columbia, where she joined an artist's colony. She married for a third time in 1993, to a marine biologist named Rappi. After the relationship ended, Wills decided it was time to go back to the United Kingdom.

In 2002, Wills made her debut appearance in a Doctor Who audio drama for Big Finish Productions. The Sandman, an adventure of the Sixth Doctor, was quickly followed by Zagreus in 2003, the first of several plays in which Wills portrayed Lady Louisa Pollard, the mother of audio companion Charley Pollard. She finally reprised the role of Polly in 2009; Resistance, part of The Companion Chronicles range, became just the first of numerous Big Finish dramas in which Wills returned to the character. In 2013, Wills made a cameo appearance in the telefilm An Adventure In Space And Time, which celebrated the early years of Doctor Who. She also popped up briefly in the humorous The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. Hirst Publishing released two volumes of Wills' autobiography: Self Portrait (2007) and Naked (2009). A pictorial retrospective entitled Anneke Wills: In Focus, co-written with Paul WT Ballard, was issued by Fantom Films in 2012.