In an interview in Total Film magazine to promote the film Jumanji:The Next level, Karen Gillan reminisced about her time on Doctor Who.

When asked what was her best ever on-set experience, she had this to say:

“My first day on Doctor Who. I don’t think anything can compare to that level of magic at that time of my life. I was 21, and I’d come from complete obscurity to be thrown into a very prominent television show. It’s just like from zero to to 100 to actually be on set. I remember looking at Matt Smith, and we were both like. ‘How did we get here? What is happening?’ And it was really fun. I was fearless at that age. like, blindly optimistic. So I was enjoying every second of it without even worrying about the weight of the situation.”

Gillan revealed that she still owns and uses her TARDIS binoculars.

“Yeah, I took a pair of binoculars from the TARDIS, because I felt like I deserved them. I’ve still got those. I’m looking at them now, in my living room. They’re good!”

One piece of equipment she banished from the set during her time on Doctor Who was her phone.

“I remember being on Doctor Who and frowning upon phones on set. I just got suckered into this bad habit. I think it’s because there’s so much downtime on the bigger movies.”

In addition to her acting, Karen Gillan also wrote and directed the 2018 film The Party’s Just Beginning, which debuted at the Glasgow Film Festival.