Doctor Who’s Miriam Margolyes to move in with partner of 56 years: ‘We haven’t got much time left’

Doctor Who star Miriam Margolyes shared a heartwarming update on plans to move in with her partner, Heather Sutherland, after 56 years together.

The potty-mouthed national treasure and lesbian icon has been making headlines in recent months for her upcoming voice role as villainous Beep the Meep in the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials and the release of her second memoir Oh Miriam! in September.

The autobiography recounts even more salacious tales of Margolyes time in showbiz and touches on her personal life, including her civil partnership with Australian historian Sutherland, who she met while working on a BBC radio drama in the late 1960s.

Despite their longterm and loving relationship, the pair do no live together, with Margolyes residing in London and Sutherland in Amsterdam. In a recent interview with Vogue for the publication’s Pride edition, Margolyes opened up about why the couple had decided to live apart.

“We were able to lead our lives without diminishing them,” Margolyes said. “I didn’t want her to have to give up anything. And I didn’t want to give up anything. I wanted my cake and I wanted to eat it too. And so far, it’s worked.”

But now it seems the Harry Potter star is ready to change the status quo, as she revealed on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (3 November).

While opening up about her fears around ageing, Margolyes said: “We are together, but we live apart. She is in Amsterdam, and I am in London but now we want to live together.

“I really do want to live with her because we are old, and we haven’t got much time left. It is silly to live apart.”

In 2020, the 82-year-old actor spoke about her hopes to be closer to Sutherland after isolating separately during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think we really will try to be together from now on, because that’s what life is about, loving someone,” she said on This Morning at the time. “I was lucky enough to find someone who was prepared to love me, I’m not that loveable – I’m smelly and noisy and all that sort of thing.

“But she loves me and I want to be with her for the rest of my life, that’s all I want.”

Margolyes’ appearance on The Graham Norton Show also garnered positive reception after she recalled the eye-opening story of how Australian trans actor Zoe Terakes (Ironheart) helped her understand the importance of respecting people’s pronouns.

“If you can make someone happy and give them a sense of themselves, then do it!” She told a cheering audience.

The first Doctor Who 60th anniversary episode, The Star Beast, arrives on BBC iPlayer on 25 November, 2023.