Doctor Who star Karen Gillan has told how she found David Bailey as formidable as his reputation when she met the photographer after being cast as his former flame, 1960s supermodel Jean Shrimpton, in a new TV drama.

Ms Gillan, 24, stars as Ms Shrimpton in the BBC4 story We’ll Take Manhattan, which explores the explosive love affair between The Shrimp and the world-famous photographer.

The Scottish actress told the Radio Times that she has not been able to meet Ms Shrimpton, who now runs a hotel in Penzance, Cornwall and avoids public appearances, despite having been inspired by her before she was even cast in the drama.

But she said of coming face-to-face with Mr Bailey in a recent Vogue magazine shoot: “I wasn’t sure if I was going to meet him, then I got this call saying: ‘You’re doing a shoot with David Bailey.’

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that was going to happen. And I’d done so much research on him that I thought I had an idea of what to expect.” She told the magazine: “He’s a funny one, David Bailey. He plays mind games to provoke his subjects.”

Ms Gillan – who is about to end her run as the Time Lord’s sidekick Amy Pond – felt camera-shy for the first time since she signed up to a modelling agency after dropping out of drama school.

She said: “He kept shouting, ‘Surprise me! Do something!’ He seems to build up your confidence but then knock it back down again.

“He kept on saying to me, ‘You’re pretty but pretty girls are like red buses’... He meant being pretty is not enough to make an interesting portrait, essentially.” Ms Gillan said of Ms Shrimpton: “I thought about booking into her hotel but decided that might be a bit rude!” But she told the magazine that the former model saw the drama and left a voicemail saying that she thought it was really accurate. “That was the best compliment I could have,” she said.

Ms Gillan recently split up, after six years, with photographer Patrick Green. But she said that their relationship was not one of artist and muse, telling the magazine: “We never really did any of that. It’s quite healthy to keep certain things separate in a relationship, I think.”

Ms Shrimpton and Mr Bailey were said to have met at a photoshoot for a Corn Flakes ad and he is often credited with helping to rocket her to success as one of the most famous faces in the world.