Ling Tai was born Jane Trump in Little Hampton, England in 1962. The young Trump was a gifted painter and landscape gardener as a child but she soon realised she had one talent above any other - indoor bowls. Fame beckoned until, cruelly, it become apparent that she was actually crap. So she enrolled to become an actress instead.

Ling Tai as she became known (she took her stage name from her father, Doctor Who writer Peter Ling, and her mother, Tai Piddle) hit the big time, starring in "Bergerac" in 1983 as "Si Lu". Her part in "Doctor Who" followed only six years later, and it was then that Tai sported her trademark 'red tights' for the first time.

Tai's agent at this point attempted to get a merchandising bandwagon off the ground, but the launch of a 'Shou Yung' talking doll, which wore red tights and said 'Boom' when you pulled a chord in its back, was cruelly halted by the BBC, who no doubt feared a Terry Nation-esque money-bleeding spin-off hit.

Tai knew that the exposure she gained in "Doctor Who", which was at that time at its most popular, would soon mean other roles beckoned. Sure enough, she was soon playing "Student" in top soap Coronation Street. Likewise, just two years later she was "Oriental Girl" in an episode of "Soldier Soldier".

At her peak, Tai decided to give up acting and become a prostitute. She now runs a chicken farm and awaits the imminent release of "Doctor Who and the Ancelyn the Craven" on DVD to get more royalties.