The Doctor's Companions

Jamie Victoria Zoe
The Evil of the Daleks - Fury From the Deep
Victoria
Victoria
(1967 - 1968)
Deborah Watling
 Deborah Watling was born in 1948 into a well established acting family. She appeared in the 1957- 1958 television production of HG Wells' Invisible Man and also as the title role in the 1965 BBC Play Alice. She was offered the part of Victoria when the then Doctor Who producer, Innes Lloyd, had remembered a Radio Times cover which featured her as Alice. After Doctor Who further television work followed including The Newcomers in 1969 and Rising Damp in 1974. She also appeared in a number of films including the 1973 Cliff Richard film Take Me High and, also in 1973, That'll be the Day with David Essex. During the Eighties and Nineties she continued to work mainly in theatre. In 1995 she returned to the role of Victoria in the Reeltime Pictures video production Downtime.

Unfortunately Deborah Watling died on the 21st July 2017 at the age of 69.
 A modest, kindly young Victorian girl Victoria Waterfield, like Vicki before her, became an orphan during her first story. After being held by the Daleks, who used her to ensure that Victoria's father continued to work for them on his static electric time travel experiments, she found herself on the Dalek's home planet Skaro. She was eventually rescued by The Doctor and Jamie but not before her father sacrificed his own life to help The Doctor defeat the Daleks, the dying Edward Waterfield’s last words being to ask The Doctor to serve as his daughter's guardian. With nowhere for Victoria to go, The Doctor invited her to join him and Jamie aboard the TARDIS ("The Evil of the Daleks").

The Evil of the Daleks
The Evil of the Daleks
 Like many of The Doctor's previous companions she is someone that The Doctor can protect and care for. The Doctor becomes a surrogate father figure to her and so to help her overcome the recent loss of her father, and the cruelty that she has endured from the Daleks, The Doctor he even shared with her his innermost thoughts regarding his own family. She also instantly identifies with Jamie and he takes on the role of a protective-but-teasing older brother, once stabbing a creature simply because it made her scream rather than because it was a genuine danger ("Heart of TARDIS").

 Victoria and Jamie became a very successful team, and even though Victoria was born over a century later than Jamie, because of her sheltered Victorian life, as is fitting for a refined young lady of the Victorian era, she shares some of his innocence and naiveté. She was often teased by both The Doctor and Jamie about her prim manner, but this innocence could be used to her advantage on various occasions, most notably when she twice managed to trick Kaftan - a member of the Brotherhood of Logicians seeking to awaken a group of dormant Cybermen - into releasing her friends from captivity, Kaftan not believing that the naive Victoria could really lie to her ("The Tomb of the Cybermen"). Even so she relied heavily on the both of them to protect and look out for her, although she sometimes wished that she could get past her need for them and save herself instead of always relying on them.

The Abominable Snowmen
The Abominable Snowmen
 Despite being a little prim and proper, and lacking in knowledge of things modern, she is very resourceful and independent. Being a very sensitive girl Victoria gradually adapted to life aboard the TARDIS and she adopted a more serviceable attire as her 19th century style of dresses gave way to styles more suited to the sixties. At first she was rather uncomfortable with the clothes, but despite The Doctor and Jamie’s initial teasing comments ("The Tomb of the Cybermen"), she eventually came to find her new attire far more comfortable than her old one, and decided to never go back to her original style ("Twilight of the Gods").

 Even so, her sensitivity meant that she was virtually frightened of everything that moved and would always end up screaming the house down when faced with even the smallest of horrors; even as she tried to overcome her old insecurities, old fears such as rats and spiders - particularly when faced with a Gallifreyian woprat, a creature that looked like a combination of both ("Heart of TARDIS") - still inspired a scream from Victoria despite her best intentions. However, it was during her final story that her screaming was put to good use when it was found that the intelligent seaweed creatures, which were menacing a gas exploration rig, were vulnerable to her amplified high pitched voice.

The Ice Warriors
The Ice Warriors
 Never a wanderer by nature, the seemingly endless battle against hideous creatures, vile alien monsters and cruel villains eventually became too much for her. Despite her evident courage, such as when she refused to hide in a monastery while her friends battled the Yeti ("The Abominable Snowmen") -, her issues with her travels came to a head when she briefly fell under the influence of The Doctor’s old friend Koschei - later to be known as The Master - when he manipulated her to grant him access to the Darkheart, a time-manipulation device that would have allowed him to impose his will on the universe ("The Dark Path"). Growing tired of the violence and fear she witnessed in her travels, when given the opportunity to stay with the Harris family, in relative peace and safety, she agreed to leave the TARDIS, despite knowing the distress it would cause both The Doctor and Jamie ("Fury From the Deep").

  Her life after leaving The Doctor was further explored in the novel "Downtime", where she was subtly manipulated by The Great Intelligence to use her family fortune - acquired from her father’s lawyers after a decade in the future - to establish the New World University, educating students by computer while hiring Sarah Jane Smith - apparently unaware of their mutual friendship with The Doctor - to track down the ‘Locus’, the central focus that the Intelligence required to restore itself after the damage done in its last fight with The Doctor. However, she rebelled against the Intelligence’s manipulation of her when she realised the truth of what she had done, working with The Brigadier and Sarah to disable her university’s computers after they realised that the Intelligence had downloaded itself into the computers. With the Intelligence defeated, Victoria was briefly contacted by the Third Doctor -  although he never introduced himself directly - who apologised for his lack of contact with her and left her a letter of recommendation that cleared her name with UNIT. Now at peace with her past, Victoria moved on and made a good life for herself, marrying and having several children, one of whom was about to give birth to her first grandchild in 2008 ("The Great Space Elevator"). She would later be reunited with The Doctor when she was participating in a protest against a nuclear power plant a few years later ("Power Play"), the Sixth Doctor and Peri materialising near the plant while fleeing the Playarec police force, the Playarec capturing Victoria and fellow protestor David by accident when they saw the two outside the TARDIS and assumed one of them was The Doctor. Although Victoria was briefly forced to act as their agent via a neural implant as she searched for The Doctor, the confusion caused by her meeting the Sixth Doctor while unaware of regeneration allowed The Doctor to help her break her conditioning. Learning that the nuclear plant was part of a complex scheme to destroy Earth for the Terrible Zodin, The Doctor was later able to use Victoria's implant to inform the Playarec of what had really happened, realising that one of the Playarec was actually working with Zodin's hired 'planetary assassin' to frame The Doctor for the assassin's crimes for a share of the money, as well as divert the missile the assassin tried to fire at the power plant into the distant past. Although Victoria declined the offer to return to the TARDIS, her wistful tone made it clear that she had fond memories of her time with The Doctor and Jamie, The Doctor in turn assuring her that the TARDIS doors would always be open to her if she wished to rejoin him.
 
Memorable Moment
 Although generally more timid than some of The Doctor’s later female companions, Victoria nevertheless showed a willingness to stand on her own when the situation called for it, most notably when she attempted to infiltrate the Rhumon camps on the planet Vortis disguised as one of the native Menoptera in an attempt to rescue The Doctor and Jamie (Although, unfortunately for Victoria, The Doctor and Jamie had already escaped by the time she got there) ("Twilight of the Gods").

Victoria Waves Goodbye
Victoria Waves Goodbye
 Another memorable moment occurred during the "Fury From the Deep" when her high pitched screams were used to defeat the seaweed creature. But it is when The Doctor and Jamie make plans to depart that they realise that Victoria has other plans when she announces to them both that she has had enough adventures and has decided to stay and live with Frank and Maggie Harris.

 The Doctor is saddened by Victoria’s announcement but understands her decision to settle down to a quieter life. Jamie though is distraught and is hoping that by staying one more day she will change her mind. When they realise that her mind is made up The Doctor and Jamie depart in the TARDIS leaving Victoria on the beach waving goodbye to them both.
Television Stories
Format Story Doctor Fellow Companions Season Episodes
Television The Evil of the Daleks The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 4 7
Television The Tomb of the Cybermen The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 4
Television The Abominable Snowmen The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 6
Television The Ice Warriors The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 6
Television The Enemy of the World The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 6
Television The Web of Fear The 2nd Doctor Jamie & The Brigadier Season 5 6
Television Fury From the Deep The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 6
Total Stories:   7 Total Episodes:   41
Other Stories
Format Story Doctor Fellow Companions Season Source
Audio The Great Space Elevator The 2nd Doctor   Season 5 The Big Finish Audio Stories
Book Heart of TARDIS The 2nd Doctor & The 4th Doctor Jamie, The Brigadier, Sergeant Benton & 1st Romana Season 5 The Past Doctors Stories
Book The Age of Ambition
The 2nd Doctor
Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book The Farmer's Story The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book On a Pedestal The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book Dreams of Empire The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Past Doctors Stories
Book Twilight of the Gods The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Missing Adventures
Book The Last Emperor The 2nd Doctor & The 6th Doctor Jamie & Frobisher Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book Face-Painter The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book The Dark Path The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Missing Adventures
Book Combat Rock The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Past Doctors Stories
Book Father Figure The 2nd Doctor   Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book The Lost The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book Screamager The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book Urania: The Astronomer’s Apprentice The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book Saint Nicholas's Bones The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Book The Cutty Wren The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Short Trips
Audio The Emperor of Eternity The 2nd Doctor Jamie Season 5 The Big Finish Audio Stories
TelevisionBook Downtime   The Brigadier & Sarah Jane Smith   Reeltime Pictures Video & The Missing Adventures
Audio Power Play The 6th Doctor Peri
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The Big Finish Audio Stories
Total Stories:   20
 
Who's Who The Second Doctor Who Episodes
Who's Who The 2nd Doctor Who Episodes
 

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