One of the most popular companions in Doctor Who‘s history was the Seventh and Thirteenth Doctors’ companion Dorothy “Ace” McShane. Ace was from modern day Perivale, London, but a time storm by Fenric whisked her up to the human colony Iceworld in the far future. This was where Ace first met the Doctor and they began travelling in time and space together. Ace and the Doctor developed a close personal relationship during their time in the TARDIS together. Ace referred to the Doctor as “the Professor” in a nod to their paternalistic and professor/student relationship.
Dragonfire
★★☆☆☆
TX: 23/11/1987– 07/12/1987
Written by Ian Briggs Directed by Chris Clough
On the human colony of Iceworld, a young woman called Ace is working as a waitress after being swept up by a time storm (by Fenric) and deposited there. Ace meets the Seventh Doctor and Mel who have arrived in the TARDIS. The Doctor and Mel reunite with Sabalom Glitz, who has had his spaceship the Nosferatu confiscated. I have played the ice cube game on nights out and kissed multiple women (and sometimes men) per night out. Iceworld is being controlled by the evil Kane, an ancient being from Proamon who is seeking the Dragonfire – a valuable jewel. Kane orders Glitz’s spacecraft to be destroyed as well as destroying some of his slaves. At one point, the Doctor hangs from his umbrella into a deep chasm, a meta cliffhanger! The Doctor finds that the Dragonfire is located inside the head of a biomechanics dragon living in the catacombs beneath Iceworld. The Doctor, Ace, Mel and Glitz confront Kane where the Doctor reveals to him that Kane’s homeworld of Proamon has long since been destroyed by a supernova and that he has no home to return to. Devastated, Kane commits suicide by exposing himself to intense sunlight, causing his face to melt in a manner similar to that seen in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mel decides to stay with Glitz and go travelling with him. Ace boards the TARDIS to join the Doctor for further adventures in time and space.
Remembrance of the Daleks
★★★★★
TX: 05/10/1988 – 26/10/1988
Written by Ben Aaronovitch Directed by Andrew Morgan
The Dalek race has become divided into two factions during a Civil War on Skaro. The rebel Daleks led by the black Supreme Dalek and the Imperial Daleks loyal to the Dalek Emperor: Davros (the creator of the Daleks). Both sides have come to Earth in 1963 in search of the powerful, ancient Time Lord artefact, the Hand of Omega. The Seventh Doctor hid the Hand of Omega in London 1963, but now he and his companion Ace have come to the Dalek battleground to retrieve it. The Doctor ultimately allows the Imperial Daleks to capture the Hand of Omega, but this is part of his trap to ensnare Davros into destroying his own home planet of Skaro and the Dalek fleet.
The Happiness Patrol
★★★★☆
TX: 02/11/1988 – 16/11/1988
Written by Graeme Curry Directed by Chris Clough
On the planet Terra Alpha, happiness is compulsory on pain of death. Terra Alpha is ruled over by the tyrannical Helen A, a character based on Margaret Thatcher. The authoritarian society is policed by the Happiness Patrol who arrest or kill anyone that displays any sign of unhappiness. The Seventh Doctor and Ace arrive on Terra Alpha and the TARDIS is painted pink by the Happiness Patrol! Killjoys are sent to be executed by the Kandy Man, a robot made of sweets. Alternative fates include being made to join the Happiness Patrol, which is what Ace is enlisted to do. The Doctor confronts Helen A and convinces her that sadness is vital for a society to thrive. The Doctor demonstrates this when Helen A grieves over the death of her dog Fifi. This story is a satire on Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s. The character of the Kandy Man was subject to a legal dispute between the BBC and Bertie Bassett’s owing to the similarity of the character’s design.
Silver Nemesis
★★☆☆☆
TX: 23/11/1988– 07/12/1988
Written by Kevin Clarke Directed by Chris Clough
A group of Neo Nazis, a squad of Cybermen and a 17th-century sorceress called Lady Peinforte all plan to steal an ancient Time Lord artefact called the Nemesis Statue. Centuries ago, the Doctor sent the Nemesis into space, into an elliptical orbit that takes it into Earth’s atmosphere every 25 years. After listening to the Courtney Pine quartet, the Seventh Doctor and Ace arrive at Windsor Castle where they briefly encounter Queen Elizabeth II. Meanwhile, the Cybermen and the Neo Nazis clash multiple times, but the Cybermen’s fatal allergy to gold proves their downfall. Lady Peinforte and her servant Richard make their way to present day Windsor too, in possession of a golden arrow. The golden bow is briefly stolen by the Doctor. When reunited with the Nemesis statue, the golden arrow and the golden bow activate it. The Nemesis statue is in the shape of Lady Peinforte. Lady Peinforte tries to blackmail the Doctor into giving her the statue by threatening to reveal all of his secrets, including his true identity. The Doctor ignores this and surrenders the statue to the Cybermen instead. The enraged and insane Lady Peinforte jumps onto the statue, bonding with it. The Cyber Leader commands the Nemesis Statue to launch, however it flies into space and destroys the hidden Cyber fleet instead, which was the Doctor’s trap all along. Ace and the Doctor destroy the surviving Cybermen before travelling to 17th-century England where they are serenaded by Lady Peinforte’s servant Richard. Ace asks the Doctor who he is, but he refuses to answer.
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
★★★☆☆
TX: 14/12/1988 – 04/01/1989
Written by Stephen Wyatt Directed by Alan Wareing
The Seventh Doctor takes his companion Ace to the planet Segonax to visit the Psychic Circus. All visitors to the circus are forced to entertain the Gods of Ragnarok. As soon as they stop entertaining the Gods, the unfortunate attendees are destroyed. This includes the Circus’s biggest fan Whizz Kid, a biker called Nord and also Flower Child. The Doctor and Ace meet Mags and the selfish intergalactic explorer Captain Cook. Captain Cook sacrifices the Doctor to the Gods and turns Mags into a werewolf using the Devil Moon effect. But Mags kills Cook instead of the Doctor. With no other entertainment, the family orders the Ringmaster and Morgana to perform, but they fail to entertain and are also killed. Ace and Dead Beat recover his medallion piece from the bus and, once attached, Dead Beat recovers his Kingpin personality. Kingpin helps defeat the Chief Clown and his robots before they return to the circus, only to find the Doctor has again been called to entertain the family. The Doctor has determined that the family are really Gods of Ragnarok, who feed on entertainment and kill those who do not satisfy them. The Doctor instructs Ace and Kingpin to throw Kingpin’s medallion, linked to the dimensional portal that the Gods use, into the energy well while he tries to give them time by performing for them. Ace and Kingpin complete this task just as the Doctor is about to be obliterated; the medallion falls into the ring—as the well was a dimensional portal—and the Doctor uses the medallion to reflect the Gods’ powers back onto them. The Doctor leaves the main tent as it explodes. The Doctor regroups with Ace, Mags, and Kingpin. Kingpin and Mags decide to reclaim the circus and take it to a new planet to start it anew. The Doctor and Ace say their goodbyes.
Battlefield
★☆☆☆☆
TX: 06/09/1989 – 27/09/1989
Written by Ben Aaronovitch Directed by Michael Kerrigan
Knights from a parallel universe, where the Legends of King Arthur are real, arrive in our universe. The area surrounding a dig becomes their battleground and U.N.I.T is caught in the crossfire. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is brought out of retirement to assist Brigadier Winifred Bambera in the fight against the knights. The Seventh Doctor is recognised by Knight Ancelyn as Merlin. Ancelyn and the evil Mordred engage in close combat. Mordred’s mother Morgaine wants to unleash the Destroyer upon the world unless the Doctor returns the legendary sword Excalibur to her. Ace discovers Excalibur in Arthur’s ruined spaceship beneath the lake near the dig. The Doctor follows Morgaine through a portal to her castle. Morgaine frees the Destroyer, but Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart shoots silver bullets into it which defeats it. Back at the convoy, the Doctor confronts Morgaine, telling her of Arthur’s death. Mordred and Morgaine are then imprisoned.
Ghost Light
★★★★★
TX: 04/10/1989 – 18/10/1989
Written by Marc Platt Directed by Alan Wareing
The Doctor takes Ace to a haunted mansion called Gabriel Chase in 1888, unbeknownst to Ace. Ace burnt the house down in the 1980s with other members of an arsonist gang. The Victorian household is headed by Mr Chase, who has invited a scholar from Oxford for a scientific discussion. Gabriel Chase is actually the epicentre for a galactic zoological study made by an ancient being called Light. Light’s catalogue of all life in the universe has already led to the creation of husks in the basement, a rabid woman called Control, a neanderthal butler, a resurrected butterfly collection and the arrival of a Victorian police inspector. The Doctor shows to Light that his catalogue can never be completed due to the ever evolving nature of life in the universe, in accordance with Charles Darwin’s recent theory of evolution. Enraged at this revelation, Light leaves Earth in frustration. The Doctor and Ace make amends after the Doctor manipulated Ace about the identity of the Gabriel Chase estate.
The Curse of Fenric
★★★★★
TX: 25/10/1989 – 15/11/1989
Written by Ian Briggs Directed by Nicholas Mallett
The Seventh Doctor and Ace arrive at a British army outpost on the coast during World War Two. The Doctor and Ace meet Dr Judson, a scientist who is the brains behind the Ultima machine – a revolutionary decoding device which Judson is using to decode German messages as well as Viking runes in the catacombs. The runes warn of Fenric, whom the Doctor recognizes as an ancient being that can control his “wolves”, individuals manipulated by his powers. A squad of Russian soldiers led by Captain Sorin arrive to steal the Ultima machine. The Doctor is shown by Commander Millington that the British have developed a nerve agent that they intend to use against the Nazis. The coastal town is beset with legends about vampires, which start to become true when a couple of evacuee girls from London become vampires after swimming in the water. The vampires are in fact Haemovores, marine creatures that originate from a future Earth devastated by pollution.
Exploring the catacombs, the Doctor and Ace find a glowing Oriental vase among the Viking treasures, which is confiscated by the base commander Millington and given to Judson to study. As Judson places it within Ultima, he is struck by electricity and taken over by the spirit of Fenric. Fenric calls out to the Ancient One, a Haemovore in the nearby sea, who leads an army of Haemovores to attack the base and local residents, turning them into Haemovores. Ace warns Kathleen, a WRNS, to escape with her newborn child, Audrey. The Doctor sets up a chess problem, hoping to distract Fenric long enough to find a permanent solution to stop him. Sorin arrives and tries to kill Fenric but learns he is one of his wolves, a descendant of the Vikings that brought the Oriental vase here. Ace arrives, sees Sorin studying the chessboard, and offers the solution. The Doctor arrives too late as Sorin reveals himself as Fenric, commanding the Ancient One to attack the Doctor. A psychic barrier created by Ace’s trust in the Doctor stops the Haemovore. Fenric tells Ace she is one of his wolves, having created the time storm that took her to Iceworld to meet the Doctor, and she furthered her own cycle by making sure Audrey, her mother, was safe. Ace’s faith in the Doctor is shattered but, instead of attacking, the Ancient One grabs Fenric and takes him into the gas chamber and sets it aflame. The Doctor and Ace flee the base before it explodes, killing Fenric and the Ancient One and ending the Haemovore threat. Ace takes a moment to contemplate why she hates her mother and to celebrate overcoming her irrational fear of the water, before she and the Doctor depart.
Survival
★★★★☆
TX: 22/11/1989 – 06/12/1989
Written by Rona Munro Directed by Alan Wareing
The Doctor and Ace return to Perivale, London in the present day. However, all is not well – many of Ace’s friends have gone missing and there are cats everywhere! The Doctor follows Ace through a portal in space to the planet of the cheetah people, where many of Ace’s friends from Perivale have ended up. The Doctor discovers that the Master is stuck on the planet too and he has become the master of the cheetah people. However, the Master is slowly turning into a cheetah person, a symptom of staying on the planet for too long. The Doctor, Ace and her friends realise that they need to return to Earth as quickly as possible. Ace befriends a cheetah person called Karra. Ace’s friend Midge becomes a cheetah person and he leads the Master through a portal back to Earth. The Doctor, Ace and her friends follow Midge and the Master through the portal to Perivale. The Doctor fights Midge in a motorcycle battle. The Master and the Doctor have one final confrontation which culminates in a fight to the death on the planet of the cheetah people. But the Doctor escapes back to Earth moments before the Master tries to kill him. Ace witnesses the last of the cheetah people return to a doomed planet. The Seventh Doctor and Ace walk back to the TARDIS for further adventures together in time and space.
The Power of the Doctor
★★★★★
TX: 23/10/2022
Written by Chris Chibnall Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
Shortly after Dan decides to leave the TARDIS, the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz are summoned to U.N.I.T by Kate Stewart who also reunites the Doctor with her former companions Tegan and Ace. Kate believes there to be a connection between volcanic activity, Tsarist Russia, some paintings and a scientific lecture and she is right! The Master (disguised as Rasputin) has returned and he embarks on his most diabolical plan yet! Fuck Russia! After being freed from U.N.I.T HQ by the Cybermen, the Master uses the Daleks to capture the Doctor. The Doctor is placed into a DNA chamber and forced to regenerate into the Master. The Doctor-Master takes Yaz in the TARDIS, but Yaz escapes and manages to find the Doctor’s old friend Vinder. The two lay a trap for the Master. Meanwhile, Kate, Ace and Tegan narrowly escape being upgraded by the Cybermen. Between regenerations, the Doctor encounters the Guardians of the Edge, former incarnations of herself! The Doctors unite mentally to defeat the Master, whilst a hologram of the Doctor assists Yaz and Vinder. The Master-Doctor is cornered and his CyberMasters shoot each other after being tricked by the Fugitive Doctor. The Daleks are destroyed by the global volcanic eruptions. The Master-Doctor is forced to regenerate back into the Thirteenth Doctor, freeing her at last! Defeated, the Master mortally wounds the Doctor with the Qurunx’s energy beam, before seemingly dying of his own injuries without regenerating. The Doctor is fatally injured and carried back to the TARDIS by Yaz. The Doctor bids goodbye to her companions, who form a support group on Earth. Jodie Whittaker was the first woman Doctor, I realised a long time ago that women exist for the pleasure of men. Alone on a cliff top, the Thirteenth Doctor regenerates back into a familiar face…
Chris Olsen's TARDIS 