Gerald Flood
21 April 1927
Michelle Ryan
22 April 1984
Jenna-Louise Coleman
27 April 1986
MAY
Catherine Tate
12 May 1968
Kylie Minogue
28 May 1968
JUNE
Carole Ann Ford
8 June 1940
Arthur Darvill
17 June 1982
David Morrissey
21 June 1964
Lalla Ward
28 June 1951
Maureen O’Brien
29 June 1943
JULY
Jean Marsh
1 July 1934
Jackie Lane
10 July 1947
Adrienne Hill
22 July 1937
Bonnie Langford
22 July 1964
AUGUST
Sophie Aldred
20 August 1962
SEPTEMBER
Janet Fielding
9 September 1953
Frazer Hines
22 September 1944
Billie Piper
22 September 1982
OCTOBER
Caroline John
11 October 1940
Nicola Bryant
11 October 1960
Katy Manning
14 October 1949
Anneke Wills
20 October 1941
Ian Marter
28 October 1944
NOVEMBER
Lindsay Duncan
7 November 1950
William Russell
19 November 1924
Karen Gillan
28 November 1987
Michael Craze
29 November 1942
DECEMBER
Noel Clarke
6 December 1975
Wendy Padbury
7 December 1947
Sarah Sutton
12 December 1961
Nicholas Courtney
16 December 1929
Jacqueline Hill
17 December 1929
Matthew Waterhouse
19 December 1961
John Levene
24 December 1941
Bernard Cribbins
29 December 1928
COMPANION ROLL CALL: THE 1970s
played by CAROLINE JOHN
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Spearhead from Space Episode 1 (1970)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: Inferno Episode 7 (1970)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: Dimensions in Time Part 2 (1993)
Following her time at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Caroline John toured with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, where she was directed by Sir Laurence Olivier. In 1970 she was cast as the Doctor’s new companion, only staying with Doctor Who for one series. She continued to work solidly, appearing in many TV series, including The Hound of the Baskervilles with Tom Baker and in the film Love, Actually. She passed away in 2012.
Dr Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Shaw was a brilliant Cambridge academic, co-opted into UNIT as a scientific adviser. Highly intelligent and not afraid of action, Liz eventually headed back to Cambridge, claiming that all the Doctor needed was somebody to pass him test tubes and tell him how brilliant he was!
And another thing: Caroline John was married to actor Geoffrey Beevers, who played a UNIT private in The Ambassadors of Death and the Master in The Keeper of Traken.
played by KATY MANNING
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Terror of the Autons Episode 1 (1971)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Green Death Episode 6 (1973)
Katy Manning was beginning to earn a name for herself on British television with appearances in Softly, Softly: Taskforce and Man at the Top, before being cast as Jo Grant in Doctor Who. Manning left the series after two years and moved with her two children to Australia where she hosted her own chat show. She returned to the United Kingdom in 2009, and reprised the role of Jo Grant in The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2010.
Josephine Grant was a feisty, loyal and capable UNIT operative assigned to the Doctor as his new assistant. Caring and resourceful, Jo would never hesitate to put herself danger to help others – including offering her own life for the Doctor’s on more than one occasion. She left UNIT to marry environmentalist Professor Clifford Jones.
And another thing: While living down under, Katy toured the Australian outback with her one-woman show about Bette Davis, Me and Jezebel.
played by ELISABETH SLADEN
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Time Warrior Part 1 (1973)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Hand of Fear Part 4 (1976)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: The End of Time, Part Two (2010)
Z-Cars, Doomwatch and a six-episode stint in Coronation Street were all on Elisabeth Sladen’s CV by the time she was cast as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who. Appearing alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, Elisabeth became the most popular and recognisable Doctor Who companion in the history of the programme. Largely stepping back from acting in the late 1980s to bring up her daughter, Elisabeth returned to Doctor Who in 2006 and went on to star in The Sarah Jane Adventures until her death in 2010.
Journalist Sarah Jane Smith first met the Third Doctor under an assumed identity, posing as her virologist aunt, Lavinia Smith. Investigative instincts made her the ideal companion for the Doctor, capable of getting into as much trouble as the Time Lord. The bond between the two friends strengthened after the Doctor regenerated, but Sarah was heartbroken when he practically kicked her out of the TARDIS. However, the Doctor was true to his word – he never forgot Sarah Jane Smith.
And another thing: Elisabeth presented the ITV children’s programmes My World and Stepping Stone in the late 1970s.
played by IAN MARTER
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Robot Part 1 (1974)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: Terror of the Zygons Part 4 (1975)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: The Android Invasion Part 4 (1975)
After leaving University in 1969, 25-year-old Ian Marter secured a job as Acting Stage Manager at the Bristol Old Vic. One of his first television auditions was for UNIT’s Captain Yates, a role he won but couldn’t play due to prior commitments. After Doctor Who, Marter appeared in such series as The Brothers, Crown Court, Shine on Harvey Moon and Bergerac before his untimely death in 1986.
Poor old Harry. You have to pity the physician put in charge of the newly regenerated Fourth Doctor. The rather befuddled Surgeon Lieutenant later found himself on board the TARDIS as it took off for the Nerva Beacon. Brave, if not a little clumsy at times, Harry was charming and polite but infuriated Sarah by often calling her ‘old girl’ or ‘old thing’. Despite the Doctor’s assertion in Revenge of the Cybermen that ‘Harry Sullivan is an imbecile’, the Time Lord owed his life to the Naval officer on more than one occasion.
And another thing: In the 1970s and 1980s, Ian Marter novelised nine Doctor Who stories for Target Books.