Women in Doctor Who

[John]

Sixties Doctor Who had established women generally into a subordinate role. Typically, female characters would be required to do little more than look pretty, ask questions, stumble over negligible hazards hurting their ankles and most importantly...scream!

An attempt to introduce a less conventional companion had been made at the beginning of Patrick Troughton's final season, ultimately however, the initiative was lost, and the promising Zoe Herriot rapidly became eye candy, donning ever shorter and more figure hugging costumes.

A new female renaissance finally arrived in 1973 in the shape of Sarah-Jane Smith. Sarah was stronger and far more independent than many of her predecessors, traits which proved popular with the audience and become a precedent for future companions.

But this revitalization wasn't merely confined to the Doctor's travelling companions. Women enjoying more robust roles would become a regular feature of Tom's era, including many villains, a role traditionally fulfilled by men.

Discuss the female characters of Tom's era including any particular favourites.

[biddenden_sue]

Well, I remember my dad being rather infatuated with Leela, though heaven knows why!

I did appreciate her Amazonian strength of character, which was a welcome change to the previous stream of screaming weaklings (let's face it, even Sarah Jane fell into that category on far too many occasions).

However, my favourite female character in Tom's time was Romanadvoratrelundar, or simply Romana - our very own Time Lady! I preferred Mary Tamm in the role, and never really took to Lalla Ward, but the character was brilliant, and I wish she were still able to make brief appearances in one regeneration or another.

[John]

I'm sure the majority of male viewers shared your fathers infatuation!

Companion wise, Romana -- as played by Mary Tamm -- was my favourite too. Her imperious demeanour proved the perfect foil for the Doctor, and I really enjoyed some of their comedic exchanges, it's was just such a shame that Mary left after only one season, but I understood her reasons for doing so.

Of the female villains, my favourite was Lady Adrasta, with Myra Francis giving a terrific performance as the ruthless ruler of Chloris. And did you see that slap she gave Romana? That was the most convincing and savage slap I have ever seen in Doctor Who, and must have hurt like hell! Poor Lalla took it very well considering.

[Toothy Grin]

Good thread. I hadn't really thought about it before, but there were some great female characters in Tom's era, although the majority of the main villains were still overwhelmingly male - Scarlioni, Harrison Chase, Taren Capel, The Captain, Magnus Greel, Solon, Graf Vynda K, The Master etc. Leela was/is the strongest female character to have ever been featured in Doctor Who, and Sarah and the two Romana's were very intelligent and resourceful (although could also be rather wimpy at times too), but they're all nice bits of totty so who cares?
Anyway, Prof Rumford was a great female character, very dotty and eccentric, as was Amelia Ducat although she comes across as more irritating than likebale. Maren from Brain of Morbius is a very strong character and former companion Jacqueline Hill is very dominant as Lexa. I also really like Agella from Destiny of the Daleks, for different reasons....

[tracy]

sarah jane was a good assisstant to .they had a good working relationship worked really well together it was a shame when liz sladen left.all in all she was my faverite. leela it took me a while to get use to .roamana no 1 was ok and no2 was good she worked well again like sarah roamana no 2 worked well with the dr. then came nyssa and tygan couldnt get use to them sorry. but like i say my fave erite was sarah and romana no 2

[Marcello Cristiano]

Sarah-Jane Smith was always my favorite. Not only was she a strong female and had good chemistry with TOM, but she also had great chemistry with Ian Marter(who played Harry Sullivan). Harry and Sarah created some good comic relief. Other favorites of mine were Leela simply because I enjoyed a lot of the humorous scenes her character got into because of the fact that she was a savage. Plus Leela was hot! Romana 1 and 2 were enjoyable as well. Of the two, I prefered Mary Tamm probably because she was the original. I warmed up to Nyssa and Tegan in the Peter Davison era.

[John]

I was never particularly fond of Tegan and Nyssa either.

Tegan's voice cuts through me like a knife and her frequent bouts of hysteria are very irritating. Nyssa is more likeable, but I never really thought her character had any substance.

[Who dat?]

I seem to be in the minority here. When Dr. Who showed on WGBH here in the states I was in college at the time. I fell in love (lust) with Lalla Ward. I didn't care much for Mary Tamm, I thought she was too much of a snob. I knew she was probably much more intelligent (book learning) than the Doctor but still... I've since gained a much more realistic opinion of her so much that The Key to Time is my all time favorite series.
I also really liked Louise Jameson (Leela). She understood what she knew and didn't know and didn't take any guff from anyone.

[tracy]

mary was at the shop last year with tom when i was there i hope you dont mind me saying she is a nice lady not snobby it was just the part she had to play we all had quite a giggle while i was there and jaybee to was was there to she had come from cananda it was a good day at the shop

[John]

I'm sure Who Dat? didn't mean Mary was snobby, but her character.

I've got Mary's autobiography on CD, and she's as down to earth as they come.