She wore a bomber jacket with a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament badge. Story editor Andrew Cartmel was determined to have a relatable, angry teenager who represented the kids of the 1980s – she was anti-racist, political, angry, and a bit of a delinquent in her love of destruction. Sophie Aldred had a better time of it as Ace. Sophie Aldred as Ace in 'Doctor Who', image: BBC An adult woman who didn't take any crap and had opinions, Tegan set the template for Donna Noble, where Catherine Tate had a chance to run as a mouthy, snarky, and funny companion who had no sexual or romantic interest at all in the Doctor but was his equal and best friend. Her departure from the show felt sad and abrupt, with Tegan feeling it wasn't fun anymore, witnessing death and destruction wherever she went with the Doctor and walking away. In real life, Fielding is very funny, snarky, and opinionated and it's a shame the writers never thought to write those aspects of her personality into Tegan. Tegan was often reduced to hanging around complaining and asking what was going on for the Doctor to explain things. Unfortunately, the scripts often failed her. Describing herself as a 'mouth on legs', she wanted to play Tegan as 'Lucy van Pelt in space', a bolshy woman who took no crap from anyone and took charge when things got out of hand. Janet Fielding had ambitions when she was cast as Tegan to accompany the Fifth Doctor ( Peter Davison) with Lyssa ( Sarah Sutton) and Adric ( Matthew Waterhouse).

Still from 'Doctor Who: Castrovalva', BBC Neither Tegan nor Ace ever screamed at a monster coming after them. Even Louise Jameson, who played Leela, the warrior who was the Fourth Doctor's ( Tom Baker) first companion after Sarah Jane left, had to fight to get her scripts changed. This was the default sexism of male writers at the time. There's a reason this is a big deal: Tegan and Ace are the two real feminist companions of the show after Sarah Jane ( Elizabeth Sladen), and even she spent way too much time being taken hostage and becoming a damsel-in-distress.

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