Katarina is a fictional character played by

Adrienne Hill Adrienne Hill (22 July 1937 – 6 October 1997) was an English actress. In 1965, she had brief recurring roles in soap opera '' 199 Park Lane'' and as Katarina in science fiction television show ''Doctor Who'', which ended when ''199 Park ...

in the long-running British

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. She is a companion of the

First Doctor The First Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time L ...

. Katarina appeared in the programme from November to December 1965, in five episodes over two stories. For 35 years, none of the episodes to feature her existed in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

until January 2004 when the second episode of the 12-part serial

The Daleks' Master Plan ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' is the Doctor Who missing episodes, mostly missing third serial of the Doctor Who (season 3), third season in the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which orig ...

was found. An inhabitant of ancient

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

, Katarina was very unused to modern concepts: she didn't even know what a key was. Katarina was conceived as a permanent companion but this was quickly re-evaluated by the writers, including producer

John Wiles John Wiles (20 September 1925 – 5 April 1999) was a South African novelist, television writer and producer. He was the second producer of the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'', succeeding Verity Lambert, and credited on four serials between ...

, as they realised the writing challenges that came with such an unworldly character. Unable to remove the character from upcoming scripts at short notice, they decided to write out Katarina by killing her early in ''

'', her second story, making her the first companion in the series to die. Katarina's death was the first scene Hill filmed for the series. Her role as companion in ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' was given to the character of

Sara Kingdom Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * ''Sara'' (2010 film), 2010 Sri Lankan Sinhal ...

, who was also killed off in the same story.

Character history

Katarina is introduced in the serial ''

The Myth Makers ''The Myth Makers'' is the third serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Donald Cotton and directed by Michael Leeston-Smith, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts ...

'', which takes place during the

siege of Troy In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris (mythology), Paris of Troy took Helen of Troy, Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of th ...

around 1200 BC. She is a

handmaiden A handmaiden, handmaid or maidservant is a personal maid or female servant. Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of slave status or may be simply an employee. However, the term ''handmaiden'' generally implies lowly ...

of the prophetess

Cassandra Cassandra or Kassandra (; Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρα, , also , and sometimes referred to as Alexandra) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be believe ...

, who was also the princess of Troy. Before meeting the Doctor she was little more than a slave. During the Myth Makers, she was sent by Cassandra to spy on the First Doctor and his friends, particularly

Vicki Vicky, Vicko, Vick, Vickie or Vicki is a feminine given name, often a hypocorism of Victoria. The feminine name Vicky in Greece comes from the name Vasiliki. Women * Family nickname of Victoria, Princess Royal (1840–1901), wife of German ...

, known to her as Cressida. Katarina befriends Vicki, who sent her to help the Doctor get

Steven Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

back into the TARDIS after a spear thrust had badly injured him. Katarina tended to his wounds and helps the

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior ap ...

crew survive the events of the Troy siege. She joins Steven and the Doctor on their travels while Vicki decides to stay behind in Troy with the warrior

Troilus Troilus ( or ; grc, Τρωΐλος, Troïlos; la, Troilus) is a legendary character associated with the story of the Trojan War. The first surviving reference to him is in Homer's ''Iliad,'' composed in the late 8th century BCE. In Greek myth ...

. A sweet, simple young woman who cannot really cope with the concept that the universe has suddenly opened up to her, Katarina believes that she is dead, and that the Doctor is a god transporting her to the next life. She refers to the TARDIS as a "temple" and also the "Place of Perfection", and literally worships the Doctor, referring to him as "Lord" (much to his annoyance) and having absolute faith in him. She believes that the Doctor was the god

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

and that he had come to take her on a journey in his temple to the real Place of Perfection. Despite the Doctor's protests, she remains set in this belief. During ''

'', Katarina is taken hostage by the escaped prisoner Kirksen, who demands that the Doctor take him to Kembel, a planet taken over by the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who'' ...

s. To prevent the Doctor giving in to Kirksen's demands, she chooses to trigger the controls to the

airlock An airlock, air-lock or air lock, often abbreviated to just lock, is a compartment with doors which can be sealed against pressure which permits the passage of people and objects between environments of differing pressure or atmospheric compo ...

she is being held in, propelling both herself and her captor into the

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...

of space. Despite her brief tenure on the series, Katarina is significant for being the first of the Doctor's companions to die on-screen. After the Doctor had defeated the

s, Steven said that he had seen too much death lately; the sacrifice of Katarina weighed on his mind, among others.

Other media

Katarina first met the Seventh Doctor when she was a little girl. As the Doctors looked different, she was unaware that they were the same person. She spoke to him of her ambition to serve as a handmaid to a priestess because her poor family could not afford to feed her any longer. The Doctor gave her family a gold coin, which would feed them for a year. However, on learning Katarina's name, the Doctor realized that she would die young as he has already witnessed it in his personal timeline. Much later, on the ruined world of Adeki, the Seventh Doctor found one of several Gwanzulums, beings who used their shapeshifting powers to pass themselves off as some of the Doctor's past companions, including Katarina. Before he realized the ruse, the false Katarina tried to have him take her off the planet. Later, Ace comes across the ghost of Katarina in the form of an eternally frozen girl of ice, in the Doctor's guilty mind. In Katarina's afterlife, she finds herself without a coin and unable to cross the

River Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

. However, due to the intervention of the Doctor (or her idea of him), she found her way not only to Asphodel where all souls who had done neither good nor evil would go, but to the Elysian Fields, the abode of the blessed. In the novel '' Timewyrm: Genesys'' the TARDIS projects her likeness on a screen along with a number of other dead companions to help the Seventh Doctor work out where he needs to go. Katarina has made a return in

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

, portrayed by Ajjaz Awad. In the series '' Ravenous'' story "Companion Piece", the kleptomaniac Time Lord known as the Nine attempts to retrieve Katarina's corpse to complete his latest 'collection' of the Doctor's companions, but when he attempts to read Katarina's mind to confirm her identity, the residual artron energy in her body leaves her consciousness 'active' enough for Katarina to distract the Nine so that other companions can defeat him. It is also revealed that Katarina's body had previously been retrieved by River Song, the Doctor's 'wife', who felt that Katarina deserved better than to be left behind like that even if River recognised that the Doctor had no choice. Katarina plays a more significant return in the audio ''Daughter of the Gods'', when a piloting mistake caused by later companions

Jamie McCrimmon James Robert McCrimmon, usually simply called Jamie, is a fictional character played by Frazer Hines in the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. A piper of the Clan MacLeod who lived in 18th-century Scotland, ...

and

Zoe Heriot Zoe Heriot (sometimes spelled Zoe Herriot) is a fictional character played by Wendy Padbury in the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. A young astrophysicist who lived on a space wheel in the 21st century, s ...

causes the

Second Doctor The Second Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Patrick Troughton. While the Troughton era of ''Doctor Who'' is well-remembered by fans an ...

's TARDIS to crash into the First's, causing the First Doctor, Steven and Katarina to crash-land on the planet Urbania before they get to Kembel. As a result, the trio spend three months on Kembel while the Doctor constructs a new dematerialisation circuit to repair the damaged TARDIS, with the Doctor giving Katarina some lessons, but when the Second Doctor arrives on Urbania as the Daleks attack the planet, the older Doctor reveals what should have happened before his interference. The First Doctor resolves to find another way, but once the Second explains the situation to Katarina and expresses his regrets, Katarina accepts that there is no other choice and joins him and his companions as they use the First Doctor's repaired dematerialisation circuit to reactivate the Second's TARDIS so that he can undo the earlier mistake. The audio ends with the implication that, while the events have been erased from history with the restoration of the original timeline, the Second Doctor at least retains some memory of what just took place, as he reflects that he will never forget Katarina.

Notes

References

David J. Howe David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian. Biography David Howe was born 24 August 1961 and established himself (in the early 1980s) as an authoritative media historian through writing articles for fanzin ...

Mark Stammers Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

''Doctor Who: Companions'' 1995 Virgin Publishing

External links

Katarina on the BBC's ''Doctor Who'' website
{{Doctor Who companions, 1 Television characters introduced in 1965 Doctor Who companions Female characters in television Fictional Greek and Roman slaves Fiction set in the 13th century BC