User:Pokelego999/sandbox/List of Doctor Who supporting characters

Over the course of its many years on television, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who has not only seen changes in the actors to play the Doctor, but in the supporting cast as well.

Companions
The Doctor is usually accompanied in his travels by one to three companions (sometimes called assistants). These characters provide a surrogate with whom the audience can identify, and further the story by asking questions and getting into trouble, (similar to Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.) The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home, or find new causes on worlds they have visited. A few of the companions have died during the course of the series.

Alien Species and Robots
Throughout the show's run, there have been a large variety of alien species and robots featured in various roles. Many of these aliens, such as the Daleks, Cybermen, and Weeping Angels, have gone on to play recurring roles as antagonists in the series, while other species, such as the Silurians and Zygons, have been depicted as both antagonists and supporting characters. Robotic characters, such as K9 and Handles, have been major supporting characters, while antagonistic forces such as the Yeti and Autons have also appeared.

Antagonists
Many antagonistic characters have appeared throughout the show's run, acting as villains in a given episode. Though many antagonists are one-off characters, several of them, such as The Master and Rassilon, have acted in recurring roles throughout the series.

Sara Kingdom
Sara Kingdom, portrayed by actress Jean Marsh, is a security officer from the 40th century. During the events of The Daleks' Master Plan, she ends up shooting her brother, Brett Vyon, under the orders of Mavic Chen. After realizing she had killed her brother unjustly, she joins The Doctor and Steven Taylor in their attempt to stop the Daleks. She is later killed by The Daleks' Time Destructor.

Created by Terry Nation, she was originally planned to appear in American spin-off series of Doctor Who, where she would have battled the Daleks. This proposed spin-off was never produced.

Allistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
Sir Allistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, also known as The Brigadier, is a recurring character, portrayed by Nicholas Courtney, first introduced in 1968's The Web of Fear. While he is initially depicted as a Colonel, he is promoted to Brigadier in his following appearance, The Invasion. When the show took on an "earthbound" format, forcing The Doctor to stay on Earth, the Brigadier was revealed to have become the head of UNIT, an organization dedicated to dealing with alien threats. The character went on to appear in a major supporting role throughout the Third Doctor's era, though his appearances became more infrequent as UNIT was phased out of the show. His last appearance in the classic series was in 1989's Battlefield, and he made one final appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Enemy of the Bane," after which the character died off-screen.

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Professor Edward Travers
Professor Edward Travers, portrayed by Jack Watling, is a minor recurring character who debuted in the episode The Abominable Snowmen. He is a traveler who is attempting to discover the Yeti in Tibet, and later aided the Second Doctor in defeating The Great Intelligence and his robotic Yeti. He re-appeared in The Web of Fear, set forty years later, where he is revealed to have brought back some of the Yeti, having donated them to a museum. He accidentally reactivates a Yeti control-sphere, causing an invasion of London. The Yeti capture Travers, and he is possessed by The Intelligence. The Doctor later frees him, and Travers aids The Doctor in defeating The Intelligence.

He reappears in the direct to video spin-off film Downtime, where his dead body is possessed by The Intelligence. His body was destroyed when The Intelligence was defeated.