 Jamie Robert McCrimmon, a Scottish Laird's piper,
is trying to escape with his clan chief from the English Redcoats during the
aftermath of the Battle of Culloden in 1746 when he meets up with The Doctor,
Ben and
Polly.
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| The Highlanders |
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He
was destined to become one of the series most popular and best remembered
companion even though he was originally only cast as a minor one off
character. However, he impressed the production team so much that
on realising the characters potential they hastily rewrote the end
of Jamie's first story "The
Highlanders" to include him
as a companion. The end scene now had The Doctor inviting Jamie to
join him for his own safety during this troubled time in history.
Possible it is because of this sudden addition to the TARDIS
crew that during the next few stories his character was not exploited
very much. In fact he spent three of the four episode story "The
Moonbase" unconscious after hitting his head in the reduced gravity
when jumping on the surface of the moon.
Due to his background Jamie was a very brave and loyal companion.
His fierce courage more than compensated for his lack of intelligence and he
was always willing to sacrifice himself to protect The Doctor and his fellow
companions. He stubbornly refused to be beaten by anything and he was very
trusting of The Doctor especially when faced with something that was beyond his
comprehension and understanding.
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| The Enemy of the World |
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The
Doctor and Jamie had a very much teacher/pupil relationship and Jamie relied
upon The Doctor for explanations of the technology which were mostly beyond his
comprehension. However, despite needing to have even the simplest of things
explained to him, he took everything in his stride although originally
believing most things to be the products of sorcery. The longer Jamie stayed
with The Doctor the more knowledgeable and accepting he became.
Jamie's
low IQ however, was sometimes an advantage as was the case when he was captured
by the Krotons who, after testing him, mistook him as not being a threat and so
allowing him to escape and warn The Doctor. Even so The Doctor would sometimes
take advantage of Jamie's naiveté when he was clowning around. One
example was when Jamie announces that he has an idea on how to capture a Yeti
in "The
Abominable Snowmen" and The Doctor replies while dragging
Victoria
away 'Victoria, I think this is one of those instances when discretion is the
better part of valour. Jamie has an idea. Come on.' However, despite this a lot
of his ideas were successful.
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| The Krotons |
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He
became very much attached to Victoria and because of their
strong brother/sister relationship he was very distraught, along with The
Doctor,
when she decided to
leave. However, his anguish was to be short lived when they
meet up with
Zoe.
Jamie travelled in the TARDIS for 3 years and throughout
most of the Second Doctor's
era. He was forced to leave, along with Zoe, when The Doctor's
own people, the Time Lords, caught up with The Doctor and
put him on trial for all the meddling
he had done. As part of The Doctor's punishment Jamie is
returned to Culloden with all his memories of his travels
in the TARDIS erased except for his first
adventure ("The
War Games").
Jamie
would appear in a further two Doctor Who stories; The 20th anniversary
special "The Five Doctors", in 1983, where he appeared as a holographic
image that was intended to ward off the Second
Doctor; and in the 1985
Colin
Baker story, "The Two Doctors" where he helps the Sixth
Doctor and
Peri rescue
the Second Doctor. |
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