 Leela was a rebellious member of the warrior
Sevateem tribe, even known to speak up to her father when she
was a child and continuing this tradition well into adulthood.
She met The Doctor after being exiled from her tribe for heresy,
having spoken out against her people’s worship of the
mysterious Xoanon. Her ancestors were an exploration team from
Earth but after centuries of being marooned on an unnamed planet
half of the crew, the survey team (Saveteem), had reverted to
savagery while the other half, the technicians (Tesh), had become
guardians of a super computer that had unintentionally been
driven mad by The Doctor on a previous visit. After assisting
The Doctor in reconciling the Sevateem and Tesh, giving The
Doctor time to repair Xoanon, Leela forced her way into the TARDIS,
preferring danger and adventure with The Doctor rather than
staying with the newly reconciled tribes ("The
Face of Evil").
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| The Face of Evil |
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She was the first alien companion since Susan -
although her ancestry was human, her life having begun on another
planet means that she can still be counted as ‘alien’ in
the sense that she wasn’t born on Earth - and was one of the
most bravest and independent. Despite being a complete contrast to
previous companions her role was still mainly a person that The Doctor
could talk to so as to explain things to the viewer. She was originally
conceived as a primitive cave girl who was very much a variation
of the primeval Raquel Welch character in One Million Years BC and
Eliza Doolittle, the cockney flowergirl, from My Fair Lady.
These two elements resulted in a sexy leather clad savage with distinct
animal awareness and childlike curiosity.
To convey the image of an exotic savage she wore a skimpy
leather costume. She was however persuaded, by The Doctor,
on a number of occasions to change out of this primitive
attire and to wear more lady like clothes, most notably
when she wore an elaborate dress to attend the theatre during
visits to Victorian London ("The
Talons of Weng-Chiang", "Horror
of Fang Rock"). However, she never found them comfortable
and took the earliest opportunity to change into more practical
clothes like in the story "The Horror of Fang Rock",
where she borrowed clothes from one of the lightkeepers
so as to change out of her sodden dress. Even in these instances,
it was never long before she reverts back to her leather
costumed savage appearance.
There
was a great bond of affection between her and K9 and
whereas The Doctor and K9 represent intellect against her
instinct her lack of understanding did result in her being
rather humourless especially with The Doctor. However, she
always retained her savage dignity and with her primitive
naiveté she was bright, assertive, proud and curious.
She saw herself as an equal to any man and was not phased
by her encounters with other humans, creatures or aliens.
She also possessed a strong awareness of herself; when on
Pluto, she briefly fell victim to the fear-inducing drug
that was pumped into the air by the controlling Company,
but when K9 informed her of the source of her fear was an
airborne chemical Leela was swiftly able to ignore it ("The
Sun Makers"). Being a warrior and huntress she had
great strength, lightning reactions and possessed useful
primitive
instincts. She was more than able to look after herself
despite the dangerous alien environments she found herself
in, often rallying others to take action against their enemies,
such as when she encouraged the natives of Easter Island
to fight the pirates who had come to enslave them ("Eye
of Heaven"). Her latent sixth sense, including
an acute ability to read the body languages of those around
her, enabled her to be alerted to potential dangers or untrustworthy
people.
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| The Talons of Weng-Chiang |
|
Everything
she did was totally instinctive. She saw everything as a
potential threat and so had an underlying tendency to kill
first and ask questions later. With a raw natural intelligence
she much favoured direct action. She was very impulsive
and had a deep loyal devotion to her beliefs, friends and
especially to The Doctor who she sensed was a good person
even though she did not fully agree with his principals.
Although from a warrior society, Leela recognised that courage
was not merely a matter of automatically engaging in violence
but of finding the courage to do what was right, as shown
most keenly in her friendship with Cordo, a worker on Pluto
("The Sun Makers") - although a naturally timid
man, she recognised his bravery when he agreed to help her
rescue The Doctor after he was captured by the Company -
while also expressing disdain of an upper-class woman’s
fear when trapped in a lighthouse and under attack from
a Rutan ("Horror
of Fang Rock").
The Doctor strongly disapproved of her violent nature and especially
her use of poisonous Janus thorns. Due to her upbringing,
and because she saw violence as an obvious way of survival,
it was very difficult for her to understand why The Doctor
was so against her use of weapons; even when she was persuaded
not to kill instantly, it took little provocation for her
to revert to old methods, such as when she was captured
and nearly executed because she allowed a guard to live
to warn his fellows ("The Sun Makers"). She had
a natural skill with every type of weapon including, once
she had seen them in action, the more advanced types. Even
so she much preferred her trusty hunting knife, having great
difficulty aiming when she first used a conventional gun
with bullets in battle (Although the ease with which she
mastered its purpose should not be overlooked).
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| The Invisible Enemy |
|
Her "if in doubt kill it" mentality often drove
The Doctor to distraction. Despite this it was her animal
instincts that often proved to be his salvation, most notably
when they found themselves facing several ruthless predators
on a planet created to serve as a training area for an extinct
race of hunters ("Last
Man Running"). The Doctor was unhappy with her
tendency to kill and her liberal use of her hunting knife
even when she used it to protect him. The Doctor though
soon came to terms with her savage upbringing and used her
animal talents and instincts to his advantage. On a number
of occasions, when he made good use of her accurate fighting
skills, he was equally quick to complement her, like in "The
Invasion of Time" when she killed a Sontaran by accurately
throwing her knife into its probic vent.
Even though
originally being from an advanced and technological race she was
ignorant of high technology. But despite this she quickly became
accustomed to the TARDIS and the concept of time travel. She was
though very inquisitive and keen to learn - such as when she quickly
asked The Doctor how the TARDIS could be larger inside than out
("The
Robots of Death") - which The Doctor was keen to take
advantage of. Despite The Doctor's attempts to civilise her he
soon realised that he was fighting a losing battle. In "The
Talons of Weng-Chiang" she demands that the police put a
prisoner to 'the torture'. Even the sophisticated Victorian, Professor
Litefoot, found himself following her lead to eat a meal without
using a plate or cutlery. Even though her tribal culture was at
odds with The Doctor he did have some success in taming her and
her animal instincts did mellow. However, she was still a savage
and reverted to a primitive at the first sign of danger. |
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|
Leela
(1977 - 1978) |
|
| Louise Jameson |
| |
| Born in 1951 Louise Jameson,
on leaving school, trained briefly as a secretary
before joining the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA)
at the age of 17. On leaving RADA in 1971 she appeared
extensively in theatre including The Royal Shakespeare
Company. Television roles followed including Cider
with Rosie in 1971, Tom Brown's Schooldays in
1971, Z Cars in 1972 and Emmerdale Farm in
1973. After leaving Doctor Who she went straight
to the Bristol Old Vic in The Merchant to Venice.
Other theatre work followed including Romeo and
Juliet and King Lear. Television appearances
include The Omega Factor in 1979, A leading
role in the well acclaimed Tenko (1981 - 82), Bergerac (1985
- 90) and Casualty in 1990. She was also in
the Disney film Stick with me Kid. She also
co-stared, along with other cast members from Doctor
Who, in the BBV video productions The Terror
Game and The Zero Imperative in 1994 and
also The Devil of Winterborne in 1995. From
January 1998 she could be seen playing the part of
Rosa di Marco in the popular BBC1 soap Eastenders.
However, she left this programme in August 2000. |
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| |
|
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| The Sun Makers |
|
After
the Sontaran's
failed attempt to invade The Doctor's home planet she decided
to remain behind with Commander Andred. Due to the bond
of affection between them K9 too decided to stay behind
to look after his 'mistress'. Despite the difficulties involved
in living on Gallifrey due to her outside origins, Leela
nevertheless made a good life for herself, even conceiving
the first natural pregnancy on Gallifrey for centuries (Although
the evidence would suggest that she later suffered a miscarriage)
shortly before she helped the Seventh
Doctor and fellow
companions Ace, Romana and
Chris solve the mystery of the disappearance of The Doctor’s
old Family home, Leela even apparently learning The Doctor’s
real name ("Lungbarrow").
After a brief reunion with the Eighth
Doctor where she worked with fellow companions Romana
and Charley
Pollard to save him from being used as Rassilon’s
assassin ("Zagreus"),
Leela went on to become a close friend and unofficial bodyguard
to Romana as she encouraged a more liberal Gallifrey that
encouraged relations with other societies.
Even
as their friendship grew, the two former companions faced
several problems as they worked to create a new Gallifrey,
most notably from the ‘Free Time’ organisation
- a group of terrorists objecting to Gallifrey’s monopolisation
of time travel - the opposition of Darkel - a Gallifreyian
Inquisitor who objected to Romana’s policies - and
the later resurrection of the ancient Gallifreyian Imperiatrix
known as Pandora, whose biodata had managed to find a host
in Romana’s first incarnation, Pandora later using
this biodata to create a new body based on Romana’s
first body. While investigating corruption among the Celestial
Intervention Agency, Leela and Andred divorced after Andred
regenerated during a confrontation with an Agency assassin;
in an attempt to infiltrate the Agency, Andred claimed that
he was the assassin and the dead man was him, his mind so
confused by the post-regenerative trauma that he didn’t
stop to think what his actions would do to Leela until it
was too late. The subsequent Gallifreyian civil war between
Pandora and Romana also had a significant impact on Leela,
Andred being slain in the conflict before he and Leela could
effectively reconcile, K9 being destroyed when a bomb was
set off in an attempt to discredit Romana, and Leela being
left blind after a percussion grenade she was setting as
part of the effort to destabilise Pandora’s power
detonated prematurely, the arton energy released by the
explosion permanently damaging Leela’s eyes, although
she managed to adapt to her handicap over time.
 |
| The Invasion of Time |
|
Although
the precise details of Leela’s final fate are unknown
- when last seen on Gallifrey she and her allies were looking
to Romana to save them from the Free Time virus, with the
final threat of the Time War with the Daleks looming in
their future - she has been seen in the aftermath of the
Time War as a prisoner of the Z’nai - a race she once
encountered with The Doctor who had been turned onto a path
of war by their ruler - the Z’nai interrogating her
to try and get information while she grew old at an accelerated
rate, her aging having been retarded by Gallifrey and her
body now ‘catching up’ after Gallifrey’s
destruction. Despite her age, Leela managed to slay her
interrogator; although this left her trapped in her cell
with her fellow prisoners, the machines that had tortured
them the only thing sustaining their lives, Leela was last
seen comfortable with the prospect of her death, assured
that she would not be alone as she told her fellow prisoners
stories of the warrior who fought with words, truth and
honour, confident that she and The Doctor will meet again
in the next world.
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