 Vicki, an eighteen-year old girl, was a survivor
along with a crippled man called Bennett on a colony ship, from
25th century Earth, that has crashed on the planet Dido. When
the TARDIS lands
The Doctor, Barbara and Ian soon
find the crashed ship and find the stranded and orphaned Vicki.
They also become very suspicious of Bennett and they eventually
deduce that he had in fact murdered all of the ship's crew and
passengers including Vicki's father. When exposed Bennett is
killed and The Doctor invites Vicki to join the TARDIS 'We can
travel anywhere and everywhere in that old box as you call it.
Regardless of space and time and if you like adventure, my dear,
I can promise you an abundance of it.' When she accepts his
offer The Doctor was overjoyed, as were Ian and Barbara, since
this meant the loss of Susan would
now be a lot easier for The Doctor to come to terms with. ("The
Rescue").
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| The Web Planet |
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Despite being well educated - to the extent that Ian
and Barbara’s teaching skills would have been more appropriate
for a nursery class rather than for teenagers in her time of origin
- Vicki was nevertheless essentially a regular teenaged girl, and
relied constantly on her companions for help and support. Despite
this, she was not without her own sense of determination and grew
increasingly capable of standing up for herself. From their first
meeting, Vicki needed The Doctor for reassurance but The Doctor,
in his fondness for her, tended to be overprotective. Vicki's relationship
with Ian and Barbara though took a bit longer to become established.
This was not helped by the fact that her knowledge was obviously
superior to that of Barbara and Ian's and this led, on a number
of occasions, to a few misunderstandings which she took full advantage
of. This is well demonstrated in "The
Space Museum" where she was
positively smug when she demonstrated that she understood time dimensions,
and Ian didn't. (Although her knowledge of the fine details of Earth’s
history was comparatively limited; during a visit to China in the
later 1800s she was uncertain if pandas were still in existence
or if aeroplanes had been invented by that point in time ("The
Eleventh Tiger")).
Being
from the future Vicki brought to the programme a different
point of view to the events and places visited. The character
of Vicki was based very much on Susan but without the grandfather/granddaughter
relationship. She was a very lively, high spirited and inquisitive
companion and was always keen in questioning and seeking
information from The Doctor. She was also keen to enjoy
herself and took every opportunity to have fun. She was
quick in announcing her opinions and was never afraid to
let others know what she felt. Despite Ian and Barbara's
overshadowing presence, and her tendency to rely on the
others to make decisions for her - such as The Doctor’s
decision to disguise herself as a boy during a visit to
London in 1605, resulting in her having to fend off the
advances of the homosexual James VI ("The
Plotters").
Vicki did have her moments to show initiative. This was
mainly when the group had become separated from each other,
such as when she encouraged the native Xerons to revolt
against the ruling Moroks, even managing to outwit the controlling
computer of the Morok armoury and provoke a revolution ("The
Space Museum").
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| Galaxy 4 |
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Although
the TARDIS crew remained fond of each other, there was never
the same bond between Vicki with Ian and Barbara, as there
was with Susan, doubtless one of the reasons why Ian and
Barbara did not hesitate to leave The Doctor and Vicki when
the opportunity arose for them to return to sixties London.
This left The Doctor with just Vicki as a companion except
that they were unaware that had been joined by astronaut Steven
Taylor. When Steven arrived Vicki began to show a bit
more confidence and she soon established a friendly rivalry
with Steven. Being the most experienced TARDIS companion
Vicki also changed from being a child to a young woman.
When
the TARDIS lands near the besieged city of Troy Vicki, adopting
the name Cressida, decides to stay behind in Troy and start a
new life with Prince Troilus who she has fallen in love with.
In doing so Vicki manages to resume her life on Earth some three
thousand years before she was born ("The
Myth Makers"). |
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|
Vicki
(1965) |
|
Maureen
O'Brien
|
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| After studying
for a teaching diploma Maureen O'Brien became a
founder member of the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool.
3 months later she was asked to audition for the
part of Vicki. This was here first television role.
After leaving Doctor Who she spent sometime
working in a girls school before spending 3 years
in Canada. After returning to the UK in the mid
seventies various theatre, film, television and
radio work followed. In 1979 she won the Best Radio
Actress Award. She also became a writer of crime
fiction. |
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