Today, the news broke that Actress Caroline John had passed away. On Doctor Who, she played Elizabeth Shaw, scientist and the first Companion of the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee.
Liz Shaw came in at a changing point in Who's history. No longer did the Time Lord flutter about through Time. He was stranded on Earth and working for UNIT. Another major change was the fact it was filmed and broadcast in colour.
She appeared alongside the Doctor in his premiere story 'Spearhead in Space', featuring the Autons. She stayed through The Ambassadors of Death, Doctor Who and the Silurians and Inferno. She was and still is, notable for being the first full time Companion who never travelled in the TARDIS. She was only on the series for one series, however. When Barry Letts took over the series, he choose not to renew her contract. That said, she was pregnant at the time so it is very possible that she would not have returned anyway.
Despite leaving Doctor Who, she reprised her role twice, once as a 'phantom' in The Five Doctors and once again in Dimensions in Time, as well as a four adventures under the title of PROBE. It is PROBE that I first truly came to appreciate Liz Shaw. I had seen any of her time on Who at the time, but because of PROBE,
Like many actors, she returned for the Big Finish Audio adventures. Outside of Who, her only acting credit that I know of is a non speaking role in the highly successful Love Actually. She also read the majority of Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography on audio, with David Tennant, Brian and Sadie Miller reading their respective parts.
She was also married to Geoffrey Beaver, who played the Master in the classic serial The Keeper of Traken.
She actually died on the 5th of June. However, her family chose not to inform the BBC and Media of her death until after her funeral. This makes a lot of sense, since I doubt they wanted any fans turning up at a deeply personal affair.
She will be missed.
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| Rest in Peace |
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