Isobel Watkins

Isobel Watkins
Species:	Human
Place of origin:	Earth
Spouse:	Jimmy Turner
First appearance:	The Invasion
Appearances:	see list
Main actor:	Sally Faulkner

Isobel Turner (née Watkins) was a photographer and the niece of Professor Joseph Watkins. She assisted the Second Doctor and his companions Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot against the Cybermen. Afterwards, she became the wife of Jimmy Turner.

Biography

Isobel was invited to take a photo-shoot of International Electromatics' director Tobias Vaughn. She appreciated the chance to extend her photographic experience and make some money, but saw that the entire job was just an excuse to try to get her to entice her uncle Watkins to work for IE. (PROSE: Prelude Iceberg)

After being evicted from her photographic studio, Isobel was staying at the London home of Professor Edward Travers — who was away in America with his daughter Anne, and had let out the house to Watkins — when she met the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. She assisted them in their investigations of IE, but in the process, she and Zoe were kidnapped by Vaughn's henchmen, with Vaughn planning to use Isobel as leverage to ensure Professor Watkins' cooperation. Luckily, the Doctor, Jamie and UNIT were able to mount a successful helicopter rescue, liberating Isobel and Zoe from Vaughn's headquarters. Afterwards, Isobel met UNIT Captain Jimmy Turner, with whom she became romantically involved.

When it transpired that the Cybermen were in league with Vaughn, Isobel assisted in obtaining photographic evidence for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's report to UNIT command in Geneva. However, she became annoyed when the Brigadier decided that the photos she took of the Cybermen could end up being dismissed as fakes. Following the defeat of Vaughn and the Cybermen, Isobel got a job working for a publishing company off the back of her photos of the UNIT and Cybermen battles. (TV: The Invasion)

According to one account, Isobel went public with her story, prompting C19 to begin harassing her, telling her to keep quiet. Her claims that Earth had been invaded by aliens were not believed and her photographs of the Cybermen were dismissed as fakes. She became a standing joke on Fleet Street, and Turner left her as his career in the army was threatened. Months later, Isobel was interviewed by the reporter James Stevens, who was investigating UNIT, and it was from her that he first learned of the existence of the Doctor. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) Ruby Duvall also interviewed Isobel about the subject. (PROSE: Iceberg)

Isobel and her future husband, Jimmy Turner. (TV: The Invasion)

However, according to another contradicting account, following the aftermath of the failed Cyber Invasion, Isobel married Jimmy Turner. Her photography work taken during that time was covered by the Official Secrets Act and thus became accessible only to UNIT personnel, such as Mike Yates. Isobel and her husband ultimately moved to Sri Lanka, (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice) when Jimmy was promoted to major. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune)

Personality

Isobel was a feminist, and got very angry when she was told photographing the Cybermen was "no job for a woman like [her]" by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. She was somewhat impulsive, heading straight into a danger zone to take the necessary pictures herself, not fully realising just how deadly the Cybermen were. However, she apologised afterwards for being so reckless, She got on very well with Zoe Heriot, who modelled for her. She also became very fond of Captain Jimmy Turner, (TV: The Invasion) whom she subsequently fell in love with and married. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice)

According to one account, authorities suspected that Isobel had fascist sympathies after pictures, taken by Watkins, emerged of Zoe Heriot performing a Nazi salute. It was also speculated that her subsequent relationship with Captain Turner was an attempt to infiltrate UNIT and the wider British Armed Forces. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

Behind the scenes

• Isobel Watkins' subsequent life as shown in Who Killed Kennedy can be viewed as a slight retcon, as The Invasion ended with her getting a lucrative job because of her photos of the Cybermen invasion. It is also somewhat at odds with the events of The Scales of Injustice, which instead depicted her as being happily married to Jimmy Turner.
• There were plans to make her a main companion during Season 7. Ultimately, her role went to Liz Shaw.