Tegan Jovanka
Tegan Melissa Haybourne (née Jovanka) was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors and a temporary companion to the First Doctor during the Game of Rassilon in the Death Zone.
On her way to begin her job as an air stewardess at Heathrow Airport, Tegan wandered into the TARDIS and became embroiled in the events surrounding the Fourth Doctor's regeneration. She was initially an unwilling companion to the Fifth Doctor, travelling alongside Nyssa and Adric, but came to enjoy them, later being joined by Marc, Turlough and Kamelion. However, witnessing a Dalek slaughter made her decide to leave the Doctor as it had "stopped being fun".
Tegan lived an ordinary life on Earth and campaigned for Aboriginal rights. She had relationships with Michael Tanaka and Nyssa and eventually married William Haybourne.
Biography
Childhood
Tegan Melissa Jovanka (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) was born in Brisbane on 22 September, 1960 (AUDIO: The Gathering) to Bill (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) and Joy. (PROSE: Qualia) She had several brothers. (PROSE: Qualia) Her father's parents, Mjovic and Sneshna Jovanka, were Serbian and emigrated from Yugoslavia to Australia, (PROSE: Cold Fusion) but had returned to their homeland by 1981, (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) whilst her maternal grandfather, Andrew Verney, was British. (TV: The Awakening)
Her extended family included her mother's siblings Vanessa (PROSE: Qualia) and Richard Frazer, who was married to Felicity and had two sons; Colin and Michael. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) Tegan called Colin her favourite cousin. (TV: Arc of Infinity) She also had other cousins who worked in blast-mining in Australia. (AUDIO: The Contingency Club)
Tegan lived on a cattle farm when she was young, describing it as being as far away from civilisation as it could be. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) She tried ice cream when she was three and did not like it. (TV: Kinda) She was living on a sheep farm owned by her father by the early 1970s, (PROSE: Logopolis, AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane) which her father let her drive around in a tractor when she was ten. She was a natural driver but preferred aeroplanes, being allowed to fly her father's Cessna when she was older. (PROSE: Logopolis) One particular flight had not gone well due to turbulence. (PROSE: Time-Flight)
When she was a child, her mother took her to a corroboree, which gave her a recurring nightmare of strange white figures coming out of the dark. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) She played a spelling game called Magic Robot as a girl and was talented at drawing, a hobby that her father encouraged her to do. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)
Tegan learnt how to dance the Charleston for a school play. (TV: Black Orchid) Not especially bright as a child, she often took the blame for others because she could not think up her own excuses. Her next door neighbour and best friend, Felicity Spoonsy, introduced her to cigarettes which got often got her in trouble and also seduced Gary Lovarik, whom Tegan fancied. (PROSE: The King of Terror) She went to school with another next door neighbour, Mike Bretherton, and was taught physics and chemistry by Miss Anderson. (AUDIO: Hexagora) When she was twelve, she played with Aboriginal children in the Outback at her uncle's farm. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
At the age of thirteen, she made a deal with God that she would be good if He killed her grandmother, who died of a coronary thrombosis six weeks later. (PROSE: The King of Terror) She had been ill for more than six years, during which Tegan's parents kept her away to avoid upsetting her at so young an age. (AUDIO: Warzone) When she was fifteen, she broke her toe during track and gym, so Mike carried her books home for her. They had also dated at some point after this incident and despite breaking up, Tegan still remained fond of Mike. (AUDIO: Hexagora) She spent many a Saturday in Brisbane with her friends; Flis, Susannah, Dave and Richard, taking the ferry to the shops and buying clothes and records. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) She once went to France as an exchange student. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus)
Move to London
After William had an affair with a twenty-year-old typist, Tegan moved away to the coast with Joy and went to boarding school, where she studied for a few terms before being expelled. She ran away to Sydney and squatted in Kings Cross before her father found her and sent her to live with her aunt Vanessa in London, (PROSE: The King of Terror) who at some point gave her a purse. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist) When she was eighteen, she was obsessed with music, R-rated films and boys. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)
Tegan later went to college (AUDIO: The Lady of Mercia) and studied foreign languages and Aboriginal culture, wanting to broaden her horizons and see the world. To that end, she spent most summers abroad, visiting Hong Kong in 1979 (PROSE: Cold Fusion) but never visiting the United States. Believing that it would be "a glamorous something to do", she decided to pursue a career as an air stewardess. (PROSE: The King of Terror) Vanessa told her to give up the job should it ever stop being fun. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
Although she came from a Jewish family, Tegan was not religious. Despite this, she still prayed after her mother told her that Bill had been diagnosed with cancer and was retiring from the farm, giving it up to Tegan's uncle Richard. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)
First adventures in the TARDIS
Joining the Doctor
On 28 February, 1981, Vanessa agreed to drive Tegan to Heathrow Airport for her first day as an air stewardess. The car broke down in the London Borough of Barnet, prompting Tegan to wander into the TARDIS in search of help. The Fourth Doctor and Adric took off without knowing that Tegan was aboard, taking her to Logopolis. After they told her of the Tremas Master's murder of Vanessa using his Tissue Compression Eliminator, she helped them stop the Master's plans and the entropy he unleashed.
After the Master was defeated, Tegan witnessed the Doctor's fall and regeneration into his fifth incarnation. (TV: Logopolis) Knowing that the new Doctor needed a "responsible adult" to help him recover, and seeing herself as the only real candidate next to Adric and Nyssa, (PROSE: When It Was Fun) she helped get him back to the TARDIS and took off, going to Castrovalva where he recovered from his regeneration and they thwarted the Master again. (TV: Castrovalva)
Although the Doctor gave her a bedroom aboard the TARDIS, (AUDIO: Psychodrome) Tegan wanted to be taken to Heathrow and continued to wear her uniform to remind the Doctor and herself of the fact. (PROSE: When It Was Fun)
Attempts to return to Heathrow
After leaving Castrovalva, the TARDIS materialised on the Psychodrome where she was faced with her childhood nightmare about Aboriginal dancing. She also learnt that she had a subconscious grudge against the Doctor due to associating him with Vanessa's death. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) Three days after Logopolis, they landed on Scientifica where she met Chris Cwej, whose fake Australian accent annoyed her, calling it racist. (PROSE: Cold Fusion) They later landed on Isopterus where they faced giant termites (COMIC: On the Planet Isopterus) and on 1950s Earth, where she told Edward Grainger about Australia. (PROSE: First Born)
On Monarch's ship, Tegan sketched a man and woman for him which he used for the Minister of Enlightenment and the Minister of Persuasion's humanoid forms. The Doctor gave her a TARDIS key in the event that she was separated from the others. (TV: Four to Doomsday) After the TARDIS landed on Deva Loka, Tegan accidentally fell asleep at the place of shared dreams, allowing the Mara to enter her mind and possess her until it left her for Aris, a Kinda, after which it was seemingly destroyed using mirrors. (TV: Kinda)
Another attempt to get Tegan to Heathrow resulted in the TARDIS landing in 1666 London where they faced the Terileptils, one of whom she hit with a gun. (TV: The Visitation) After escaping the Great Fire of London, the Celestial Toymaker attempted to turn them against one another, trying to do so with Tegan by showing her her father's funeral. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) In the 11th century, Czar U'thai and his warriors tried to kidnap a European village's women, as well as Tegan. (PROSE: The Immortals)
She once argued with Adric and the Doctor when the helmic regulator had been reprogrammed. (AUDIO: The Toy) The Doctor took her and her friends to Gallius Ultima to learn more astronomy. She went with the Doctor to the Larger Magellanic Cloud to find out what happened to a previous mission there. She was taken by one of the Star Men. Trying to escape, she went through a portal and encountered Lom who told her what happened there. (AUDIO: The Star Men) On another attempt to get back to Heathrow, the TARDIS lost power and they landed in 1864 in a gentlemen's club. She didn't like the sexism of the clubs. After being captured and placed near a set of explosives, she used knowledge gained from her cousins to disarm them. (AUDIO: The Contingency Club) When Tegan asked Adric to pilot the TARDIS to Heathrow, she disappeared from the console room shortly after Adric did. Clarimonde interrogated her, mistaking her for Jo Grant. Tegan realised that Clarimonde was a vampire, and managed to escape by falling out of an airlock. (AUDIO: Zaltys) The first historical figure that Tegan met during her travels was Harry Houdini, whom the Master had convinced that the Doctor was evil. (AUDIO: Smoke and Mirrors)
Enjoying her travels
After some time travelling, Tegan confessed to Adric that she had begun to enjoy travelling in the TARDIS and visited Cicero Prime where she had to pretend to be an assassin. (AUDIO: Kingdom of Lies) They visited Yorkshire, in the 17th century where she and the Doctor discovered a sacrificial site. She stayed behind with the Doctor when he sent Nyssa and Adric into the future. She helped to explore the catacombs. Sabaoth sent her consciousness into the future. The Doctor made Sabaoth think she was dead by placing her in a cryotube to heal her. He took her out later, and she helped Leanne and the Doctor defeat Sabaoth. (AUDIO: Ghost Walk) Next they went to Argentia where the Doctor wanted to get crystals for his sonic screwdriver. She helped Joe Mazzini after people his family were murdered. (AUDIO: Serpent in the Silver Mask) Tegan, Adric and Nyssa were kidnapped by Adam Mitchell for the Master, but they were saved by various incarnations of the Doctor. (COMIC: In Their Night, Endgame)
Having already admitted to Adric that she was starting to enjoy their adventures, (AUDIO: Kingdom of Lies) Tegan decided that she wanted to stay with the crew for a while and told the Doctor not to continue trying to take her to Heathrow. She strove to prove the Doctor innocent after he was accused of murder at Cranleigh Hall on 11 June, 1925, prior to which she had enjoyed the Cranleighs' party and showed talent at dancing the Charleston. (TV: Black Orchid) The crew celebrated Christmas in the TARDIS (PROSE: In the TARDIS: Christmas Day) and arrived on Lemaria during the celebration of another holiday, Freedom Day. (PROSE: The Constant Doctor)
They encountered the Dar Traders on Battlefield, where Tegan cradled Nyssa's body during her three minutes of death. Unbeknownst to Tegan, the Traders had foretold Adric's death. (AUDIO: The Darkening Eye) She helped to defeat the I Predator in 1981. (AUDIO: Iterations of I)
The crew landed on a planet of forests and statues where she argued with Adric, whom a gestalt entity prematurely mourned. (PROSE: Hearts of Stone) During a trip to 2526, she found herself facing the Neomorph Cybermen for the first time. Adric lost his life when a ship crashed into Earth and Tegan was furious at the Doctor's refusal to go back in time and rescue him. (TV: Earthshock)
Left behind
Finally arriving at Heathrow Airport, albeit it in 1982, Tegan, the Doctor and Nyssa again thwarted the Master, after which the Doctor and Nyssa dematerialised in the TARDIS without Tegan. She ran out of the airport too late to catch them and was upset at having been left behind. (TV: Time-Flight)
Tegan's time as an air stewardess was short-lived after she assaulted an unruly passenger mid-flight, resulting in her being fired during her first year. During this time, she caught the attention of the android Kylex-12, who identified her as a time traveller. The two began a romantic relationship, but Tegan found him over-attentive and broke up with him just as he prepared to propose to her. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam)
Continued adventures
Rejoining the TARDIS crew
In January 1983, Tegan went to Amsterdam to visit her cousin Colin Frazer, only to find that he had disappeared, having been captured by Omega to lure Tegan to him. He used Tegan as leverage in his plan to create a new body for himself using the Doctor. Once the process was done and had begun to fail, Tegan reunited with the Doctor and Nyssa and watched Omega's defeat before he could revert to anti-matter and destroy Earth. (TV: Arc of Infinity)
Tegan was approached by Kyle, whom she rebuffed before he directed her and the Doctor to a Rembrandt van Rijn exhibit showcasing drawings of spacecraft. At the museum, they encountered the Nix and became aware of Teldek, later learning of Kyle's connection to her. After Teldek's defeat, Kyle accepted that Tegan did not love him and decided to continue living in the hope that he could find someone who would. Before Tegan and Nyssa entered the TARDIS, the Doctor went on a number of adventures without them, returning a few days later for them. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam) She was annoyed to find that her things had been put in storage. (AUDIO: The Elite)
Travelling by choice
After leaving Amsterdam, the Doctor took Tegan and Nyssa to Florana where they came across a Dalek known as the High Priest and Tegan led a band of rebels in what she had wanted to be a bloodless revolution. (AUDIO: The Elite) To recover after Florana, the trio stayed in Brisbane for several days before Tegan found that Mike Bretherton had disappeared. They managed to find him, turned into an insect, and Tegan told him that she had loved him. (AUDIO: Hexagora)
Tegan began having dreams of snakes due to her connection to the Mara. She helped defeat the Dark on Akoshemon's moon,(PROSE: Fear of the Dark) Byzan and Albis on Sirius, (AUDIO: The Children of Seth) Vi'Al, (PROSE: The God Machine) the Voorvolika, (PROSE: The Armageddon Chrysalis) Carnak (PROSE: The Haven) and the Dren. (PROSE: The Penalty)
After returning to Heathrow so that Tegan might meet a friend, the TARDIS crew met and defeated the Master (PROSE: Night Flight to Nowhere) and later saved the universe from a cyclotron. (PROSE: Lackaday Express) In 1896, Tegan attempted to change time slightly but events remained unchanged, just as the Doctor expected. (PROSE: The Sands of Time) They also visited Morestra (PROSE: Zeta Major) the Necropolitan to mourn Adric (PROSE: Wake) and 493 Ravenna. (PROSE: Goths and Robbers)
On an old Earth colony, Tegan was taken prisoner by Anna for company. Tegan managed to escape, after which the Doctor and Nyssa told her that Anna had only been an imprint and not, strictly speaking, real. (PROSE: Soul Mate) Tegan felt left out on F-four because of her lack of scientific knowledge and wandered off, uncovering the truth behind a deadly disease. (PROSE: No Exit)
Tegan and Nyssa asked the Doctor to teach them how to properly fly the TARDIS. (PROSE: Men of the Earth) Under the influence of the Mara, Tegan set the coordinates to Manussa where she attempted to suppress the monster. However, she was unable to and helped it feed on the negative emotions of those at a ceremony celebrating its defeat. The Doctor managed to defeat it and believed himself to have permanently freed Tegan from its possession. (TV: Snakedance) Recovering from Manussa, Tegan, the Doctor and Nyssa went on holiday in Tasmania where they encountered vampires, (PROSE: Goth Opera) just as they later would on Gallifrey. (COMIC: Blood Invocation)
Tegan and Nyssa were chased by Endovorms in the form of lions at Trafalgar Square, (AUDIO: The Lions of Trafalgar) and helped the Doctor defeat the Akunites aboard the HMS Aquitaine. (AUDIO: Aquitaine) Tegan witnessed the Peterloo Massacre and was appalled at the conditions of the factories in Manchester. (AUDIO: The Peterloo Massacre) The Doctor told them that he would take them to the 2012 Olympics but instead landed in 1982, (AUDIO: The King of the Dead) later taking them to Mistpuddle where they solved a murder. (AUDIO: The Mistpuddle Murders)
Marc joins
The Doctor took Tegan and Nyssa to 63 BC Cumae so that he might meet Cicero. The three travellers were put through a series of tests by Tartarus, along with Cicero and his slave Marc, with the latter joining the TARDIS crew after becoming a freedman. Tegan knew of Talos from Jason and the Argonauts. (AUDIO: Tartarus)
On Proxima in the 30th century, Tegan helped defeat Professor Kalu. (AUDIO: Interstitial) In 19th century Ireland, she and Marc tracked down and rescued the Doctor and Nyssa from the Spae Wife and her carnival. She was able to remind Nyssa of who she was in order to remove the Spae Wife's influence. (AUDIO: Feast of Fear)
Landing on Samotis, the TARDIS crew were drafted into the race (AUDIO: Warzone) and eventually came face to face once more with the CyberNeomorphs, who partially converted Marc. After restoring his memories, the Doctor left him, Tegan and Nyssa on Callanna with a great deal of money, feeling guilty over Marc's conversion. (AUDIO: Conversion)
Tegan was agitated by the relaxing effects of Callanna which reminded her of Deva Loka. She became aquatinted with Mison and learnt about a terrible war. After she, Nyssa and Marc helped Steppa Westma Cotter-Thatch Slitheen, the Doctor returned for them. Although Steppa said that they should forgive him, Tegan was unsure if she could. (AUDIO: Madquake)
Turlough joins
On Earth, Tegan met two different versions of the retired Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, whom she took a liking to. In contrast, she greatly distrusted Vislor Turlough. When she mistook Mawdryn for the a regenerating Doctor, Tegan was infected with his virus which caused her to age backwards until the Brigadier saved her thanks to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. Afterwards, Turlough joined the TARDIS crew, something that Tegan was not pleased with. (TV: Mawdryn Undead)
Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough had to come together in the Gardens of the Dead to save the Doctor (AUDIO: Gardens of the Dead) and the two women persuaded the Doctor to save Ophiuchus. (COMIC: Ophiuchus) Thanks to Turlough's sabotage, the TARDIS ended up on Terminus where he and Tegan had to look for Nyssa. After Nyssa was cured of Lazar's disease, she chose to remain and shared an emotional farewell with Tegan. (TV: Terminus)
In 1904 Russia, Tegan and Turlough were separated from the Doctor and boarded a train to St Petersburg, on which they investigated a murder. (PROSE: Gudok) They later encountered the Eternals and Tegan was forced to deal with the unwanted attentions of Marriner, who did not love her so much as want to live vicariously through her emotions. During the same adventure, she saw Turlough turn from evil and reject the Black Guardian. This caused her to warm up to Turlough somewhat. (TV: Enlightenment)
After leaving the Eternals, the TARDIS landed in Buzzard Creek, Arizona in 1905 where they came across a freakshow. (AUDIO: Freakshow) They also met Edward Grainger, whom Tegan had already met in his personal future. (PROSE: Falling from Xi'an)
With Turlough and an older Nyssa
Two days after Nyssa left, Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough arrived on Helheim where they were reunited with Nyssa, fifty years older. They investigated a medical facility attempting to cure Richter's Syndrome, after which Nyssa boarded the TARDIS to go home. However, Tegan pointed out that it would likely be some time before the Doctor managed to get her there. (AUDIO: Cobwebs)
On Chodor in the 28th century, the TARDIS crew uncovered the true origins of the corrupt society, after which they discovered that Tegan was still influenced by the Mara. (AUDIO: The Whispering Forest) The Mara left Tegan and possessed the Doctor before Tegan and Turlough expelled it with a circle of cameras and screens. (AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake)
Tegan, the Doctor, Turlough and Nyssa went up against the Sontarans, (AUDIO: Heroes of Sontar) Rennol on Vektris (AUDIO: Kiss of Death) and the Rat King in England (AUDIO: Rat Trap) before visiting Calcutta, (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger) Eight slash Q Panenka (AUDIO: The Jupiter Conjunction) and the monkey house of a zoo. (AUDIO: The Monkey House)
The Doctor tried to take the crew to Tegan's father's farm in 1980s Brisbane but a hit by a Zygma beam meant that Nyssa and Turlough were transported to the 51st century whilst Tegan and the Doctor remained in the console room. The two groups managed to find one another and defeat Magnus Greel. (AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane) In 2013, Tegan and Turlough were infected by quartz and, at Mulkris's bidding, destroyed Eldrad's ring. (AUDIO: Eldrad Must Die!)
Accidentally arriving in E-Space, Tegan encountered the Marshmen on Adric's home planet of Alzarius (AUDIO: Mistfall) and helped defeat Balancer Skaarsgard on Isenfel. (AUDIO: Equilibrium) The crew also came up against the Sandmen and Tegan was forced to say farewell to Nyssa as she chose to remain behind to power a portal to allow the TARDIS to return to N-Space. (AUDIO: The Entropy Plague)
Adventures with Kamelion
In 1215 England, Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough encountered the Tremas Master and were joined in the TARDIS by Kamelion. (TV: The King's Demons) The Doctor tried to take them to the Eye of Orion, en route to which a phoenix appeared in the TARDIS before the Doctor was able to trick it out. (PROSE: The Bird of Fire) The remains of the Mara in Tegan's mind affected Kamelion and resulted in him being controlled by it for a brief time. (PROSE: Mark of the Medusa)
A few days after Kamelion joined, the crew landed in the Crystal Bucephalus where Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough were arrested for murder. Whilst briefly stranded in the mid-1980s, Tegan met a teenage McDonald's employee named Ace, who would later become a companion of the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus)
Tegan did not trust Kamelion but apologised to Turlough for not having trusted him. She became worried when a prisoner escaped on a prison ship. She was trapped in the jettisoned section of Orna ship. She became worried upon hearing that the Doctor was paralysed. Her wounds healed remarkably quickly, which the Doctor realised was due to nanites. She helped to get Kamelion back into the TARDIS to stop him being possessed by the Guardian of the Spring, and started to warm to him. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist) She wanted to go somewhere normal, so they visited Abertysswg in 1902. She told the Doctor and Turlough about how Kamelion was influenced by Eira's grief. (AUDIO: Black Thursday) She was caught in a TV programme in 1984 York whike trying to find Kamelion. (AUDIO: Power Game) After a visit to Mekalion, Kamelion decided that he was too dangerous to journey out of the TARDIS with Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough and chose to remain within the TARDIS. Despite how Tegan's feelings towards him had somewhat changed, she did not mind Kamelion's decision. (AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire)
Final adventures
The Doctor took Tegan and Turlough to the Eye of Orion to relax. Soon enough, the pair were drafted into helping their travelling companion (as well as his first, second and third selves) complete the Game of Rassilon. In the Death Zone, she met Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Susan Foreman and Sarah Jane Smith and spent an extended period of time with the First Doctor. After her Doctor was made Lord President in Borusa's place, Tegan was surprised that he wanted to run from the Time Lords. (TV: The Five Doctors) She later met the Eighth Doctor, who saved her, Turlough and the Fifth Doctor from a Raston Warrior Robot. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
Tegan began to feel that the Doctor and Turlough shared a bond that she was not a part of and missed Nyssa. An attempt to show Turlough what the Fourth Doctor looked like resulted in Kamelion being overwhelmed by her memories of her mother, father and aunt. (PROSE: Qualia) She once again encountered the Sontarans (PROSE: Sontar's Little Helpers) and the Master, who hypnotised her and made her stab the Doctor. (PROSE: The Velvet Dark)
The trio visited Oxaqua, (PROSE: The Oxaqua Incident) Mesique, (PROSE: Winter on Mesique) Melphis, (PROSE: Class 4 Renegade) Moon Village One, (COMIC: The Lunar Strangers) and 1980s London where they were reunited with the Brigadier. (PROSE: The Nemertimes) They also visited the location between universes, which Tegan named Ringpullworld and where Huxley's prose style reminded her of Vanessa, (AUDIO: Ringpullworld) and fought the Master and the Cybermen once more. (PROSE: Birth of a Renegade)
After receiving damage from Sentinel Six, the Doctor landed the TARDIS inside Sea Base 4 in 2084 where Tegan was taken hostage for a time by Nilson. When the Doctor released hexachromite gas into the base to stop the Silurians and Sea Devils from attacking, he asked Tegan and Turlough to give the Silurians oxygen but everyone died. (TV: Warriors of the Deep) To recover, they visited Tayborough Sands where Tegan decided that she wanted to visit her grandfather, Andrew Verney. (PROSE: Deep Blue)
In Little Hodcombe, George Hutchinson tried to have Tegan burnt as the Queen of the May, but she survived after she was switched for a straw figure at the last moment. The crew left with Will Chandler, (TV: The Awakening) who travelled with them for a month as the Doctor attempted to take him home. (PROSE: The King of Terror) She met Peri Brown and Erimem at a cricket match attended by two versions of the Doctor and, that night, got drunk with them at a pub. (PROSE: Graham Dilley Saves the World)
The TARDIS took Tegan to Lant Land, which she believed to be a simulation, (AUDIO: Lant Land) 21st century Earth for Christmas shopping where she had the most fun she had had since shooting a Cyberman, (PROSE: Last Minute Shopping) London where she helped undo Margaret Thatcher's assassination, (PROSE: The Assassin's Story) Rome where she and Turlough were kidnapped by Sextus Cornelius, (PROSE: Rome) the Isle of Mona in the 11th century (PROSE: The Fall of the Druids) and to Allen Road where they met the Judoon. (COMIC: The Forgotten)
Landing on Frontios, Tegan met humans from the far future and had to pretend to be an android in front of the Gravis. Tegan and the Doctor left in the TARDIS to take the Gravis to Kolkokron, (TV: Frontios) although they first accidentally landed on Queth. (PROSE: Life After Queth) After depositing the Gravis, the Doctor took Tegan to Africa on the last day of Earth (PROSE: Perfect Day) before they were summoned to Gallifrey where she met Leela and became Earth Ambassador to Gallifrey otherwise she would have had her memories wiped. She went on an Ambassadorial trip to one of the former Enemies of the Time Lords and worked out a way to de-escalate a situation with Sugru. She was later kidnapped by Scandrius who wanted to explore the universe. She got lost in the New Capitol. (AUDIO: Time in Office) They went on to visit Salient Point, (PROSE: Keeping It Real) Elizabeth II's coronation, (COMIC: Where's the Doctor?) Ann's christening, (PROSE: Categorical Imperative) Nocturne (AUDIO: Nocturne) and Camelot (PROSE: The Creation of Camelot) before returning for Turlough. (TV: Frontios)
Departure
A time corridor dragged the TARDIS to 1984 London where Tegan was knocked out after coming across a Dalek. She helped to defeat them, but the carnage of the Dalek civil war disillusioned her to her travels in the TARDIS. Remembering what Vanessa had told her when she started her job as an air stewardess, she bid an emotional and accusatory farewell to the Doctor and Turlough and ran off before the Doctor could respond.
Even so, she ran back in time to see the TARDIS dematerialise, calling out her goodbyes. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) She left the warehouse and escaped from Gustave Lytton's policemen by jumping onto a boat. (PROSE: Resurrection of the Daleks)
Unbeknownst to her, Tegan left the TARDIS with damage to her brain which would result in a tumour. She would later ascribe it to the numerous times she was knocked out or possessed. (AUDIO: The Gathering)
Later life
Meeting the Sixth Doctor
Tegan was left on Earth with no money, no possessions and no explanations of where she had been for three years. For the first few weeks, she travelled around the globe, but eventually decided that she needed to get her old job back. When no responses came from her letters and phone calls, she went to the offices of the airline in question and demanded to speak to the personnel director.
On her first morning back at the airport as a stewardess, Tegan was teleported into the TARDIS. Onboard the ship was the Sixth Doctor, who was under attack from a group of Sontarans. The adventure, as Tegan recalled it, was either cinematic and terrifying or comedic and silly; depending on how she looked at it. It involved someone named Gareth Jenkings joining the team and bickering with the Doctor in a way that Tegan compared to a sitcom. After the adventure, the pair reconciled for a time and the Doctor returned her to Heathrow Airport. (PROSE: Fixing a Hole)
Settling down
After parting with the Doctor, Tegan returned to Brisbane using money that her family wired to her so that she might leave London. By 1987, she was running her father's farm (PROSE: Encounter on Burnt Snake Flat) and rarely thought about her adventures in the TARDIS, (AUDIO: The Gathering) although she did give an interview to River Song (PROSE: When It Was Fun) and was, at some point, interviewed by UNIT before having her mind wiped. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
The Doctor visited her in 1987 to reassure her that she did not have to worry about the Mara, as well as that her father would survive the snake bite that he suffered. (PROSE: Encounter on Burnt Snake Flat) When the Doctor was regenerating, he reached out psychically to his companions. Tegan said "brave heart" and told him that he would survive. (AUDIO: Winter; TV: The Caves of Androzani)
After her father died, she took over his animal feed company Verney Food Supplies, a job that she did not find especially fulfilling. She lived a normal life with few friends other than colleagues that she did not like. (AUDIO: The Gathering)
In the 1990s, she answered a small advert in Time Out magazine which called for anybody who knew what the word "TARDIS" meant. She went to London where she was reunited with Sarah Jane Smith and met Liz Shaw, Jo Grant and Dorothy McShane and reminisced with them over wine, although she was less positive than the others. (PROSE: Girls' Night In)
Tegan embarked on a romantic relationship with Michael Tanaka, a colleague of hers. However, she ended the relationship in 2006 after discovering that she had an inoperable brain tumour which she suspected was the result of her TARDIS misadventures. She was told that she was unlikely to live more than a year. On her birthday that year, she was reunited with the Doctor and refused his offer of travelling again or finding a cure, telling him that she was happy with her life. She resumed her relationship with Michael.
Despite only having been given a year to live, (AUDIO: The Gathering) Tegan was still alive in 2010, by which time she was, according to Sarah's research, campaigning for Aboriginal rights. (TV: Death of the Doctor) She entered into a relationship with Nyssa, (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane) whom she had last seen in E-Space, (AUDIO: The Entropy Plague) and went with her to Sarah's funeral one spring day. The pair discussed Sarah with the other guests and helped fight the Jackals of the Backwards Clock. (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane)
By the 2020s, Tegan had had a breakdown and was sent to Shawlands for therapy due to her stories about her time in the TARDIS, which were not only considered fanciful but also embarrassing for the government. She came to believe that her memories were delusions stemming from her trauma following Vanessa's death. Whilst at therapy, she developed her writing skills. After leaving, she married Dr William Haybourne and lived with him in Cambridge after he was appointed chair at St Cedd's College. She wrote a book called Good Companions.
Fifty years after Vanessa's death and ten years after the Haybournes' wedding, William fell ill whilst giving a lecture and died. On her way back to her empty home from the funeral in Exeter, Tegan met an incarnation of the Doctor that she did not know, calling himself Dr Smith, on a train. Although she played a role in helping defeat the Sigrarnons, she believed that it was a dream and parted ways with him. After sorting out the matter of William's estate with their lawyer, she went looking for Dr Smith's house, which she had visited, but was told by a policeman that there had not been a house at that address for years. (PROSE: Good Companions)
Personality
Tegan was stubborn, loud and direct, describing herself as "just a mouth on legs". (TV: Earthshock) Although she did often bicker with her fellow travellers, she was intrinsically honest and moral, qualities that the Fifth Doctor noted made her a good coordinator. (TV: Castrovalva) She was also more likely to detect a threat to the Doctor's safety than her fellow companions. (TV: Castrovalva, Mawdryn Undead) Nonetheless, she was described by Adric as "unreasonably highly strung", (AUDIO: The Toy) by Iris Wildthyme as "shrill" (AUDIO: Excelis Dawns) and by the Eleventh Doctor as a "gobby Australian". (TV: The Crimson Horror)
In terms of her personal politics, Tegan described herself as "a fully paid up Aussie republican". (AUDIO: The Children of Seth) She despised blood sports (AUDIO: Equilibrium) and violence, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) but was willing to resort to violence in extreme circumstances. She threw a knife at the Tremas Master when he threatened the Doctor (TV: The King's Demons) and shot and killed a Cyberman. (TV: Earthshock)
Tegan was a talented artist, sketching the latest 1980s fashions on Earth for Enlightenment (TV: Four to Doomsday) and a pair of Cybermen. (PROSE: Lackaday Express) However, she was not a fan of modern art. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam) She was a skilled linguist, studying foreign languages at college (PROSE: Cold Fusion) and being able to speak an Aboriginal language fluently. (TV: Four to Doomsday) She was sympathetic to the status of the Aboriginal people in her time and campaigned for their rights in the 21st century. (TV: Death of the Doctor)
She considered Nyssa to be her best friend (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger) and was greatly saddened when she first left the TARDIS, (TV: Terminus) once saying that Nyssa was "too good for this world" and that she wanted to be more like her. (AUDIO: Aquitaine) Although she often did not get along with Adric and believed him to be sexist, (TV: Four to Doomsday) she did care for him and was indignant at the Doctor's apparent unwillingness to save Adric's life. (TV: Earthshock)
Tegan claimed that the Doctor often gave her "half pained, half patronising" looks and later described him as the most annoying man that she had ever met. (AUDIO: Aquitaine) On one occasion, she derisively referred to the Doctor as a "posho". (AUDIO: The Peterloo Massacre) Despite this, the Doctor said that she was "very dear" to him. (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger)
The Doctor often encouraged her to find her inner strength with the words, "Brave heart, Tegan". (TV: Earthshock, Enlightenment, Warriors of the Deep, The Awakening) Although she told him that she found it annoying and asked him never to say it again, he did so on numerous subsequent occasions. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) He saw her saying the phrase back to him as he regenerated. (TV: The Caves of Androzani) On one occasion, Tegan said, "Brave heart" to encourage Nyssa. (AUDIO: The Star Men) She muttered those words to herself after leaving the TARDIS and watching it dematerialise. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
She was a fan of Talking Heads (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam) and had seen Blake's 7. (PROSE: Cold Fusion)
Appearance
Tegan was small, slender (PROSE: Arc of Infinity) and attractive, (PROSE: Warriors of the Deep) with aggressively close-cropped, dark auburn hair. (PROSE: Kinda, The Eight Doctors) She gave out an efficient and determined aura. (PROSE: Earthshock)
When she first travelled with the Doctor, she wore a mauve uniform skirt and a lavender blouse (TV: Logopolis, etc.) with stylish shoes, (PROSE: Earthshock) which she kept on to remind the Doctor that she wished to return home. (PROSE: When It Was Fun) She did, however, change into a "spritely confection" of a bright green taffeta dress with a pink skirt for the party at Cranleigh Hall. (PROSE: Black Orchid)
Upon reuniting with the Doctor and Nyssa, Tegan wore an alabaster jacket with matching shorts and a camisole top, (PROSE: Arc of Infinity) an outfit that she wore for some time due to her possessions having been stored away. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam) She also wore a rainbow dress (TV: Warriors of the Deep) with an ivory sash about her waist. (PROSE: Warriors of the Deep, The Eight Doctors)
In her seventies, Tegan had hair as grey as a winter's day, having allowed her colour to grow out when she was sixty. Her hair reminded her of her mother's. (PROSE: Good Companions)
Behind the scenes
- Janet Fielding appears in-character as Tegan with the Sixth Doctor in NOTVALID: A Fix with Sontarans, a story which this wiki does not consider a valid source.
- According to REF: The Doctor: His Lives and Times, Tegan gave a full account of her travels with the Doctor to a mysterious individual by the name of Dr Song.
- Tegan's name was borne from producer John Nathan-Turner suggesting Tegan (after an Australian girl he knew) or Jovanka (after the First Lady of Yugoslavia) as given names to script editor Christopher H. Bidmead. Bidmead mistook "Tegan (Jovanka)" as the full name. (DWM 234)
- The character Tegan was created when Elisabeth Sladen and Louise Jameson couldn't reprise their roles as Sarah Jane Smith and Leela respectively.[1]
- This page previously carried the assumption that Tegan describing herself as "downright bolshie" (AUDIO: The Children of Seth) equated to her being a communist. However, we have sarcastic confirmation from the editor of Big Finish's Vortex magazine, Kenny Smith, that this was not the script writers' intent[2], as the more common definition of bolshie in British English is argumentative and uncooperative.
- Sian Pattenden, who plays young Tegan in Mawdryn Undead, strangely lacks an Australian accent during her one line/word of dialogue in part four ("Doctor!").
- Planet of Fire is the only Fifth Doctor televised story Tegan doesn't appear in.
Footnotes
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