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Rita was an English medical student who was abducted as her shift was starting and brought abroad the Prison Ship. She was astute, quickly diagnosing a situation based on her observations. The Doctor immediately took a liking to her.
Biography
Rita was a devout Muslim. Though she accepted the Doctor's claims that the "hotel" did not exist on Earth, Rita thought it was actually Jahannam (the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Hell). She was observant and told the Doctor he had a "god complex". Her admirable qualities led the Doctor to jokingly fire Amy and offer Rita her place in the TARDIS.
Rita had already become the the third human the Doctor encountered to be possessed by the Minotaur. Her fear was revealed to be her father, a medical doctor whose constant berating her over her grades made her feel deep shame.
Subsequently, Rita hid her devotions to the Minotaur from the Doctor and the others. She separated herself from them. She asked the Doctor to turn off the camera before she died, to remember her as she was, before her faith was stolen from her. The Doctor shut of the camera so they could not witness her death. (DW: The God Complex)
Behind the scenes
- Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, each Doctor has encountered at least one female character who charms him to the extent that he offers her the chance to be a companion, only to have her die soon after. The Ninth Doctor invited Lynda "with a Y" Moss in DW: The Parting of the Ways shortly before she was killed by the Daleks; the Tenth Doctor invited Madame de Pompadour to join him in DW: The Girl in the Fireplace but she dies of illness before she can do so; later, he also invites Astrid Peth to join him in DW: Voyage of the Damned before she sacrifices herself to defeat Max Capricorn. Jenny, who was the Doctor's biological daughter as a result of rapid cell cloning, was also set to travel with her father before she took a bullet from Cobb which was meant from the Doctor. However, unlike the others, she was resurrected (albeit not in time for her to travel with the Doctor; he had already departed from Messaline by that point). Rita is the Eleventh Doctor's equivalent.