Izzy Sinclair
Isabelle "Izzy" Sinclair was a human companion of the Eighth Doctor.
Biography
Izzy was born on 12 October 1979. She did not know where she had been born or who her biological parents were. She was adopted by Les and Sandra Sinclair, but because of her unknown ancestry chose to call herself Izzy S (for "Izzy Somebody") instead. (COMIC: Stars Fell on Stockbridge)
When she first met the Eighth Doctor, Izzy was a seventeen-year-old science fiction fan and amateur paranormal investigator. She lived in the town of Stockbridge, England. She was a friend of Maxwell Edison, a UFO enthusiast who had encountered the fifth incarnation of the Doctor several years before. (COMIC: Stars Fell on Stockbridge)
When Izzy first met the Doctor, Max and she had stolen an artefact being sought by the Doctor's old enemy, the Celestial Toymaker. The Toymaker had put the entire town of Stockbridge into a pocket dimension and turned everyone into dolls save for Izzy and Max. The Doctor arrived in the midst of this, rescued the town, defeated the Toymaker again and took Izzy on board the TARDIS as his newest companion. (COMIC: Endgame)
Izzy left Earth without telling her adoptive parents, but that did not concern her. She was trying to escape what she felt was a too-mundane life. She revelled in travel with the Doctor, even though it was often dangerous. However, her vivacious and trusting nature eventually had tragic consequences.
When the TARDIS was swallowed by a gigantic, snake-like spacecraft called Ophidius, Izzy and the Doctor met Destrii, an amphibious alien who looked like a humanoid fish. Destrii was pursued by the aliens who controlled Ophidius and gained Izzy's confidence, only to switch bodies with her to evade capture. When Destrii (in Izzy's body) was apparently disintegrated, Izzy had to deal with the possibility she would be in an alien body for the rest of her life. Izzy had never learned how to swim before ending up in Destrii's body. (COMIC: Ophidius)
Just as she was adjusting to her new body, Izzy was kidnapped by operatives of Destrii's mother, the Matriax Scalamanthia of the planet Oblivion, who wanted her "daughter" to prepare for her wedding by fighting a duel to the death. While trying to trace Izzy's whereabouts with the help of his former companion Fey, the Doctor discovered that Destrii was still alive and went to Oblivion to switch their bodies back. Destrii and Izzy saw into each other's minds. Destrii saw how finding out she had been adopted made Izzy withdraw emotionally, unable to trust herself or admit she was a lesbian. Finally coming to terms with who she was, Izzy asked the Doctor to take her back to Stockbridge so she could make amends to her adoptive parents. The Doctor dropped Izzy off at the moment she began travelling with him. From her parents' point of view, she had never left. (COMIC: Oblivion)
Izzy survived the Cyberman invasion of Earth in the early 21st century. (COMIC: The Flood)
As of December 2008, Izzy had taken to travelling the world. She was last heard from as having found "something amazing" in Kabul. (COMIC: The Stockbridge Child)
Personality
Izzy was brought up watching science fiction on TV and reading books by authors as varied as Iain M. Banks and H.P. Lovecraft. She felt she was ready to travel with the Doctor. She found she was mistaken, that real life far exceeded fiction in fantastic and terrible ways. During, and after the Doctor's abduction by the Master, Izzy was left to cope with a morose Kroton and to deal with a failing resistance to the Ash Wraith invaders. (COMIC: The Glorious Dead)
Izzy frequently watched Star Trek: The Next Generation on VHS before travelling with the Doctor. (AUDIO: Izzy's Story) She was an atheist. (PROSE: Syntax)
After swapping bodies with Destrii, Izzy's burgeoning self confidence was first shaken and then strengthened when she came to terms with the change and the successful return to her body. The ultimate realisation of that growth was when she could tell the Doctor she was ready to go home and kissing Fey, accepting her own homosexuality. (COMIC: Ophidius, Oblivion)
Behind the scenes
- The revelation that Izzy is a lesbian makes her the first unmistakably LGBT companion, and the first modern-day Earth companion without a heterosexual orientation. Chris Cwej was implied to have had sex with a man in Damaged Goods, but he's from the future and it's written with such subtlety that the sexual act is easily debatable. By contrast, Izzy is fully and clearly shown to passionately kiss Fey, and to have dialogue which confirms her feelings.
- Izzy's birthday is the same as the first publishing date of Doctor Who Weekly, as noted in COMIC: TV Action!)
- Izzy was the Eighth Doctor's most frequent companion in the comic strip, appearing in nearly all of the Eighth Doctor's appearances between 1996 and 2003. Her time with the Doctor saw the coming and going of both Kroton and Fey as companions. An older Izzy made a cameo appearance in the last regular Eighth Doctor comic strip story, The Flood (DWM 353) and narrated part of the story. She also appears in the short stories Syntax and Illumination by David Bailey, published in the Big Finish Productions Short Trips anthologies, Life Science and Christmas Around The World, set during her time with the Doctor.
- Izzy later made a cameo appearance in the comic story Death to the Doctor! in which various aliens recount how different incarnations of the Doctor defeated them. One was bested by the eighth Doctor and Izzy is seen in his flashback. Her most recent reference was in the 2008 comic strip The Stockbridge Child.
- Izzy became one of the few comic strip companions to be given life by an actor when Jemima Rooper portrayed her in the 2009 Big Finish Productions release Izzy's Story.
