Oliver Harper
Oliver Harper was a city trader in London in 1966. He travelled with the First Doctor and Steven Taylor for a brief period.
Biography
Oliver was a fag at school.
At the time that he joined the TARDIS crew, Oliver was facing arrest by the Metropolitan Police Service for engaging in homosexual practices, then still a crime under British law. When this happened he found out that the company he worked for was trading in human slaves. After he helped the Doctor to stop this he was asked to travel with them. (AUDIO: The Perpetual Bond)
He initially kept his sexuality from the Doctor and Steven, as he believed that they would disapprove and force him to leave the TARDIS if they were to find out. After he had confessed his secret, though, Steven assured Oliver that the Doctor would do nothing of the sort. Furthermore, Steven told him that by his time, there was no longer any stigma attached to homosexuality and that same-sex relationships were common. (AUDIO: The Cold Equations)
He travelled to the planetoid Grace Alone as the Doctor saw in a database that they had been there. He was killed by the Vardans but remained as a ghost in the TARDIS. As a ghost, he witnessed the Doctor's regeneration into his second incarnation in Antarctica in December 1986. (AUDIO: The First Wave)
Personality
Oliver was polite and had a strict moral code resulting from his upper-class upbringing. (AUDIO: The Perpetual Bond) He kept his sexuality a secret and feared that Steven and the Doctor would reject him once he divulged it. He blamed himself and his running from his problems on Earth for his death. (AUDIO: The First Wave)
Behind the scenes
As of 2019, Oliver is, chronologically, the earliest known non-heterosexual human companion of the Doctor, from an in-universe point of view.
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