Margaret Hopwood

Margaret Hopwood
Species:	Human
Job:	Sculptor, barmaid
Place of origin:	London
Mother:	Mother
Father:	Father
Partner:	Ray Hunter
First appearance:	Companion Piece
Appearances:	see list
Main voice actor:	Nerys Hughes

Margaret Hopwood was a companion of the Fourth Doctor.

Biography

Early life

In 1915, when Margaret was four years old, her family left London and moved to Ravencliff to escape the bombings caused by World War I. Two years later, she was visited by the Ravencliff witch on the beach outside her home and felt as though the witch was trying to warn her of something. Shortly after, she discovered that her father had died in the Battle of Passchendaele. (AUDIO: The Ravencliff Witch) In addition, she had an "old sweetheart," who died in World War Two. She thought of him frequently, her travels to Westbourne later drudging up memories. (AUDIO: The Friendly Invasion)

Margaret had a friend who was involved in "hush hush" stuff during the war, who built devices out of cardboard and paint to scare the enemy. (AUDIO: The Wizard of Time) She made friends with a woman named Alice during this time. (AUDIO: The Ghost of Margaret) Decades later, she still lived in Ravencliff and made a living as a sculptor. (AUDIO: The Ravencliff Witch)

Meeting the Doctor

Margaret disapproved of the Ravencliff power plant, which she believed to be a blight on her town. She refused to sell her property to the owners of the plant, who wanted to use the land to expand the power plant. She assisted the Fourth Doctor in investigating strange phenomena in Ravencliff surrounding the power plant and the Ravencliff witch. She chose to stay in Ravencliff and return to her home when the witch was defeated. (AUDIO: The Ravencliff Witch)

Travels with the Doctor and Leela

This section's awfully stubby.

Further info from Antillia the Lost, The Wizard of Time needs to be added

Margaret, finding herself absent-minded and much more confused than usual, was soon picked up by the Fourth Doctor, now travelling with Leela. In what the Doctor presumed to be a grand gesture, he took her to an auction on Terra Glacier in the far future, where some of her work was displayed. As this was a reminder of her own mortality, Margaret was deeply hurt. When Ice Warrior thieves attacked the gala, Leela persuaded her of the importance of travelling with the Doctor and Margaret was influential in stopping the attack, joining the two of them in the TARDIS with great relish. (AUDIO: Ice Heist!)

On Antillia, Margaret negotiated with the natives, who had been deformed by teleportation experiments, to spare the lives of the expedition team and allow the Doctor and Leela to help. (AUDIO: Antillia the Lost)

Margaret used her expertise as a sculptor to help build the Omniravenor, a Trojan Horse-like puppet sculpture to scare the Reposa away from the TARDIS while it waited in the woods behind Jacob Harmer's house. (AUDIO: The Wizard of Time)

The Doctor deciding they must be incognito to avoid disrupting history, Margaret got herself a job as barmaid of the Old Boot, a bar in 1943 Westbourne.^{[statement unclear]} As aliens which projected fire began to replace the local population with sleeper agents, Margaret helped Dainty Company repel them so history was not disrupted. The relationship between Edie Carter and Joe Powell reminded her of her own past in the same war. (AUDIO: The Friendly Invasion)

Upon arriving on a rocky volcanic planet, Margaret, Leela and the Doctor discovered Felsa Mavelock's grave. Investigating the cruise liner trapped upon the planet, the three time travellers were nearly put to death by Felsa and the other crew of the vessel. When a lone Weeping Angel began to prey on the inhabitants of the ship, Margaret helped the Doctor with a plan involving mirrors - which were soon shattered by an Angel possessed Huthro. The Angel killing all of ship's crew, and Margaret surviving only thanks to the sacrifice of Felsa, a shaken Margaret informed the Doctor she intended to leave the TARDIS.^{[statement unclear]} (AUDIO: Stone Cold)

Returning to Ravencliff, thanks to a mistake made by the Doctor, Margaret was trapped a second out of sync with normal spacetime. In this halfway place, her own thoughts materialised around her, and she was tormented with visions of her childhood friend, Alice, who manifested thanks to the efforts of the Halfway Men. Ray Hunter, a member of Dainty Company arrived thanks to a letter she had not yet sent. In an attempt to rescue her, the Doctor trapped Ray Hunter with her outside of time, where he helped defeat the two of them began a relationship over daily dinners that Hunter would cook.^{[statement unclear]} By making her happy, the Halfway Men did not materialise. When the Doctor returned to rescue her yet again, he realised the only way to do so would be to go back in time before she was trapped a second out of sync, thus removing Hunter's memories of their time together. The two of them were unwilling to separate and resolved to create a life together in this dimension - although not before Margaret gave the Doctor a letter to send to Ray in the first place. (AUDIO: The Ghost of Margaret)

Undated events

She was captured by the Nine and placed in a prison along with various other companions. She bemoaned the fact that she was not young anymore, and begged to be let out. (AUDIO: Companion Piece)

Legacy

One of her sculptures eventually went on display at the Braxiatel Collection, (AUDIO: The Ravencliff Witch) and another was presented at an auction gala on Terra Glacier, which travelling with the Doctor, Margaret witnessed herself. (AUDIO: Ice Heist!) The Fourth Doctor was aware of her and her work by reputation alone, (AUDIO: The Ravencliff Witch) as was Moira Tenaka, a curator at Jacob Harmer's far future museum. (AUDIO: The Wizard of Time)

Behind the scenes

Companion Piece never stated which Doctor Margaret travelled with. Although she was kept in the same corridor in which the Nine kept the Fourth Doctor companions, it was not until the The Ravencliff Witch (released almost three years later) that she appeared alongside the Fourth Doctor, in her true introduction.