Vislor Turlough
Junior Ensign Commander Vislor Turlough was a companion of the Fifth Doctor.
Exiled from Trion due to his role in the Civil War, Turlough made a deal with the Black Guardian to kill the Doctor that he later reneged on, choosing instead to join Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka in the TARDIS. He and Tegan were briefly joined by Kamelion, although a large portion of Turlough's travels were with Tegan alone. After Tegan's departure, Turlough very briefly met Peri Brown, before leaving the TARDIS to return to Trion with his brother.
Turlough returned to his planet as a hero and celebrity, but chose to be a simple astrophysicist rather than pursue a career in politics. He created the ARTEMIS drive with the intention of preventing the entropic decay of the universe.
Biography[[edit] | edit source]
Childhood[[edit] | edit source]
Vislor Turlough, (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"]) known in his youth as "Vis", (AUDIO: Kiss of Death [+]Loading...["Kiss of Death (audio story)"]) was born on Trion (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"]) into an Imperial Clan (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"]) prior to 1967. (AUDIO: Meanwhile Turlough [+]Loading...["Meanwhile Turlough (audio story)"]) He lived with his mother and father in a house deep within a rainforest (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"]) and had at least one older sibling. He believed that being a younger brother made him "great at being annoying". (AUDIO: Gardens of the Dead [+]Loading...["Gardens of the Dead (audio story)"]) He did not know if he had any great-uncles. (PROSE: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (novelisation)"])
As a child, Turlough did not keep a diary as he did not want to risk others finding out his secrets. (AUDIO: Ringpullworld [+]Loading...["Ringpullworld (audio story)"]) He remembered a time before the Trion Civil War, when he was fascinated by the neon and plasticity of Trion. (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) There were always snakes around when he was growing up, so he learnt how to distract them using his jacket. (AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake [+]Loading...["The Cradle of the Snake (audio story)"]) When he was very young, he visited the Eye of Orion and thought that it was beautiful. (TV: The King's Demons [+]Loading...["The King's Demons (TV story)"]; AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire [+]Loading...["The Kamelion Empire (audio story)"])
Civil War[[edit] | edit source]
When Turlough was still young, the Civil War began and his mother was killed, (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"], PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) which he believed meant that he would never see her again. (PROSE: The Fall of the Druids [+]Loading...["The Fall of the Druids (short story)"]) He fell in love with Deela, whose father was part of Rehctaht's revolution and opposed to the Imperial Clans. Once their families found out, they were forbidden from seeing one another. (AUDIO: Kiss of Death [+]Loading...["Kiss of Death (audio story)"])
As part of his education, Turlough was taken around the factories on Regal where he was overwhelmed by the size of the operation and did a compulsory six month primary logic course at his first grade school. He studied with Juras Maateh before they both chose to go to institutes thousands of kilometres apart, Turlough electing to study astrophysics whilst Juras chose to study physical engineering. They continued to visit one another thanks to the VT system until their differing political opinions on the Civil War got in the way of their friendship. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"])
Turlough went on to join the Trion Navy, (PROSE: Sontar's Little Helpers [+]Loading...["Sontar's Little Helpers (short story)"]) holding the rank and serial number of "Junior Ensign Commander Vislor Turlough, VTEC9/12/44". He and his family were on the losing side of the war, resulting in his father and infant brother being exiled to Sarn. Due to his outspokenness, Turlough was exiled to Earth to learn humility following an inquisition at Government House and was to be watched over by an eccentric solicitor. (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"], PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"])
Exile on Earth[[edit] | edit source]
The solicitor arranged for Turlough to begin attending Brendon School (TV: Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (TV story)"]) as a chance for redeeming himself, (AUDIO: Meanwhile Turlough [+]Loading...["Meanwhile Turlough (audio story)"]) pretending that he was from Coventry. (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) Turlough travelled from London by train and got a lift from Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who showed him to his room where he sobbed into his pillow, thinking about his mother. (PROSE: Qualia [+]Loading...["Qualia (short story)"]) He would look back on himself as a "trembling, terrified kid". (PROSE: The Eight Doctors [+]Loading...["The Eight Doctors (novel)"])
Turlough believed this exile on Earth would be a "life sentence". (AUDIO: Meanwhile Turlough [+]Loading...["Meanwhile Turlough (audio story)"]) Unbeknownst to him, fellow student Charlie Gibbs was also a Trion. (AUDIO: Eldrad Must Die! [+]Loading...["Eldrad Must Die! (audio story)"]) The two once scaled the wall of the girls' school, causing the girls to scream and Gibbs to fall and break his collarbone. (AUDIO: The Memory Bank [+]Loading...["The Memory Bank (audio story)"])
According to Mr Sellick, Turlough made no effort at games, refused to join the CCF and made little to no effort in class despite having a first-rate mind. (TV: Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (TV story)"]) He did sometimes have to play rugby, (PROSE: Gudok [+]Loading...["Gudok (short story)"]) but often abstained from PE because the atmosphere of Earth made him asthmatic and prone to nausea and migraines. He was bullied for his intelligence, being beaten by his peers and having his head plunged down the toilet, and tried to run away a number of times but was always brought back and beaten with shoes, straps and canes. (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"])
Although Turlough did not like living on Earth and especially hated reading the works of William Shakespeare, (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger [+]Loading...["The Emerald Tiger (audio story)"]) he did enjoy learning History (AUDIO: Phantasmagoria [+]Loading...["Phantasmagoria (audio story)"]) and had a fondness for America, enjoying American football, the rules of which he did not understand, (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) and wanting to visit New York. (AUDIO: Black Thursday [+]Loading...["Black Thursday (audio story)"])
During Turlough's first term at the Sixth Form at Brendon School, the headmaster said that the Battle of Waterloo was "won on the playing fields of Eton". Turlough screamed with laughter. (PROSE: Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (novelisation)"]) On one occasion, he and Peter Smythe took the trophies from the sports cabinet and dumped them in the school pond. (AUDIO: The Memory Bank [+]Loading...["The Memory Bank (audio story)"]) He once had a digital watch which also functioned as a calculator, but he lost it and, after several days, he gave up looking for it. (AUDIO: Power Game [+]Loading...["Power Game (audio story)"])
Turlough's peers included Bolam, Matthewson, McMullen, Pradie, Rogerson, Shaw major, Shaw minor and Watt, (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) as well as his best friend Ibbotson, whom he nicknamed Hippo. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist [+]Loading...["Devil in the Mist (audio story)"]) He spent half-term with the Ibbotsons in Weston-super-Mare (AUDIO: The Memory Bank [+]Loading...["The Memory Bank (audio story)"]) and once watched a film about Zulu warriors with Hippo on a wet Sunday afternoon. (PROSE: Deep Blue [+]Loading...["Deep Blue (novel)"])
Whilst his peers went home for Christmas, Turlough was stuck at the school. (PROSE: Last Minute Shopping [+]Loading...["Last Minute Shopping (short story)"]) He hated the holiday. (PROSE: Last Minute Shopping [+]Loading...["Last Minute Shopping (short story)"], Sontar's Little Helpers [+]Loading...["Sontar's Little Helpers (short story)"])
Travelling in the TARDIS[[edit] | edit source]
The Guardian's deal[[edit] | edit source]
In his eighth year on Earth, (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"]) in 1983, Turlough was knocked unconscious after crashing the Brigadier's car and was visited by the Black Guardian, who offered an end to Turlough's exile if he killed the supposedly evil Fifth Doctor. Turlough agreed despite his misgivings and made an attempt to kill him by hitting him over the head with a rock, but he came to realise that he was a good man and unsuccessfully tried to renege on the deal. Turlough joined the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka in the TARDIS, (TV: Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (TV story)"]) unaware that the Doctor was suspicious of him. (PROSE: Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (novelisation)"])
Knowing how difficult it would be to get the Doctor alone in the TARDIS and to navigate the corridors, Turlough hit the landing gear and caused the ship to land in the Gardens of the Dead. He was pained when the Black Guardian ordered him to kill the Doctor and unwittingly vocalised his murderous intent in front of Nyssa, whom he rescued from the psychic dust by pushing her to the ground and accidentally hitting her head on a gravestone, giving her amnesia. He was attacked by the dust and deliberately passed it on to the Doctor, but he decided to save his life by using water to turn the dust into mud. (AUDIO: Gardens of the Dead [+]Loading...["Gardens of the Dead (audio story)"])
Turlough, the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan went to the Capitol on Gallifrey and met with Ophiuchus in his secret base in the Cloisters. When Ophiuchus asked the Doctor to help him in his mission to uncover the secrets of regeneration for medical purposes, the Doctor's companions could not see any problem with the request and persuaded the Doctor to give up some of his regeneration energy to save Ophiuchus when he collapsed, allowing him to regenerate. (COMIC: Ophiuchus [+]Loading...["Ophiuchus (comic story)"])
Because of its proximity to the control room and to help move on from his former companion's death, (PROSE: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (novelisation)"]) the Doctor gave Adric's bedroom to Turlough. The Black Guardian had Turlough remove the stabilising control on the TARDIS's space-time element, but a fail-safe caused it to lock on to Terminus where Turlough became trapped under the flooring with Tegan whilst hiding from those infected with Lazar's disease. When Turlough eventually returned to the TARDIS, he argued that trapping the Doctor on Terminus was enough to satisfy the deal, but the Black Guardian attacked him and gave him one final chance. (TV: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (TV story)"])
The Doctor came to think of Turlough as being unreliable due to him running back to the TARDIS whilst on Terminus and had him accompany him aboard the Shadow, which the Black Guardian decided to leave Turlough on after he said that he could not kill the Doctor. He jumped into space, but was rescued by Captain Wrack and learnt from her about the prize of Enlightenment which he began to covet. For helping bring the Buccaneer into harbour, Turlough was entitled to a share of Enlightenment and was given the choice of handing over either the diamond or the Doctor to the Black Guardian. He chose the former and was freed from his pact, asking the Doctor to take him back to his home planet. (TV: Enlightenment [+]Loading...["Enlightenment (TV story)"])
A free man[[edit] | edit source]
Turlough became frustrated by how little his companions trusted him and, when they landed in 1905 Arizona on a course plotted to avoid the Black Guardian, he stormed out to Buzzard Creek and recognised that Winklemeyer was using mind control to manipulate the humans. He was captured until the Doctor and Tegan rescued him, after which the Doctor defeated Winklemeyer with hus help. Although Turlough protected Tegan from a Sythak and Tegan gave him a hug, they resumed arguing upon returning to the TARDIS and Turlough was no longer sure he wanted to go home. (AUDIO: Freakshow [+]Loading...["Freakshow (audio story)"])
The Doctor took Turlough and Tegan to 1928 to watch Tich Freeman play, although Turlough was not interested in cricket, and they arrived in China instead of London. He adjusted the mimic coding on a canister of Synth-Skin for the Doctor to use on Edward Grainger when his aeroplane crashed and was initially worried that what seemed to be a ghost might be part of the Black Guardian's revenge against him for his supposed betrayal. Mai Ling absorbed the ghost, which Turlough was concerned about but the Doctor assured him was safe. (PROSE: Falling from Xi'an [+]Loading...["Falling from Xi'an (short story)"])
Nyssa rejoins[[edit] | edit source]
Further info from Rat Trap [+]Loading...["Rat Trap (audio story)"], The Emerald Tiger [+]Loading...["The Emerald Tiger (audio story)"], The Jupiter Conjunction [+]Loading...["The Jupiter Conjunction (audio story)"], The Lady of Mercia [+]Loading...["The Lady of Mercia (audio story)"], Prisoners of Fate [+]Loading...["Prisoners of Fate (audio story)"], Mistfall [+]Loading...["Mistfall (audio story)"], Equilibrium [+]Loading...["Equilibrium (audio story)"] and The Entropy Plague [+]Loading...["The Entropy Plague (audio story)"] needs to be added
Two days after leaving Terminus, Tegan told Turlough he did not have to leave the TARDIS on her account and the TARDIS was pulled to Helheim where they were reunited with Nyssa. Turlough and Tegan remained in the ship for a time after seeing what seemed to be their skeletons, but soon decided to try to avert their deaths. The group went back in time and attempted to stop Bragg from leaving the base with a sample of Richter's Syndrome, learning on the way that the skeletons were duplicated, and the Doctor decided to take Nyssa to another planet instead of taking Turlough home. (AUDIO: Cobwebs [+]Loading...["Cobwebs (audio story)"])
The TARDIS arrived on Chodor after scanning for mentions of Richter's Syndrome and Turlough and Nyssa were soon separated from the Doctor and Tegan, running from the Shades and Mertil, who mistook Turlough for a Taker due to his hair colour. Nyssa saved him from drowning after he was knocked out by a thrown rock and he repaid the favour by scaring the people of Purity Bay by impersonating the Shades after she failed to gain their trust. The Shades later took over the Takers and launched an attack, but Turlough, the Doctor and Anulf shut the Takers down. (AUDIO: The Whispering Forest [+]Loading...["The Whispering Forest (audio story)"])
After the Mara-controlled Doctor flew the TARDIS to Manussa and took Tegan to see Dr Honri Kerrem, Turlough and Nyssa were left to rest. Turlough with the Doctor to Scrampus Park for a "boys' night" and was locked in an animal hutch in Sundown Studios by him, but he was freed by Baalaka and stole the Doctor's TARDIS key to keep him from entering the ship. He and Tegan pretended to form an alliance with Nyssa after she fell under the Mara's control as part of their plan to remove a crystal made by Rick ausGarten's dream-maker machine and thwart the Mara, which came to pass when the Doctor inverted the crystal and Baalaka sacrificed himself. (AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake [+]Loading...["The Cradle of the Snake (audio story)"])
The Doctor took his companions to the Citadel of Samur for Tegan to rest after Manussa and Turlough went after Nyssa when she went to investigate Agent Z/002, soon finding a banner commemorating Samur's subjugation by the Sontaran Empire. He abandoned Nyssa to be captured by Corporal Clun and fell into a crevice with Trooper Vend, whom he taught to embrace his cowardice and to question his desire to die for Sontar. They ran from the Witch Guards and Vend eventually sacrificed himself to destroy them despite Turlough telling to do otherwise. (AUDIO: Heroes of Sontar [+]Loading...["Heroes of Sontar (audio story)"])
Turlough helped the Doctor repair the TARDIS on Vektris and was reunited with Deela, who was working with Calquin Rennol to trick Turlough into getting them into the dimensional vault on the Winter Planet. Hoss and Kanch took them to Rennol, who forced Turlough into working on the vault's circuits to make it accessible and threatened his and Deela's lives if he did not do so. Deela eventually revealed her deception and was shot by Rennol as part of an attempt to stop the Morass, after which Turlough and Deela sealed him in the vault before she died and Turlough decided not to share his past with anybody. (AUDIO: Kiss of Death [+]Loading...["Kiss of Death (audio story)"])
Turlough helped defeat the Rat King (AUDIO: Rat Trap [+]Loading...["Rat Trap (audio story)"]) and Cyril Haggard (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger [+]Loading...["The Emerald Tiger (audio story)"]) before being trapped in Eight slash Q Panenka's Unstable Zone with the Doctor, where he had to wear an atmospheric suit. (AUDIO: The Jupiter Conjunction [+]Loading...["The Jupiter Conjunction (audio story)"])
Turlough went with the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan to the Hegemonic State Menagerie to pose as humans at the monkey house and manipulate Milan. His cage was decorated to resemble a school and, like the others, he pretended to be a despairing captive to make Milan sympathetic towards the people of Earth and surrender to UNIT instead of committing genocide. Their mission accomplished, the three companions returned to the TARDIS whilst the Doctor said goodbye to her. (AUDIO: The Monkey House [+]Loading...["The Monkey House (audio story)"])
Whilst en route to Brisbane, the TARDIS was caught in a time corridor which sent Turlough and Nyssa to the 50th century where they spent two years waiting for the Doctor to come for them. During the two years, Turlough acted as Nyssa's secretary as she investigated Magnus Greel. (AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane [+]Loading...["The Butcher of Brisbane (audio story)"]) In Ambermouth, Turlough went to visit Charlie Gibbs and learnt that he too was a Trion. After defeating Eldrad, Mulkris offered him the opportunity of joining him in tracking down other remnants of the Kastrian, but he decided that he belonged in the TARDIS. (AUDIO: Eldrad Must Die! [+]Loading...["Eldrad Must Die! (audio story)"])
After adventures in 1983 Frodsham (AUDIO: The Lady of Mercia [+]Loading...["The Lady of Mercia (audio story)"]) and on Valderon, (AUDIO: Prisoners of Fate [+]Loading...["Prisoners of Fate (audio story)"]) the TARDIS slipped through a Charged Vacuum Emboitment into E-Space. Turlough and Nyssa were taken captive by Yan Fara and his new Outlers on Alzarius (AUDIO: Mistfall [+]Loading...["Mistfall (audio story)"]) and he later fled for his life over the tundra of Isenfel. (AUDIO: Equilibrium [+]Loading...["Equilibrium (audio story)"]) On Apollyon, Nyssa remained behind so that Turlough, the Doctor and Tegan could return to N-Space. (AUDIO: The Entropy Plague [+]Loading...["The Entropy Plague (audio story)"])
Kamelion joins[[edit] | edit source]
Turlough asked to be taken to his home planet, but the TARDIS instead landed in 1215 England where he was soon imprisoned by Hugh Fitzwilliam and joined by Isabella Fitzwilliam and Hugh himself. He tried to convince the two of them that the Master was lying when he decried the Doctor as a demon who sought to defame King John and was eventually freed by the Doctor and Geoffrey de Lacy, for whose death Ranulf and Hugh blamed Turlough. He managed to return to the TARDIS by pointing a sword at the Master and was introduced to Kamelion, after which the Doctor decided to fly to the Eye of Orion instead of Turlough's home. (TV: The King's Demons [+]Loading...["The King's Demons (TV story)"])
On the way, a phoenix appeared in the TARDIS (PROSE: The Bird of Fire [+]Loading...["The Bird of Fire (short story)"]) and Kamelion was influenced by the Mara in Tegan's mind. (PROSE: Mark of the Medusa [+]Loading...["Mark of the Medusa (short story)"])
Two days after leaving 1215, the TARDIS arrived in the Crystal Bucephalus where Turlough, the Doctor and Tegan were arrested for murder. He helped to defeat Maximillian Arrestis, who had taken over control of Kamelion. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus [+]Loading...["The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)"])
Turlough trusted the Doctor's judgement of Kamelion and stood up for him when Tegan wrongfully accused him of stealing her purse. Upon arriving on an unstable Harrigain spaceship, Turlough, the Doctor and Rako were separated from Tegan, Kamelion and Orna and crashed down to Rastana in an escape pod, after which Turlough had to repair a hover sled to move the Doctor given his broken back. Turlough was able to climb to the TARDIS and follow the Doctor's directions to pilot it to a healing spring where Kamelion was freed from the control of its Guardian. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist [+]Loading...["Devil in the Mist (audio story)"])
The Doctor piloted the TARDIS to 1902 Abertysswg so that the crew could get some fresh air, but Turlough and Tegan soon had to help people injured in a natural gas explosion get to a mineshaft where they were carried up in the TARDIS. Whilst searching for Kamelion, Turlough learnt that he had attacked Geoff Evans and went after him to the colliery where he had taken Judith Matson, whom Turlough caught when she fell from a height. Turlough later asked the Doctor to take him to New York City. (AUDIO: Black Thursday [+]Loading...["Black Thursday (audio story)"])
Instead arriving in 1984 York, Kamelion went missing and Turlough, the Doctor and Tegan spent three weeks looking for him. When Tegan also disappeared, Turlough asked around and learnt from Una that she was on the Incredible Power Game, a series that he found unusual and was soon kidnapped by the Hostess to partake in. The Doctor ensured the Hostess's defeat and they returned to the TARDIS, where Kamelion picked up a recall signal from Mekalion. (AUDIO: Power Game [+]Loading...["Power Game (audio story)"])
Turlough and Tegan were separated from the Doctor and Kamelion on Mekalion and were captured by the Grolls before Kamelion and an army of his own kind saved them. Turlough agreed to help the Grolls defeat the androids and shut down the Locus, later tricking Chaos, who was controlling Kamelion, by controlling a Kamelion of his own and trying to restore his android companion. Once Chaos was defeated, the Doctor took Turlough, Tegan and Kamelion to the Eye of Orion where Kamelion watched a moonset before retiring to a storeroom. (AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire [+]Loading...["The Kamelion Empire (audio story)"])
Choosing to stay[[edit] | edit source]
After finally arriving at the Eye of Orion, Turlough, the Doctor and Tegan were taken to the Death Zone. Whilst the Doctor and Tegan took part in the Game of Rassilon, Turlough remained in the TARDIS with Susan Campbell. (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"]) Afterwards, they returned to the Eye of Orion where Turlough and the Doctor played cricket before being attacked by a Raston Warrior Robot, whom they defeated with the help of the Eighth Doctor, (PROSE: The Eight Doctors [+]Loading...["The Eight Doctors (novel)"]) and, following their departure, they once again came across the Sontarans. (PROSE: Sontar's Little Helpers [+]Loading...["Sontar's Little Helpers (short story)"])
In the TARDIS, Tegan attempted to show Turlough what the Fourth Doctor looked like using Kamelion. (PROSE: Qualia [+]Loading...["Qualia (short story)"]) They faced the Master, who shrunk Turlough with his Tissue Compression Eliminator, (PROSE: The Velvet Dark [+]Loading...["The Velvet Dark (short story)"]) and visited Oxaqua, (PROSE: The Oxaqua Incident [+]Loading...["The Oxaqua Incident (short story)"]) Mesique, (PROSE: Winter on Mesique [+]Loading...["Winter on Mesique (short story)"]) Melphis (PROSE: Class 4 Renegade [+]Loading...["Class 4 Renegade (short story)"]) and 1980s London where Turlough was reunited with his old teacher, the Brigadier. (PROSE: The Nemertines [+]Loading...["The Nemertines (short story)"])
Tegan and Turlough later found themselves separated from the Doctor in 1904 St Petersburg where they solved a murder on a train. Tegan was untrusting of him and believed that he was capable of killing. (PROSE: Gudok [+]Loading...["Gudok (short story)"])
Several weeks after leaving the Death Zone, the TARDIS crew visited Verbatim Six where Turlough met Huxley, his novelisor, who reminded him of Hippo. In the Ringpullworld, he chose to save a race who turned out to be warlike, and he later asked Huxley to tell him the future. (AUDIO: Ringpullworld [+]Loading...["Ringpullworld (audio story)"]) Further adventures took Turlough to Moon Village One (COMIC: The Lunar Strangers [+]Loading...["The Lunar Strangers (comic story)"]) and Sector 19, where he encountered the Master and the Cybermen. (PROSE: Birth of a Renegade [+]Loading...["Birth of a Renegade (short story)"])
Despite having previously wanted to return to his home planet, (TV: Enlightenment [+]Loading...["Enlightenment (TV story)"], The King's Demons [+]Loading...["The King's Demons (TV story)"]) Turlough decided that he wanted to stay aboard the TARDIS, claiming that it was because he thought he would learn more if he were to stay with the Doctor. (TV: Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (TV story)"]) The Doctor thought that there was something ambiguous about his answer, (PROSE: Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (novelisation)"]) but did not ask why Turlough had changed his mind about returning to his home planet. (AUDIO: Meanwhile Turlough [+]Loading...["Meanwhile Turlough (audio story)"])
Last trips with Tegan[[edit] | edit source]
Info from Meanwhile Turlough [+]Loading...["Meanwhile Turlough (audio story)"] and further info from Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (TV story)"], The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (TV story)"] and Frontios [+]Loading...["Frontios (TV story)"] needs to be added
On Sea Base 4, Turlough met and had little sympathy for the Silurians and Sea Devils. He was forced to shoot one to save the Doctor. (TV: Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (TV story)"])
To recover from Sea Base 4, the crew went to Tayborough Sands where their peace was interrupted by the Xaranti. (PROSE: Deep Blue [+]Loading...["Deep Blue (novel)"])
Turlough met and saved Tegan's grandfather, Andrew Verney, in Little Hodcombe (TV: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (TV story)"]) and was joined in the TARDIS for a month by Will Chandler. After Will left, Turlough visited the Trion solicitor and left with a bloodied nose. He was later kidnapped in Los Angeles where he was poked, prodded and anally probed by the Jex. (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) He almost bumped into Peri Brown and Erimem on Earth. (PROSE: Graham Dilley Saves the World [+]Loading...["Graham Dilley Saves the World (short story)"])
Turlough was disconcerted by Simon and Joanne and the lack of personality in their apartment. Based on their television lacking a plug and their books being blank, he came to believe that the Doctor had accidentally piloted the TARDIS into Lant Land, but the Doctor deduced that they were in the real world and that the Lants had taken over the bodies of those who entered the simulation and stole theirs. (PROSE: Lant Land [+]Loading...["Lant Land (short story)"])
Turlough went Christmas shopping, (PROSE: Last Minute Shopping [+]Loading...["Last Minute Shopping (short story)"]) prevented Margaret Thatcher's assassination, (PROSE: The Assassin's Story [+]Loading...["The Assassin's Story (short story)"]) fought Sextus Cornelius in Rome, (PROSE: Rome [+]Loading...["Rome (short story)"]) visited the Isle of Mona and was kidnapped by Adam Mitchell. (COMIC: The Forgotten [+]Loading...["The Forgotten (comic story)"])
Tegan and Turlough were concerned when seeing the Engineers dismantling the TARDIS console, and Turlough became worried after their leader, Konis, became agitated. Konis disappeared when the truth of his plans was discovered, and Turlough searched for him. When Tegan effectively died, he wanted to force Konis to fix his problem, and worked out how to fish him out by expanding the TARDIS architecture. Turlough was later captured as part of the Doctor's lure for the Vodyani. (AUDIO: Nightmare Country [+]Loading...["Nightmare Country (audio story)"])
On Frontios, Turlough's race memory caused him to collapse into catatonia, eventually remembering the Tractators' weakness. (TV: Frontios [+]Loading...["Frontios (TV story)"])
After arriving at a UNIT training exercise in Snowdonia and finding the Master's TARDIS, Turlough was knocked out by Prodigal and sent with Tegan through a temporal bridge to a vortex driller. They were broken out by the temporally dislocated Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who was still annoyed with Turlough for stealing his car but went with him to deactivate the Master's keystone. Once the First Consciousness was defeated and the Master thrown through time, Turlough returned to the TARDIS with the Doctor and Tegan and was caught in a time corridor. (AUDIO: The Auton Infinity [+]Loading...["The Auton Infinity (audio story)"])
The TARDIS landed in 1984 London where Turlough stumbled through the time corridor and arrived on a Dalek ship from which he sneaked onto the Prison Station before being found by Mercer and Styles. He helped them in their mission to destroy the station and returned to Earth in the TARDIS after the Doctor came looking for him, suggesting that they warn the authorities about the unstable Dalek duplicates. Before they left, Tegan told them that she no longer wished to travel in the TARDIS and Turlough gave her a handshake and said goodbye. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)"])
Sole companion[[edit] | edit source]
With Tegan having left (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)"]) and Kamelion remaining within his room, (AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire [+]Loading...["The Kamelion Empire (audio story)"]) Turlough and the Doctor travelled alone together. They landed on Raghi in 2371 where they fought the Sontarans and Rutans. (PROSE: Lords of the Storm [+]Loading...["Lords of the Storm (novel)"]) They also visited Ilium (PROSE: The Volcanis Deal [+]Loading...["The Volcanis Deal (short story)"]) and Heracletus, (PROSE: Zeitgeist [+]Loading...["Zeitgeist (short story)"]) and later encountered a doppelgänger of Turlough. (PROSE: One Last Try [+]Loading...["One Last Try (short story)"])
In 1702, Turlough saved Hannah Fry's life, which he remarked was not like him. (AUDIO: Phantasmagoria [+]Loading...["Phantasmagoria (audio story)"])
Turlough and the Doctor were assisted on the Moon in 1878 by Kamelion, who helped salvage weapons to use against the Vrall. Turlough fell in love with Lytalia before learning that she herself was a Vrall. (PROSE: Imperial Moon [+]Loading...["Imperial Moon (novel)"]) In 2080 Rio de Janiro, Turlough and the Doctor attended the Carnival, and he was dragged along by the Doctor to help the mysterious Illeana. On her train, Turlough and the Doctor discovered that Illeana and her entourage were werewolves, and Lichtfuss and Jorge forced Turlough into a werewolf initiation ritual, which so terrified him he jumped off the train.
Afterwards, he met Rosa Caiman, who he bonded with. Turlough and the Doctor went onto trick Pieter Stubbe into entering the TARDIS so that they could take him from Earth and kill him (AUDIO: Loups-Garoux [+]Loading...["Loups-Garoux (audio story)"]) and caused the Transvaal annexation in 1877. (PROSE: White Man's Burden [+]Loading...["White Man's Burden (short story)"]) Turlough saw Neanderthals in 40,000 BC Africa, where he showed some skill at flying the TARDIS by travelling six months into the future, (PROSE: Observation [+]Loading...["Observation (short story)"]) and visited 1967 Nottingham. (PROSE: One Wednesday Afternoon [+]Loading...["One Wednesday Afternoon (short story)"])
Landing in 21st century Moscow, Turlough wondered why they never landed somewhere tropical with pretty girls. (AUDIO: Singularity [+]Loading...["Singularity (audio story)"]) He saw the American Civil War in Virginia, (PROSE: Comforts of Home [+]Loading...["Comforts of Home (short story)"]) the planet of the Shev where they accidentally deposited Mark Thorne, (PROSE: The Misadventure of Mark Thorne [+]Loading...["The Misadventure of Mark Thorne (short story)"]) the Pride of Sheboygan, (PROSE: Piecemeal [+]Loading...["Piecemeal (short story)"]) Salzburg at Christmas (PROSE: Do You Believe in the Krampus? [+]Loading...["Do You Believe in the Krampus? (short story)"]) and Atkya, where he helped cure Renepscia syndrome. (PROSE: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back [+]Loading...["One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (short story)"])
Turlough and the Doctor visited Castic City, where they had to survive using memory, (AUDIO: The Memory Bank [+]Loading...["The Memory Bank (audio story)"]) Vadhoc, where they befriended Grayling Frimlish, (AUDIO: The Last Fairy Tale [+]Loading...["The Last Fairy Tale (audio story)"]) and 2144 Reykjavik, where Turlough was possessed by the Bratanian Shroud. (AUDIO: Repeat Offender [+]Loading...["Repeat Offender (audio story)"]) He also helped defeat the Hungerers (AUDIO: The Becoming [+]Loading...["The Becoming (audio story)"]) and the Entitlement. (AUDIO: Trap For Fools [+]Loading...["Trap For Fools (audio story)"])
The Doctor and Turlough landed on Testament when the human empire was centred there. Turlough was injured in the explosion and Fionn helped to get him out. He wanted to get Bradley to use his influence to help, but learnt that there wasn't a workable evacuation plan. His injuries were eventually healed, and he worked out a plan to use the planet's technology to freeze the energy cell. (AUDIO: The Blazing Hour [+]Loading...["The Blazing Hour (audio story)"])
Whilst visiting Syria, the Doctor and Turlough were interrogated about information on a lost city. They then investigated the source of a strange signal and found out that it was a TARDIS. Turlough was abducted by Vakrass and taken to his base. He managed to help the Sixth Doctor to work out what the map was. He helped the Doctors with Constance Clarke and Charlotte Pollard by entering the device. (AUDIO: The End of the Beginning [+]Loading...["The End of the Beginning (audio story)"])
Departure[[edit] | edit source]
Turlough recognised a distress call from a Trion ship and attempted to disable Kamelion when the robot set the coordinates to the distress call's source. However, they landed at Lanzarote in 1984 where he met Peri Brown. On Sarn, he found his brother, Malkon, and learnt of his father's death. He willingly called a Trion ship to rescue Malkon and the other survivors, then learning that political prisoners were now welcome on Trion. He thanked the Doctor and told him that he would miss him before leaving for Trion with his brother. (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"])
Defeating Rehctaht[[edit] | edit source]
Upon returning to Trion, Turlough was heralded as a hero due to having returned from exile. He had a career in politics waiting for him, but he chose not to pursue it nor to embrace his status as a celebrity, instead touring archaeological sites of interest to the research the Laima. He and his old friend Juras Maateh began to build a space-time vessel using Turlough's knowledge of the TARDIS by installing an ARTEMIS drive into a Style 976 Interstellar Hawk. His aim was to prevent the entropic decay of N-Space.
Turlough and Juras were joined by the Magician, who claimed to be there to observe their progress. The ARTEMIS drive ended up creating various different timelines and Turlough learnt from his future self, who led the Gardsormr, that Rehctaht was alive within Juras. Turlough killed her before going back in time and persuading Rehctaht to enter his mind instead, after which the Magician was able to help him resist and kill her. The Magician took him in his TARDIS to a timeline in which he died whilst trying to kill Rehctaht, where he took his dead self's place and was reunited with Juras and presented his people with ARTEMIS. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"])
Later life[[edit] | edit source]
As the Fifth Doctor regenerated into the Sixth, he psychically called out to his companions for help. Turlough answered and encouraged him to regenerate by telling him of how his enemies would delight in his death. (AUDIO: Winter [+]Loading...["Winter (audio story)"]; TV: The Caves of Androzani [+]Loading...["The Caves of Androzani (TV story)"])
Turlough was visited on Trion by the Tenth Doctor and Emily Winter after they found a diary that purported to be his. However, Turlough confirmed that he had never kept a diary. The Doctor later found that it had been planted by the Advocate. (COMIC: Tesseract [+]Loading...["Tesseract (comic story)"], Don't Step on the Grass [+]Loading...["Don't Step on the Grass (comic story)"], Final Sacrifice [+]Loading...["Final Sacrifice (comic story)"])
Turlough grew old on Trion and thought of himself as a gentleman. He met a number of Australians on their gap year, making him realise that Tegan's accent and way of speaking were not unique, and thought back on his adventures in the TARDIS and how he wished that he could have been friends with Nyssa and Tegan. (AUDIO: Gardens of the Dead [+]Loading...["Gardens of the Dead (audio story)"])
Undated events[[edit] | edit source]
At some point, Turlough was taken to the Black Archive by UNIT to have his record as a companion of the Doctor taken. His memories of the visit were subsequently erased and he was sent on his way. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])
At another point, Turlough was abducted by Adam Mitchell as part his plan to get revenge on the Doctor, in collaboration with the Tremas Master. He was placed in stasis alongside the Doctors' multiple other companions, before being released by the Doctors first eleven numbered incarnations with the help of Frobisher. (COMIC: The Choice [+]Loading...["The Choice (comic story)"], Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (POT comic story)"])
Alternative timeline[[edit] | edit source]
In an alternative timeline, Turlough fell into the Giants' Drop whilst wrestling with Rehctaht in his mind and died. Turlough took this alternative Turlough's place in said timeline in order to be with its version of Juras. (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"])
Personality[[edit] | edit source]
Turlough was very intelligent, far more so than any of his peers at Brendon Public School. (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) He believed in scientific advancement at the expense of personal freedoms, hence his support of the Imperial Clans in the Trion Civil War. He believed that the outsiders ought to look after themselves, ensure their own survival and leave the Clansmen alone, for which they would be rewarded by prospering from the Clans' superiority.
He was selfish and quick to shield himself from blame, able to convincingly lie to most with the exception of Juras, (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"]) the Brigadier (TV: Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (TV story)"]) and Tegan. (TV: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (TV story)"]) Tegan found him untrustworthy and bad-mannered, but the Fifth Doctor had faith in his nature. (TV: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (TV story)"], Enlightenment [+]Loading...["Enlightenment (TV story)"]; AUDIO: Cobwebs [+]Loading...["Cobwebs (audio story)"]) He was not so much a coward as a survivalist, preferring to avoid danger and situations he felt he could not change. (TV: Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (TV story)"], Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)"]) However, he also grew quite loyal to the Doctor and his friends, (TV: Enlightenment [+]Loading...["Enlightenment (TV story)"]) and even went so far as to threaten a crew member of Sea Base 4, in order to save the Doctor and Tegan from a Myrka. (TV: Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (TV story)"])
Despite his strong desire to leave Earth, Turlough found himself unable to murder for his freedom and frequently asked the Black Guardian to reconsider his order to kill the Doctor. (TV: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (TV story)"], Enlightenment [+]Loading...["Enlightenment (TV story)"]) He was not a "people person" (AUDIO: The Memory Bank [+]Loading...["The Memory Bank (audio story)"]) and did not believe that saving people came naturally to him. (AUDIO: Phantasmagoria [+]Loading...["Phantasmagoria (audio story)"]) However, he was encouraged to take a closer look at himself and decide who he truly wanted to be after falling in love with Lytalia. (PROSE: Imperial Moon [+]Loading...["Imperial Moon (novel)"]) He later saved the life of Peri Brown when she threatened to drown, even though she was a complete stranger to him at the time. (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"])
In addition to a love of astrophysics (PROSE: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma [+]Loading...["Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (novel)"]) and Earth history, (AUDIO: Phantasmagoria [+]Loading...["Phantasmagoria (audio story)"]) Turlough loved to paint (AUDIO: The Memory Bank [+]Loading...["The Memory Bank (audio story)"]) and draw, (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"]) with the Doctor once taking him to medieval Europe to inspire him to do just that. (AUDIO: The Last Fairy Tale [+]Loading...["The Last Fairy Tale (audio story)"]) He liked his tea with milk and sugar. (AUDIO: Power Game [+]Loading...["Power Game (audio story)"]) In terms of sport, he enjoyed watching American football, although he could not comprehend the rules. (PROSE: The King of Terror [+]Loading...["The King of Terror (novel)"]) He knew enough about the TARDIS to run a diagnostic, (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"]) to travel six months into the future, (PROSE: Observation [+]Loading...["Observation (short story)"]) and to program it to rescue the Doctor and Peri. (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"])
Although he initially expressed a desire to return to Trion and at one point asked the Doctor to take him home, (TV: Enlightenment [+]Loading...["Enlightenment (TV story)"], The King's Demons [+]Loading...["The King's Demons (TV story)"]) after he had spent more time travelling with the Doctor he grew reluctant to return. By the time it came to leave the Doctor, Turlough told him that he did not want to go and would miss him. (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"])
Appearance[[edit] | edit source]
Turlough was as thin as a willow and had an unworldly, pre-Raphaelite appearance thanks to his auburn hair, blue eyes and thin, sharp-boned face. (PROSE: Mawdryn Undead [+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (novelisation)"], Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (novelisation)"]) He had a hint of the shifty and unreliable about him, making him look like he could be a school bully or school sneak, but was still attractive. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors [+]Loading...["The Eight Doctors (novel)"])
He described himself as unfit (TV: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (TV story)"]) and wore a dark blazer, flannels and straggly striped tie. (PROSE: Warriors of the Deep [+]Loading...["Warriors of the Deep (novelisation)"]) Before being exiled, he was branded with a Misos Triangle on his arm. (TV: Planet of Fire [+]Loading...["Planet of Fire (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | edit source]
- Turlough was the last male companion to travel with the Doctor on-screen until Adam Mitchell, who joined in the episode Dalek in 2005.
- Turlough was the last in a seven-year run of non-human televised companions, beginning in 1977 with K9 Mark I. Others included K9 Mark II, Romana I, Romana II, Adric, Nyssa and, nominally, Kamelion.
- When he was introduced in 1983, Turlough became the first televised companion since Jo Grant not to have travelled with the Fourth Doctor.
- Mark Strickson dyed his hair red for the role, as his natural fair hair was seen by John Nathan-Turner as being too similar to Peter Davison's in long shot. Originally, Nathan-Turner had intended that Strickson go bald but this idea was rejected by Strickson.[1]
- Turlough's serial number, VTEC9/12/44, was derived from the date of birth of Eric Saward.
- Turlough spent a lot of screen time imprisoned, because the writers didn't know what to do with him.
Footnotes[[edit] | edit source]
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