Tegan Jovanka

Tegan Jovanka
Doctor Who character
Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka
First appearance
Logopolis (1981)
Last appearance
"The Power of the Doctor" (2022)
Portrayed byJanet Fielding
Sian Pattenden (young; uncredited)[1]
Duration
1981–1985, 2022
In-universe information
Full nameTegan Jovanka
SpeciesHuman
GenderFemale
OccupationFlight attendant
AffiliationFourth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
Thirteenth Doctor
UNIT
RelativesAndrew Verney (grandfather)
Vanessa (aunt)
Colin Frazer (cousin) Adopted Son
OriginBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
Home era
20th and 21st centuries

Tegan Jovanka is a fictional character played by Janet Fielding in the BBC television series Doctor Who. Tegan is a travelling companion of the series' protagonist, the Doctor, in his fourth (Tom Baker) and fifth incarnations (Peter Davison). She debuted in the serial Logopolis (1981) and made her last regular appearance in Resurrection of the Daleks (1984). Fielding reprised the role in The Caves of Androzani (1984) and "The Power of the Doctor" (2022).

In the series' narrative, Tegan is an Australian flight attendant who unwittingly enters the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS, and assists him in defeating the Master. Following the Doctor's regeneration at the end of Logopolis, Tegan attempts to return to Heathrow Airport but is caught up in the Doctor's travels alongside companions Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton). Tegan frequently challenges the Doctor's decisions and serves as a sceptical perspective within the TARDIS crew. She briefly departs the TARDIS in Time-Flight (1982), but rejoins the Doctor in the following serial Arc of Infinity (1983). During her later travels with Nyssa and Vislor Turlough (Mark Strickson), Tegan becomes increasingly disillusioned by the Doctor's dangerous lifestyle. In Resurrection of the Daleks, after witnessing the carnage of the Doctor's battle with the Daleks, Tegan departs the TARDIS crew to live a normal life.

Producer John Nathan-Turner developed the character of an Australian flight attendant to increase Australian interest in Doctor Who. Australian actress Janet Fielding was the first non-British actor to play a companion of the Doctor.[2] Tegan was more assertive than previous companions, and her departure is notable for being motivated by the emotional toll of the Doctor's travels. She is also one of the Doctor's longest-serving companions.[3]

Appearances

Television

Tegan first appears in the Fourth Doctor's last serial, Logopolis (1981).[4] En route to Heathrow Airport to start her new job as a stewardess with Air Australia, her aunt Vanessa's vehicle (in which she is riding) suffers a flat tyre. Tegan enters a roadside police box to seek help, not knowing that it is actually the Doctor's disguised TARDIS. She is present when the Fourth Doctor falls from the Pharos Project radio telescope and regenerates into his fifth incarnation, and continues to journey with the Doctor and his other companions. She travels with the Doctor initially because her aunt was killed by the Master, although she still wants to get to Heathrow Airport to start her new job, as soon as the Doctor can get her there.

Tegan is stubborn,[5] loud, and direct, with a no-nonsense manner and not afraid to speak her mind (in Earthshock she describes herself as "just a mouth on legs").[6] Her time in the TARDIS coincides with that of Adric, Nyssa, Turlough and Kamelion. While she often bickers with them (particularly with Adric) as well as with the Doctor, her strength of character keeps them together and her loyalty and affection to her crewmates is unquestionable. She is close to Nyssa,[5] and is especially saddened at her leaving. She is initially very suspicious of Turlough, frequently referring to him as a "brat" at first, though they gradually become friends. The Doctor notes that she is a good coordinator, and often encourages her with the words, "Brave heart, Tegan."[7] She is apparently able to speak at least one Indigenous Australian language[8] fluently, and shows an ability to use firearms.

Despite her strong front, however, her adventures with the Doctor, both thrilling and terrifying, eventually take a psychological toll. She is deeply upset by the death of Adric in Earthshock. After being left behind in Heathrow due to a misunderstanding at the end of Time-Flight, she returns to the TARDIS in the next adventure Arc of Infinity, which is set about a year later in Earth time (Although the Doctor and Nyssa have been depicted having several adventures in that time frame in the audio adventures). During that period, Tegan had worked as a stewardess, but had been subsequently fired. Soon after, she is once again possessed by the alien intelligence known as the Mara. Eventually, the carnage surrounding the events of Resurrection of the Daleks proves too much[5] and she bids an emotional good-bye to both the Doctor and Turlough in 1984 London.

Tegan Jovanka is one of the few companions of the classic series to be seen to have an extended family. She had an Australian aunt in the UK named Vanessa (Dolore Whiteman). In Logopolis, it is said that Tegan's father owned an Australian farm. Tegan's English maternal grandfather Andrew Verney (Frederick Hall) was a local historian who had a cottage in the English village of Little Hodcombe in The Awakening, and her cousin Colin Frazer (Alastair Cumming) lived in Brisbane but was terrorised by Omega whilst back-packing in Amsterdam during Arc of Infinity.

An illusory image of Tegan is seen during the Fifth Doctor's regeneration into the Sixth in The Caves of Androzani (1984).

In The Sarah Jane Adventures serial Death of the Doctor (2010), Sarah Jane Smith mentions Tegan as having campaigned for the rights of Aboriginal Australians.

Tegan returned alongside fellow former companion Ace in "The Power of the Doctor" (2022), which celebrated the BBC's centenary. Tegan interacts with the Thirteenth Doctor portrayed by Jodie Whittaker.[9]

Tegan is referenced in the television stories The Twin Dilemma (1985), Attack of the Cybermen (1985), "Time Crash" (2007) and "The Crimson Horror" (2013).[10]

Other media

Fielding reprised the role in a 1985 sketch ("A Fix with Sontarans") for the children's show Jim'll Fix It, alongside Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor. This sketch suggests that Tegan returned to working as a flight attendant and also frosted her hair blonde, before being accidentally returned to the TARDIS by the Sixth Doctor.

Tegan regularly appeared in the audio drama series Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures produced by Big Finish Productions. She has also appeared in various short stories, novels and comics.

Tegan's life after journeying with the Doctor is investigated in the Big Finish Productions 2006 audio drama The Gathering. Although she finds it difficult to enter into relationships and is suffering from a terminal illness, she tells the Doctor that she has no regrets about her time with him, and now appreciates her life to the full.[11] The spin-off fiction suggests that she was briefly married to pop star Johnny Chester (also known as Johnny Chess), the son of the First Doctor's companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. In the spin-off short story "Good Companions" by Peter Anghelides, Tegan has suffered a nervous breakdown and convinced herself that her time with the Doctor was a delusion.

Fielding reprised her role as Tegan in a comedic promotional video for the Blu-ray release of Doctor Who season 19; she parodies a pre-flight safety demonstration for Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton, who appear as themselves.[12]

The online special "Farewell, Sarah Jane" (2020) is set at Sarah Jane Smith's funeral and describes Tegan and Nyssa as "a nice couple from Australia".[13] This was taken by publications to mean that the two women became romantically involved.[14][15] "The Power of the Doctor" appeared to negate this development, as Tegan mentions having previous husbands but does not refer to Nyssa.[16][17]

In the online minisode "The Passenger" (2023), Tegan reunites with Nyssa, who has returned to Earth via the TARDIS. Tegan enters the TARDIS but finds a dark void where she encounters the Mara. Tegan then wakes, but the Mara's skull is seen in her mirror.[18][19] In Tales of the TARDIS (2023), produced to mark Doctor Who's 60th anniversary, Tegan and the Fifth Doctor find themselves transported to a "memory TARDIS".[20][21][16]

Tegan appears in the mini-episode "Destination: Daleks" (2025), which serves as a sequel to Resurrection of the Daleks.[22]

Development

Janet Fielding portrays Tegan Jovanka

Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner "thought that it might benefit the show if there were several companions aboard the TARDIS" when Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor regenerated.[23] When Nathan-Turner was thinking of a name for the character, it was either going to be Tegan, after his partner's niece in Australia, or Jovanka, after Jovanka Broz, the widow of Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito, so he wrote both down on a piece of paper. Script editor Christopher H. Bidmead mistakenly believed that Jovanka was the character's last name rather than an alternative, and so christened her Tegan Jovanka.[24][25][26]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Jean- Marc Lofficer 'Doctor Who Programme Guide' New Edition. Virgin Publishing 1994 ISBN 0-426-20342-9
  2. ↑ Wright 2017, pp. 119, 144.
  3. ↑ "Who are the Doctor's Longest-Serving Companions?". Doctor Who. 14 October 2022. Archived from the original on 16 January 2026. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "Doctor Who | THE CLASSIC SERIES | SEASON 18". BBC. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Knight, Lewis (2 December 2023). "Doctor Who companions in order: From Susan Foreman to Ruby Sunday". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  6. ↑ "EARTHSHOCK". BBC. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020.
  7. ↑ "BBC One - Doctor Who, Series 7, the Crimson Horror - the Fourth Dimension". Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  8. ↑ McArdell, Ian (7 September 2022). "The Davison era at Forty: Janet Fielding interview". CultBox. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  9. ↑ Collis, Clark (17 April 2022). "The trailer for Jodie Whittaker's final episode of Doctor Who reveals returning cast members". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  10. ↑ "Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror... Preview Clip 1". BBC iPlayer. 1 May 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  11. ↑ "Big mouth strikes again". BBC. 16 September 2005. Archived from the original on 15 September 2006.
  12. ↑ Doctor Who (21 August 2018). The Season 19 Safety Video with Tegan Jovanka | Doctor Who. Retrieved 20 July 2026 – via YouTube.
  13. ↑ "Farewell, Sarah Jane". YouTube. 19 April 2020. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
  14. ↑ Comments, Rich Johnston | (19 April 2020). "Farewell Sarah Jane Reveals Tegan and Nyssa are a Couple, and More". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  15. ↑ Elvy, Craig (21 April 2020). "Doctor Who Confirms Companion Relationship Fan Theory". ScreenRant. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  16. 1 2 Anderson, Gillian (2 November 2023). "Doctor Who Officially Makes A 40-Year Old Companion Theory Canon". ScreenRant. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  17. ↑ Smith, Jessica (16 April 2023). "Doctor Who Killed A Fifth Doctor Companion Romance In The Worst Way". ScreenRant. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  18. ↑ Tegan's Surprise Reunion! | The Collection: Season 20 Announcement Trailer | Doctor Who. Doctor Who. 13 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2026 – via YouTube.
  19. ↑ Warner, Sam (14 July 2023). "Doctor Who legends reunite in teaser clip ahead of Blu-ray release". Digital Spy. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  20. ↑ "Doctor Who: Welcome to The Whoniverse where every Doctor, every companion and hundreds of terrifying monsters live". BBC Media Centre. BBC. 30 October 2023. Archived from the original on 23 February 2025.
  21. ↑ Mellor, Louisa (31 October 2023). "Doctor Who Anniversary: What Actually is Tales of the TARDIS?". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  22. ↑ Jeffery, Morgan (3 March 2026). "Doctor Who spin-off with Peter Davison is getting a sequel". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 6 March 2026. Retrieved 14 June 2026.
  23. ↑ Nathan-Turner 1996, p. 19.
  24. ↑ Nathan-Turner 1996, p. 20.
  25. ↑ Stabler, Simon (29 April 2024). "Janet Fielding talks Doctor Who (& what came next)". Best of British Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  26. ↑ Wright 2017, pp. 119–120.

Sources

  1. ↑ Nathan-Turner, John (17 January 1996). "Brighton Beach Memoirs". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 234. Marvel Comics UK Ltd. pp. 14–20.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.