Barbara Wright (Doctor Who)

Doctorwhocharacter

Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright
name=Barbara Wright
series=Doctor Who
affiliation=First Doctor
race=Human
planet=Earth
era=1963
start= An Unearthly Child
finish= The Chase
portrayed=Jacqueline Hill
Jennie Linden (film)

Barbara Wright is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series "Doctor Who" and a companion of the First Doctor. She was one of the programme's very first regulars and appeared in the bulk of its first two seasons from 1963-65, played by Jacqueline Hill. In the film version of one of the serials, "Dr. Who and the Daleks" (1965), Barbara was played by actress Jennie Linden, but with a very different personality and backstory — she is also a granddaughter of "Dr Who".

Character history

Barbara Wright is a history teacher at the Coal Hill School, working with science teacher Ian Chesterton. One of their students, Susan Foreman, the granddaughter of the Doctor, shows an unusually advanced knowledge of science and history. Attempting to solve the mystery of this "unearthly child", Ian and Barbara follow Susan back to a junkyard, where they hear her voice coming from what appears to be a police box. When they investigate further, they discover that the police box exterior hides the much larger interior of a time machine known as the TARDIS, and are whisked away on an adventure in time and space with the Doctor and Susan.

Barbara is a strong-willed woman and provides a maternal figure to Susan. She is frequently the only person who can stand up to the First Doctor's cantankerous personality. The chemistry between Ian and herself is also evident, although the nature of their relationship is never made explicit in the television series.

In the serial "The Aztecs", Barbara is hailed as the reincarnation of the ancient high priestess Yetaxa by the Aztec civilization. Despite the Doctor's protests that she cannot change history, she attempts to turn the Aztecs away from their practice of human sacrifice. In "The Reign of Terror", she establishes a friendship with Leon Colbert and is distraught when he is killed. After many travels, Ian and Barbara eventually use a Dalek time machine to get home, albeit two years after their disappearance and presumably with much explaining to do to their friends and families.

Appearances in other media

Since 1994, the character has appeared in several "Doctor Who" novels from Virgin Publishing and BBC Books. In the BBC Books novel, "The Face of the Enemy" by David A. McIntee (1998), the story of Ian and Barbara, now married to each other, is picked up in the early 1970s. In this book, they have a young son named John. Many of the novels mention a 1980s pop star named Johnny Chester or Johnny Chess, intended to be the same character. Chess was idolised by the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace and appears to have been romantically involved with the Fifth Doctor's companion Tegan.

In the novelisation "Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks" by David Whitaker, Barbara and Susan have just been in a car accident when they first meet Ian. After entering the TARDIS, the remainder of the story largely follows the events of "The Daleks".

In the movie "Dr. Who and the Daleks", Barbara is Susan's older sister, the granddaughter of the eccentric human scientist Dr. Who, and girlfriend of the bumbling Ian Chesterton. In "Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD" Barbara is replaced by Louise, who serves much the same role. No mention is made as to the fate of Barbara.

List of appearances

Television

;Season 1
*"An Unearthly Child"
*"The Daleks"
*"The Edge of Destruction"
*"Marco Polo"
*"The Keys of Marinus"
*"The Aztecs"
*"The Sensorites"
*"The Reign of Terror"

;Season 2
*"Planet of Giants"
*"The Dalek Invasion of Earth"
*"The Rescue"
*"The Romans"
*"The Web Planet"
*"The Crusade"
*"The Space Museum"
*"The Chase"

Films

*"Dr. Who and the Daleks"

Audio dramas

;"Doctor Who Unbound" series
*"Deadline"

Novels

;Virgin Missing Adventures
*"Venusian Lullaby" by Paul Leonard
*"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Christopher Bulis
*"The Plotters" by Gareth Roberts

;Past Doctor Adventures
*"The Face of the Enemy"
*"The Witch Hunters" by Steve Lyons
*"City at World's End" by Christopher Bulis
*"Byzantium!" by Keith Topping
*"The Eleventh Tiger" by David A. McIntee
*"The Time Travellers" by Simon Guerrier
*"Matrix" by Mike Tucker & Robert Perry

hort stories

*"Brief Encounter" by David Bishop ("Doctor Who Magazine" #169)
*"The Book of Shadows" by Jim Mortimore ("Decalog")
*"The Nine-Day Queen" by Matt Jones ("")
*"The Last Days" by Evan Pritchard (Rebecca Levene) ("Short Trips")
*"Romans Cutaway" by David A. McIntee ("More Short Trips")
*"Nothing at the End of the Lane (3 Parts)" by Daniel O'Mahony ("Short Trips and Sidesteps")
*"The True and Indisputable Facts in the Case of the Ram’s Skull" by Mark Michalowski ("")
*"The Splintered Gate" by Justin Richards ("")
*"Distance" by Tara Samms ("Short Trips: Companions")
*"A Long Night" by Alison Lawson ("Short Trips: Companions")
*"Mire and Clay" by Gareth Wigmore ("")
*"The Thief of Sherwood" by Jonathan Morris ("")
*"White Man's Burden" by John Binns ("Short Trips: Past Tense")
*"Every Day" by Stephen Fewell ("")
*"The Duke’s Folly" by Gareth Wigmore ("")
*"Set in Stone" by Charles Auchterlonie and John Isles ("")
*"The Ruins of Time" by Philip Purser-Hallard ("Short Trips: Time Signature")
*"Tell Me You Love Me" by Scott Matthewman ("")

Comics

*"A Religious Experience" by Warwick Gray and Colin Andrew ("Doctor Who Yearbook 1994")

External links

* [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Barbara_Wright Barbara Wright] at [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/ "The TARDIS Index File" website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/page2.shtml Barbara Wright on the BBC's "Doctor Who" website]