Doctor Who character
Dorothy ("Ace")
Ace
Affiliated with	Seventh Doctor
Race	Human
Home planet	Earth
Home era	20th century
First appearance	Dragonfire
Last appearance	Survival
Portrayed by	Sophie Aldred

Ace (given name Dorothy) is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A 20th-century Earth teenager from the London suburb of Perivale, she was a companion of the Seventh Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1987 to 1989. Sophie Aldred as Ace in Doctor Who This work is copyrighted. ... The Seventh Doctor is the name given to the seventh incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu  (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Homo (genus). ... Earth is the third planet from the Sun. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Dragonfire is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 23 to December 7, 1987. ... Survival is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 22 to December 6, 1989. ... Sophie Aldred (publicity photo from 1992) Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of the Doctors assistant Ace in the television series Doctor Who. ... Sophie Aldred (publicity photo from 1992) Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of the Doctors assistant Ace in the television series Doctor Who. ... A broadcast of the long-running and popular British science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as The Doctor. It is also the title of a 1996 television movie featuring the same character. ... Earth is the third planet from the Sun. ... The Houses of Parliament and the clock tower containing Big Ben Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... Perivale is a place in west London in the London Borough of Ealing. ... The Seventh Doctor is the name given to the seventh incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX in Roman) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Ace first appeared in the 1987 serial Dragonfire, where she was working as a waitress on the planet Iceworld. She had been a troubled teen on Earth, having been expelled from school for blowing up the art room as a "creative statement". Gifted in chemistry (despite failing it for her "O"-levels), she was in her room experimenting with the extraction of nitroglycerin from gelignite when a time storm swept her up and transported her to Iceworld, and far in her relative future. There, she met the Doctor and his companion Mel. When Mel left the Doctor at the conclusion of the serial, he offered to take Ace with him in the TARDIS, and she happily accepted. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dragonfire is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 23 to December 7, 1987. ... The General Certificate of Education or GCE was introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1951, replacing the older School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC). ... Nitroglycerin, also known as nitroglycerine, trinitroglycerin, and glyceryl trinitrate, is a chemical compound. ... Gelignite is an explosive consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or gun cotton) dissolved in nitroglycerine and mixed with wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate. ... Melanie Bush, or simply Mel, is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Third Doctor emerging from the TARDIS (from the 1970 serial Spearhead from Space). ...

Ace was arguably the most independent of all the Doctor's companions up to that point. Suffering from traumatic events in her childhood, including a bad relationship with her mother and the death of her close friend Manesha due to a racist firebombing, Ace covered up her own fears and insecurities with a streetwise, tough exterior. Her weapon of choice, disapproved of by the Doctor (who nonetheless found it useful on occasion), was a powerful explosive she called "Nitro-9", which she mixed up in canisters and carried around in her backpack. An African-American man drinks out of the colored only water fountain at a racially segregated streetcar terminal in the United States in 1939. ... Molotov cocktail is the generic name for a variety of crude incendiary weapons. ...

Affectionately giving the Doctor the nickname of "Professor", she was convinced that the Doctor needed her to watch his back, and protected him with a fierce loyalty. In turn, the Doctor seemed to take a special interest in Ace's education, taking her across the universe and often prompting her to figure out explanations for herself rather than giving her all the answers.

Under the Doctor's tutelage, Ace fought the Daleks in 1963 (Remembrance of the Daleks) and the Cybermen (Silver Nemesis), encountered the all-powerful Gods of Ragnarok in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, the sadistic torturer called the Kandy Man in The Happiness Patrol, and many other dangers. She also faced the ghosts of her own past in Ghost Light and The Curse of Fenric. Over time, she began to mature into a confident young woman, and her brash exterior ceased to be a front. The Daleks (pronounced DAH-lecks or DAH-licks; IPA: ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Remembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 5 to October 26, 1988. ... The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... Silver Nemesis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in the UK in three weekly parts from November 23 (the series 25th anniversary) to December 7, 1988. ... This is a list of fictional villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from December 14, 1988 to January 4, 1989. ... This is a list of fictional villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... The Happiness Patrol is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 2 – November 16, 1988. ... Ghost Light is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from October 4 to October 18, 1989. ... The Curse of Fenric is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 25 to November 15, 1989. ...

What the Doctor was aware of but Ace was not, was that her arrival on Iceworld was no accident, but part of a larger scheme conceived by Fenric, an evil that had existed since the beginning of the universe, a plan that stretched across the centuries. Ace was a "Wolf of Fenric", one of many descendants of a Viking tainted with Fenric's genetic instructions to help free it from its ancient prison, and a pawn in the complex game between it and the Doctor. After Fenric was defeated, Ace continued to journey with the Doctor. This is a list of fictional villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... The name Viking is a loanword from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. ...

The circumstances of Ace's parting of ways with the Doctor are not known, as the series went on hiatus in 1989 with the end of the very next serial, Survival. A painting seen in the extended version of the serial Silver Nemesis suggested that at some point in her personal future Ace would end up in 18th or 19th Century France. This idea was further explored in the novelisation of The Curse of Fenric and the Virgin New Adventures. 1989 (MCMLXXXIX in Roman) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Survival is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 22 to December 6, 1989. ... Silver Nemesis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in the UK in three weekly parts from November 23 (the series 25th anniversary) to December 7, 1988. ... The Virgin New Adventures (often referred to simply as NAs within fandom) were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, continuing the story of the series from where the television programme had left off. ...

The production team's intent was to have Ace eventually enter the Prydon Academy on the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey and train to be a Time Lord. The story, Ice Time by Marc Platt, was never made as the series ceased production. When the Seventh Doctor was next seen in the 1996 Television movie, he was travelling alone, with no reference to what had happened to him or Ace in the interim. // Headline text A Vardan spaceship approaches Gallifrey from space (from The Invasion of Time). ... The Time Lords are a fictional race of humanoids, originating on the planet Gallifrey, seen in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Marc Platt Marc Platt is a British writer. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Doctor Who is a television movie based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Other appearances

Ace after rejoining The Doctor in Deceit.

Ace and the Seventh Doctor appeared twice more on television after Doctor Who was cancelled. The first was in 1990, in a special episode of the BBC2 educational programme Search Out Science. In this episode, the Doctor acted as a quiz show host, asking questions about astronomy; Ace, K-9 and "Cedric, from the planet Glurk" were the contestants. The last appearance of Ace on British television was in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. Neither of these appearances is generally considered canonical. Image File history File links Ace1. ... Image File history File links Ace1. ... This article is about the year. ... BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and... K-9, or K9 is the name of several robot dogs in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII in Roman) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Dimensions in Time was a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and the soap opera EastEnders that ran in two parts on November 26 and 27, 1993. ... In the context of fiction, the canon of a fictional universe comprises those novels, stories, films, etc. ...

In the Virgin New Adventures novels, Ace becomes more and more frustrated with the Doctor's manipulations, eventually leaving his company in Love and War by Paul Cornell. She joins Spacefleet and fights the Daleks for three years, eventually rejoining the Doctor and his new companion Bernice Summerfield in Deceit by Peter Darvill-Evans. Ace's relationship with the Doctor remains strained for some time, but by No Future (also by Cornell) they have resolved their differences. In Set Piece by Kate Orman, Ace leaves the Doctor again to become Time's Vigilante, using a short-range time hopper mounted on a motorcycle to patrol a particular segment of time. In effect she is doing what the Doctor does, but on a smaller scale. The Virgin New Adventures (often referred to simply as NAs within fandom) were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, continuing the story of the series from where the television programme had left off. ... Paul Cornell appearing on Doctor Who Confidential Paul Cornell (born July 18, 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction. ... Bernice Surprise Summerfield (later Professor Bernice Summerfield or just Benny) is a fictional character originally created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishings range of original full-length Doctor Who novels, the New Adventures. ... Peter Darvill-Evans is a British writer and editor. ... Kate Orman is an Australian science-fiction author, best known for her books connected to the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Other spin-off media give contradictory versions of Ace's eventual fate. The comic strip in Doctor Who Magazine has Ace being killed off just prior to the events of the 1996 television movie (Ground Zero, DWM #238-#242). In the webcast audio play Death Comes to Time, Ace inherits the mantle of the Time Lords when they become extinct. Which of these outcomes is canonical, if any, is debatable. Ace's fate has yet to be referred to in the new Doctor Who television series of 2005, making her one of the few companions whose departure from the TARDIS has yet to be officially chronicled. Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Doctor Who Weekly #1, cover dated October 17, 1979 Doctor Who Magazine (abbreviated as DWM) is a periodical devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Death Comes to Time is a webcast audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced by the BBC and first broadcast in five episodes on the BBCi Cult website from 12 July 2001. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Ace's first name is Dorothy. Production notes suggest that it was intended that her last name was Gale, an allusion to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, given the fact that she was transported to Iceworld via a time storm. The Virgin novels and Big Finish audio plays, however, have given Ace the last name of McShane, with some suggesting that her middle name is Gale, or Gail. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a childrens book from the year 1900, written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. ...

Sophie Aldred has voiced Ace for several audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, alongside Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and, in some stories, Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield or Philip Olivier as Hex. In one of these stories, The Rapture, Ace discovers that she has a brother named Liam, of whom she had no previous knowledge. Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays released straight to compact disc, based on British cult science fiction properties. ... Sylvester McCoy (born August 20, 1943) is a Scottish actor. ... Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield Lisa Bowerman is a British actress. ... Philip Olivier Philip Olivier (born 1980 in Liverpool) is British actor whose most notable role was that of Timothy Tinhead OLeary, in the soap opera Brookside. ... Philip Olivier, who provides the voice for Hex Thomas Hector Schofield, nicknamed Hex, is a fictional character played by Philip Olivier in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Rapture is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

In 1996, Doctor Who Books published a hardback by Sophie Aldred and Mike Tucker entitled Ace!: The Inside Story of the End of an Era (ISBN 1-85227-574-X). This book gives details of each serial featuring the character Ace, complete with many photographs and concept art. It also contains a list of other spin-offs in which the character of Ace appears and some of the conventions which Sophie Aldred attended, along with some information about the planned Season 27, including Ace's departure. 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Fan group BBV produced a number of video and audio adventures starring the Doctor Who cast in very similar roles to their televised characters. This included Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as "The Professor" and "Ace", in several audioplays. They were clearly intended to be Doctor Who stories, but were never officially liscenced by the BBC. BBV is a video and audio production company specialising in science fiction drama, known for its links with the British science fiction television series Doctor Who (founder Bill Baggs is a fan, and BBV productions often feature characters and/or actors from the series). ...

External links

Ace! The fanlisting for Ace. A fanlisting is a website created by a fan of a particular subject, with the aim of gathering together a list (either in database format or hardcoded HTML) of other fans of that particular subject. ...