Doctor Who character
Leela of the Sevateem
Leela
Affiliated with	Fourth Doctor
Race	Human
Home planet	Unspecified
Home era	Far future
First appearance	The Face of Evil
Last appearance	The Invasion of Time
Portrayed by	Louise Jameson

Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was a warrior of the savage Sevateem tribe, who were the descendants of the crew of an Earth ship that crash landed on an unnamed planet somewhere in the far future. The name of her tribe was a corruption of "survey team". Leela was a companion of the Fourth Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1977 to 1978. Writer Chris Boucher named her after the Palestinian militant Leila Khaled, although this fact was not publicised at the time. Download high resolution version (457x617, 53 KB)Louise Jameson as Leela (Doctor Who), from Doctor Who This work is copyrighted. ... The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are biologically classified as bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or thinking man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... The Face of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from January 1 to January 22, 1977. ... The Invasion of Time is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 4 to March 11, 1978. ... Louise Jameson Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951) is a British actress, most famous for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the mysterious Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Louise Jameson Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951) is a British actress, most famous for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the mysterious Doctor in the long-running science fiction 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, who explores time and space with his companions, fighting evil. ... Earth is the third planet in the solar system. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta probe on 2nd of March, 2004. ... The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Chris Boucher Chris Boucher (born 1943) is a British television writer, best known for his frequent contributions to two genres, science-fiction and crime dramas. ... Leila Khaled in the 1970s Leila Khaled (Arabic: ; born April 9, 1944) is a former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), part of the secular, leftwing Palestinian rejectionist front. ...

Leela first appeared in the 1977 serial, The Face of Evil, where she aided the Doctor against the mad god Xoanon. The god turned out to be the ship's computer, which had become both sentient and schizophrenic due to the Doctor's tampering with it in the past. Although the Doctor at this point was content to travel alone, Leela forced her way into the TARDIS and continued to accompany the Doctor on his journeys. For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... The Face of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from January 1 to January 22, 1977. ... This is a list of villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... For other uses, see Schizophrenia (disambiguation). ... The Third Doctor emerging from the TARDIS in the 1970 serial Spearhead from Space. ...

Although Leela was a primitive, she was also highly intelligent, grasping advanced concepts easily and translating them into terms she could cope with. Despite the Doctor's attempts at "civilizing" her, however, Leela was strong-willed enough to continue in her savage ways. She usually dressed in animal skins and went around armed with a knife or a set of poisonous Janis thorns which she did not hesitate to use on people who threatened her, much to the Doctor's disapproval.

Although Jameson's eyes are naturally blue, as Leela she initially wore red contact lenses to make them brown. However, the contact lenses severely limited her vision, and producer Graham Williams promised her she could stop wearing them. To explain the change in-story, writer Terrance Dicks wrote a scene in the 1977 serial Horror of Fang Rock where Leela's eyes suffered "pigment dispersal" and turned blue after viewing the explosion of the Rutan ship. A contact lens (also known simply as a contact) is a corrective, cosmetic, or therapeutic lens usually placed on the cornea of the eye. ... Graham Williams was a British producer and script-editor, whose best know work was on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Terrance Dicks Terrance Dicks (born 1935 in East Ham, London, England, UK) is a British writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular childrens books during the 1970s and 80s. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Horror of Fang Rock is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 3 to September 24, 1977. ... The Rutan Host, or Rutans are a fictional extraterrestrial race from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

In her travels with the Doctor, Leela faced, among others, killer robots, murderous homunculi, the Rutan Host, and the Sontaran invasion of the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey. It was in that last adventure, The Invasion of Time, that she met and fell in love with Andred, a native Gallifreyan, and decided to stay behind to be with him. The first K-9 also remained with her. The Robots of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from January 29 to February 19, 1977. ... The Sontarans are a fictional extraterrestrial race from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... // Headline text A Vardan spaceship approaches Gallifrey from space (from The Invasion of Time). ... The Invasion of Time is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 4 to March 11, 1978. ... K-9, or K9 is the name of several robot dogs in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Conceptual history

The character of Leela was first conceived by producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes. They wanted a companion in the mould of Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion: a bright but unsophisticated primitive who would learn from the Doctor. Writer Chris Boucher had submitted a story proposal titled The Mentor Conspiracy which featured a character named Leela which fit Hinchcliffe and Holmes's ideas. Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Hinchcliffe (born 1944) is a British television producer, who is probably best known for the overseeing of the golden era of British television series Doctor Who in the mid-1970s. ... This entry is about the television scriptwriter. ... Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character who appears in the play Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw, 1912) and, by extension, the musical version of that play My Fair Lady. ... (George) Bernard Shaw (July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950) was an Irish playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. ... Pygmalion is a play by G. Bernard Shaw, written in 1912 and first staged in English in 1914. ... Chris Boucher Chris Boucher (born 1943) is a British television writer, best known for his frequent contributions to two genres, science-fiction and crime dramas. ...

Although The Mentor Conspiracy was not produced, Boucher reused the character of Leela for The Day God Went Mad (later renamed to the more politically correct The Face of Evil), seeing her as a mixture of Emma Peel from The Avengers and Leila Khaled. Boucher was asked to write two endings to Face, one where Leela left with the Doctor and one where she stayed behind, and the decision to have Leela become a companion was made soon after. The Avengers, John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), appear on the cover of a 1994 reprint of an Avengers novel co-written by Macnee. ... The most famous incarnation of The Avengers, John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) appear on the cover of a 1994 reprint of an Avengers novel co-written by Macnee. ...

Other appearances

Leela's subsequent life on Gallifrey was not explored by the television series, although the spin-off media have done so to an extent. In the Virgin New Adventures novel Lungbarrow, by Marc Platt, Leela and Andred were expecting a child, the first naturally conceived baby on Gallifrey for millennia. Louise Jameson reprised the role of Leela for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, and has voiced the character in a series of audio plays for Big Finish Productions taking place on Gallifrey, alongside Lalla Ward as Romana. Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... 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. ... Lungbarrow cover Lungbarrow (ISBN 0426205022) is an original novel written by Marc Platt and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) 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. ... Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays released straight to compact disc, based on British cult science fiction properties. ... Lalla Ward (publicity portrait from 1990). ... Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Leela did not appear in any of the Virgin Missing Adventures, but has appeared in several of the Past Doctor Adventures including four pairings of her and the Fourth Doctor written by Chris Boucher. The Virgin Missing Adventures (often referred to simply as MAs in 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 Past Doctor Adventures (sometimes known by the abbreviation PDA or PDAs) are a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. ... Chris Boucher Chris Boucher (born 1943) is a British television writer, best known for his frequent contributions to two genres, science-fiction and crime dramas. ...