Sara Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Sara Kingdom is a fictional character played by Jean Marsh
Jean Marsh
Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh is an English actress, occasional screenwriter, and co-creator of the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott....

 in the long-running British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...

 series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

. A security officer for Mavic Chen from the 41st century, she would later join the First Doctor
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...

 and Steven
Steven Taylor (Doctor Who)
Steven Taylor is a fictional character played by Peter Purves in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A space pilot from Earth in the future, he was a companion of the First Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1965 to 1966.-Character history:Steven first...

 to work against Chen's interests. She is sometimes classed as a companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

 of the First Doctor
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...

 but the BBC's official Doctor Who website does not include her in their list of companions. Her status as a companion is commented upon in its Episode Guide.

She appeared in parts four to twelve of the twelve-part 1965 serial, The Daleks' Master Plan
The Daleks' Master Plan
The Daleks' Master Plan is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The twelve episodes were aired from 13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966...

. Her character took on elements of the companion role to replace the character of Katarina who was killed off in the same story.

Character history

Sara is a Space Security Agent, the sister of Bret Vyon, another agent who is aiding the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

 in trying to defeat the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...

s. Told that Vyon is a traitor by Mavic Chen, the Guardian of the Solar System (who was in league with the Daleks) and ordered to kill whoever is working with him, she shoots her brother and is about to do the same to the Doctor and Steven when they are transported
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...

 across space to the planet Mira. There she learns, to her horror and grief, that her unquestioning obedience has not only led her to unjustly kill her brother, but also that by doing so she has prevented Vyon from warning Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 of the Dalek plot. She then joins the Doctor in his fight, briefly travelling in the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

 to several different locations in space and time as the Doctor and Steven try to return the ship to Kembel for a final confrontation with Mavic Chen and the Daleks.

When the Doctor activates the Time Destructor — a device that accelerates time — as part of his plan to stop the Daleks, he orders his companions back to the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

 for their protection. However, Sara follows him, not knowing the nature of his plan but concerned it might fail. As a result, she is caught in the field of the Time Destructor as it rapidly ages everything around it. While the Doctor, being a Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...

, can withstand the effects, Sara, being human, cannot. As Steven and the Doctor watch helplessly, Sara ages (and is portrayed as an old woman by May Warden
May Warden
May Warden was an English actress and comedienne.Although she played in other films and TV shows, in Germany and Scandinavia she is best known for her role as Miss Sophie in the comedy sketch Dinner for One along with Freddie Frinton in a 1963 recording.She married comedian Silvester Stewart May...

) and dies, her remains aging to dust.

Sara is by turns aggressive, independent and ruthless in her pursuit of what was right, a single-mindedness that blinded her to the larger implications of her orders. Meeting the Doctor changes that, and she turns her formidable skill and intellect to the defeat of the Daleks.

Behind the scenes

The character was created largely because the production team decided that the character of Katarina
Katarina (Doctor Who)
Katarina is a fictional character played by Adrienne Hill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who appearing in the programme from November to December 1965....

, introduced in the previous serial The Myth Makers
The Myth Makers
The Myth Makers is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 16 October to 6 November 1965. The story is set in Homeric Troy, based on Iliad by Homer...

, would not work as a regular. Thus, Sara has some of the attributes and narrative function of a traditional Doctor Who companion. However, the official BBC website cites as "myth" the notion that Sara was created as a companion to replace Katarina. There were no plans to have Sara continue as a character beyond The Daleks' Master Plan. Marsh herself said in a 2003 interview for the Loose Cannon telesnap reconstruction that she would "definitely not" have continued in the role past Master Plan, even had it been offered to her.

A Production Diary compiled by David J. Howe
David J. Howe
David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian.-Biography:David Howe was born in 1961 and established himself as an authoritative media historian through writing articles for fanzines and other publications...

, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker from contemporary memos and correspondence notes that producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 John Wiles
John Wiles
John Wiles was a television writer and producer, now best known for being the second producer of the popular science fiction serial Doctor Who, succeeding Verity Lambert...

 and story editor
Script editor
A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas with writers, ensuring that scripts are suitable for production...

 Donald Tosh
Donald Tosh
Donald Tosh was a BBC screenwriter during the 1960s who contributed to the Doctor Who programme in 1965.Before working on Doctor Who Tosh was briefly script editor on the series Compact, and had helped to develop the show that eventually became Coronation Street.Tosh was the story editor for the...

 employed Sara Kingdom as a "short-term companion...[to] be killed off at the end of [The Daleks' Master Plan]". She was billed
Billing (film)
Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works...

 as "'Sara Kingdom" in the episodes "The Traitors" to "Coronas of the Sun", but her surname was dropped from the billing in her final six episodes and thus she was billed as "Sara" from "The Feast of Steven" to "Destruction of Time". Companion Steven Taylor is similarly billed simply as "Steven" throughout The Daleks' Master Plan.

Proposed use after Doctor Who

According to The Official Dr. Who & the Daleks Book, Sara Kingdom was originally devised by Terry Nation
Terry Nation
Terry Nation was a Welsh screenwriter and novelist.He is probably best known for creating the villainous Daleks in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who...

 as a supporting character in a proposed American-produced spin-off of Doctor Who that would have focused on Kingdom and her colleagues fighting the Daleks. A 30-minute script titled The Destroyers was created for a potential pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 which was never produced.

Character Resurrection

Jean Marsh reprised the role for the Companion Chronicles range of Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...

 audio dramas, set just after the Christmas episode. In The Guardian of the Solar System
The Guardian of the Solar System
The Guardian of the Solar System is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

, it is revealed that the TARDIS traveled back in time and Sara unintentionally met Mavic Chen over a year before the events of The Daleks' Master Plan. Sara believes her interference in this brief sidestep may have driven Chen to strike a deal with the Daleks.

In the first drama produced, Home Truths
Home Truths (Doctor Who audio)
Home Truths is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.The Companion Chronicles "talking books" are each narrated by one of the Doctor's companions and feature a second, guest-star voice along with music and sound effects.-...

, The Doctor, Steven and Sara found a house in Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...

 in the far future that was so advanced, its abilities seemed like magic. It granted people's wishes. However, it did not have a conscience, and it accidentally killed its owners. Sara implanted a copy of her consciousness into the house and it lived with her voice and mind and memories for over a century. Even after the civilization around it collapsed, the house lived on, a mysterious anomaly to the de-civilized humans. Many feared it, but some would explore it and Sara would make them comfortable and grant their wishes.

The third tale, Guardian of the Solar System, finds the house and Sara finally separating. She trades places with a man named Robert, to whom she had told stories and granted wishes for many years. The trade, Robert's final wish, gave him the ability to do almost anything, although it necessitated sacrificing his body. Sara was suddenly reborn in a new version of her original body, albeit slightly older and with a thousand years of memories. However, she has no idea what happened to the real Sara after she left the house. This new Sara feels lost in this new world, so Robert grants her final wish. The TARDIS materializes in front of her and inside it, the Doctor (implied to be an incarnation other than the first) wonders what force dragged it down to Earth.

Literary appearances

Sara's first use in tie-in material was in The Dalek Outer Space Book (cover dated 1966), the last of three Dalek annuals containing short stories and comic strips licensed by the BBC between 1963 and 1965.

John Peel's
John Peel (writer)
John Peel is a British writer, best known for his books connected to several television series. He has written under several pseudonyms, including John Vincent and Nicholas Adams. He lives in Long Island, New York and his wife is a U.S...

 two-book novelisation
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

 of Master Plan indicates that some six months elapsed between the seventh and eighth episodes of the serial, during which Sara, Steven and the Doctor travel together and have other adventures; Peel stated that this was in order to allow future writers to develop stories involving Sara. Sara subsequently appears in a short story entitled The Little Drummer Boy by Eddie Robson
Eddie Robson
Eddie Robson is a freelance author best known for his work on a variety of spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who in his book : Who's Next. He is also co-owner of and a regular reviewer on the Shiny Shelf website, as well as a freelance reviewer for various science fiction magazines...

 from the Big Finish book Short Trips: Companions
Short Trips: Companions
Short Trips: Companions is a Big Finish original anthology edited by Jacqueline Rayner and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The stories focus on the companions and their travels with the Doctor.-Stories:...

. She is then heard in a trilogy of audio dramas in the Companion Chronicles range of Big Finish Productions. Written by Simon Guerrier
Simon Guerrier
Simon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs...

, they feature Jean Marsh reprising her role as Kingdom.

She also returns in an audio adaptation of The Destroyers unmade script which, for Kingdom, takes place before she met the Doctor.

A ghost-like illusion of Kingdom, alongside Katarina and another deceased companion, Adric
Adric
Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, he was a regular in the...

, appears in the Virgin New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...

 novel Timewyrm: Revelation
Timewyrm: Revelation
Timewyrm: Revelation is an original Doctor Who novel, published by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels...

by Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....

. This sequence takes place largely inside the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....

's mind, showing that the Doctor still bears the guilt of some deaths.

A race of shapeshifter
ShapeShifter
ShapeShifter is an Application Enhancer plugin for Mac OS X developed by Unsanity that allows the user to make system-wide modifications to the appearance of the operating system's graphical interface by applying GUI skins through “injection” into running code and without modifying system files,...

s known as the Ganazalum impersonate various companions, dead and living in the Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

comic strip Planet of the Dead (DWM #141-#142), Kingdom among them. Generally, the canonicity of the various Doctor Who spin-off media
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

 is open to interpretation.

Jean Marsh in Doctor Who

Jean Marsh had previously appeared in Doctor Who playing King Richard
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...

's sister, the Princess Joanna
Joan of England, Queen of Sicily
Joan of England was the seventh child of Henry II of England and his queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine.Joan was a younger maternal half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France...

, in The Crusade
The Crusade (Doctor Who)
The Crusade is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from March 27 to April 17, 1965. The story is set in Palestine, near Jerusalem, during the Third Crusade.-Plot:...

. Marsh would return to the programme in the 1989 serial Battlefield
Battlefield (Doctor Who)
Battlefield is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 6 to September 27, 1989. It was the last appearance of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who....

, playing Morgaine
Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay , alternatively known as Morgane, Morgaine, Morgana and other variants, is a powerful sorceress in the Arthurian legend. Early works featuring Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a fay or magician...

, coincidentally with Nicholas Courtney
Nicholas Courtney
William Nicholas Stone Courtney was an English television actor, most famous for playing Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...

 as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Nicholas Courtney...

, thus appearing in both his first and last regular Doctor Who episodes. Courtney also played Bret Vyon in Master Plan. In 2007 she appeared opposite the Sixth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...

 and Mel
Melanie Bush
Mel, also sometimes referred to as Melanie, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A computer programmer from the 20th Century who is a companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1986 to 1987...

 in the Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...

 audio drama The Wishing Beast
The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box
The Wishing Beast and The Vanity Box is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-The Wishing Beast:...

.

Audio

  • Home Truths
    Home Truths (Doctor Who audio)
    Home Truths is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.The Companion Chronicles "talking books" are each narrated by one of the Doctor's companions and feature a second, guest-star voice along with music and sound effects.-...

  • The Drowned World
    The Drowned World (Doctor Who audio)
    The Drowned World is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

  • The Guardian of the Solar System
    The Guardian of the Solar System
    The Guardian of the Solar System is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

  • The Destroyers (without the Doctor)
  • The Five Companions
    The Five Companions
    The Five Companions is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is free to subscribers and released with Army of Death...

    (with the Fifth Doctor
    Fifth Doctor
    The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....

    )
  • The Anachronauts
    The Anachronauts
    The Anachronauts is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....


Short stories

  • "The Little Drummer Boy" by Eddie Robson
    Eddie Robson
    Eddie Robson is a freelance author best known for his work on a variety of spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who in his book : Who's Next. He is also co-owner of and a regular reviewer on the Shiny Shelf website, as well as a freelance reviewer for various science fiction magazines...

     (Short Trips: Companions
    Short Trips: Companions
    Short Trips: Companions is a Big Finish original anthology edited by Jacqueline Rayner and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The stories focus on the companions and their travels with the Doctor.-Stories:...

    )
  • "The Last Song I'll Ever Sing" by Simon Exton (Missing Pieces)

Comics

  • "Planet of the Dead" by Lee Sullivan
    Lee Sullivan
    Lee Terence Sullivan is the drummer for the London based alternative rock band Bôa. Lee is the son of Terry Sullivan, the drummer for the rock band Renaissance.-References:...

     and John Freeman
    John Freeman
    John Freeman may refer to:*John Freeman , character animator for Disney, Marvel Studios and others*John Freeman , Australian politician*John Freeman , writer and literary critic...

     (Doctor Who Magazine
    Doctor Who Magazine
    Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

     141-142
    ) (imposter)
  • "The Only Good Dalek" (mentioned) by Justin Richards
    Justin Richards
    Justin Richards is a British writer. He has written science fiction and fantasy novels, including series set in Victorian or early-20th-century London, and also adventure stories set in the present day...

     and Mike Collins
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