Dodo Chaplet

Dorothea Chaplet, or Dodo, is a fictional character played by Jackie Lane in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. An Earth teenager from the year 1966, she was a companion of the First Doctor and a regular in the programme in its third season, from February to July, 1966. Dodo was a typical teenage girl of the 1960s, bright and happy and yet not very sophisticated. Lane is the youngest female actor to have played a companion in the series - Matthew Waterhouse who played Adric in the early 1980s being the youngest male actor to have played a companion.

Related Topics:
Jackie Lane - British - Science fiction television - Doctor Who - Earth - 1966 - Companion - First Doctor - February - July - 1960s - Matthew Waterhouse - Adric - 1980s

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Dodo was introduced at the end of the serial The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. In that story, the Doctor and Steven travelled to 1572 Paris, where they witnessed the persecution of the city's Huguenot population. Despite befriending a young woman named Anne Chaplet, the Doctor knew he could not prevent the coming massacre of 10,000 Huguenots, including Anne, by the Catholic French authorities. He therefore left in the TARDIS, taking Steven with him. When Steven found out, he was furious and considered leaving the Doctor while the TARDIS was in 1966 London. He returned at the same time that a teenage girl wandered into the TARDIS thinking it was a real police box. The Doctor and Steven were taken aback when she introduced herself as Dodo Chaplet, and revealed that her grandfather was French. The Doctor speculated that Dodo might be Anne's descendant. However, some have pointed out that Dodo could not have possibly been, since Anne's offspring would have had their father's last name, not hers.

Related Topics:
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve - The Doctor - Steven - 1572 - Paris - Huguenot - Massacre of 10,000 Huguenots - Catholic - TARDIS - 1966 - London - Police box

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In her travels with the Doctor she travelled to the far future, unfortunately bringing the common cold with her to infect humanity's descendants; faced the mad games of the Celestial Toymaker; witnessed the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; said good-bye to Steven in The Savages; and was hypnotised by the rogue artificial intelligence WOTAN in The War Machines.

Related Topics:
Travelled to the far future - Mad games - Celestial Toymaker - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - The Savages - Hypnotised - Artificial intelligence - The War Machines

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Halfway through that last adventure, she abruptly disappeared for a rest in the country after being hypnotised and never reappeared. At the story's conclusion Polly (who, with Ben Jackson, took Dodo's place as a companion) explained to the departing Doctor that Dodo had decided to remain in the 20th Century.

Related Topics:
Polly - Ben Jackson

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Dodo's life after she left the Doctor was not dealt with in the programme. The spin-off novel Who Killed Kennedy by David Bishop revealed that Dodo suffered a nervous breakdown and was unable to remember her adventures with the Doctor, drifting in and out of psychiatric institutions. She eventually became involved with a journalist that was investigating the truth behind UNIT and was ultimately murdered by the Master.

Related Topics:
Spin-off - David Bishop - UNIT - The Master

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