Sara Kingdom

Sara Kingdom is a fictional character played by Jean Marsh in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A security officer from the 41st century, she is sometimes classed as a companion of the First Doctor, although she appeared onscreen only for a portion of the 12-part 1965 serial, The Daleks' Master Plan.

Related Topics:
Jean Marsh - British - Science fiction television - Doctor Who - Companion - First Doctor - 1965 - The Daleks' Master Plan

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Sara was a Space Security Agent, the sister of Bret Vyon, another agent who was aiding the Doctor in trying to defeat the Daleks. Told that Vyon was a traitor by Mavic Chen, the Guardian of the Solar System (who was in league with the Daleks) and ordered to kill whoever was working with him, she shot her brother and was about to do the same to the Doctor and Steven when they were all transported across space to the planet Mira. There she learned, to her horror and grief, that her unquestioning obedience had not only led her to unjustly kill her brother, but also that by doing so she had prevented Vyon from warning Earth of the Dalek plot. She then joined the Doctor in his fight.

Related Topics:
The Doctor - Dalek - Steven - Transported - Earth

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When the Doctor activated a time destructor - a device that could accelerate time - as part of his plan to stop the Daleks, he ordered his companions back to the TARDIS for their protection. However, Sara followed him, not knowing the nature of his plan but concerned it might fail. As a result, she was caught in the field of the time destructor as it rapidly aged everything around it. While the Doctor, being a Time Lord, could withstand the effects better, Sara, being human, could not. As Steven and the Doctor watched helplessly, Sara died, her remains aging to dust. Sara became only the second Doctor Who companion to be killed, and the last until Adric nearly 20 years later.

Related Topics:
TARDIS - Time Lord - Adric

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Sara was 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 changed that, and she turned her formidable skill and intellect to the defeat of the Daleks.

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John Peel's two-book novelisation 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 travelled together and had other adventures. Sara appeared in the short stories The Little Drummer Boy, by Eddie Robson and The Last Song I'll Ever Sing by Simon Exton. Sara also featured as a character in The Dalek Outer Space Book (cover dated 1966), one of three Dalek annuals containing short stories and comic strips licensed by the BBC between 1963 and 1965.

Related Topics:
John Peel's - Novelisation - 1966 - 1963 - 1965

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Jean Marsh had previously appeared in Doctor Who playing King Richard's sister, the Princess Joanna in The Crusade. Marsh would return to the programme in the 1989 serial Battlefield, playing Morgaine, coincidentally with Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Courtney had also played Bret Vyon in Master Plan.

Related Topics:
King Richard - The Crusade - 1989 - Battlefield - Morgaine - Nicholas Courtney - Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

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