Zoe Heriot

Zoe Heriot (sometimes spelled Zoe Herriot), or simply Zoe, is a fictional character played by Wendy Padbury in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A young astrophysicist who lived on a space wheel in the 21st Century, she was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1968 to 1969.

Related Topics:
Wendy Padbury - British - Science fiction television - Doctor Who - Astrophysicist - Space wheel - Companion - Second Doctor - 1968 - 1969

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Zoe first appeared in the serial The Wheel in Space, where she was the librarian on board Space Station W3, also known as the Wheel. when the Cybermen attacked, she aided the Doctor and Jamie in defeating them and later stowed away aboard the TARDIS. In David Whitaker's script for The Wheel in Space, Zoe's last name was spelled "Heriot", but the double-"r" mispelling is also seen in reference works.

Related Topics:
The Wheel in Space - Cybermen - The Doctor - Jamie - TARDIS - David Whitaker

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Zoe held a degree in "pure mathematics" and was a genius, with intelligence scores comparable to the Doctor's. Those, coupled with her photographic memory and the advanced learning techniques of her era, made her somewhat like a human calculator, able to perform complicated mathemathics in her head. Part of the reason for her wanting to travel with the Doctor was her chafing at the restrictions and sterile surroundings of her station-bound existence. Having been on the Wheel all her life, however, meant that her real world experience was severely limited, and that gave her an ability to frequently get herself in trouble.

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Together with the Doctor and Jamie, she met the Cybermen again when they invaded 20th Century London, entered the surreal Land of Fiction, fought the Ice Warriors and survived the battlefields of the War Chief's war games. Her journeys with the Doctor came to an end in that last serial, when the Time Lords finally caught up with the Doctor. Forcing a regeneration on him and exiling him to Earth, the Time Lords returned Jamie and Zoe to their own times, wiping the memory of their experiences with the Doctor (save for their first encounters with him) in the process.

Related Topics:
London - Ice Warrior - The War Chief - War games - Time Lord - Regeneration - Earth

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Zoe's life after her return to her own time was not further explored in the series. In the spin-off short story The Tip of the Mind by Peter Anghelides, due to the memory blocks placed by the Time Lords, she is unable to access the subconscious memories of her time with the Doctor and make sense of the strange dreams these cause. Unfortunately, this causes her work to suffer, and she never reaches her full potential.

Related Topics:
Spin-off - Peter Anghelides

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Wendy Padbury returned as an illusory image of Zoe in the 20th Anniversary television movie, The Five Doctors. Padbury also acted in the Big Finish Productions audio play Davros, but playing a character other than Zoe.

Related Topics:
The Five Doctors - Big Finish Productions - Davros

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