Vislor Turlough

[The Doc]

Vislor Turlough — more commonly just "Turlough" — was a companion of the Fifth Doctor who principally traveled alongside Tegan Jovanka, but also had a few adventures with Nyssa and Kamelion. He also briefly met and saved the life of Peri Brown before departing the Doctor's company.

Turlough was a complex individual, whose motivations were often unclear to those around him. He was for a time — by his own choice — under the influence of the Black Guardian. During this period he was actively trying to kill the Doctor. Later, after overcoming the Black Guardian, he was mostly a trusted member of the TARDIS crew, but there remained instances where his actions were questioned. It was only at the end of his time on the TARDIS that the Doctor finally discovered the truth about how Turlough ended up on Earth, and why he was susceptible to the Black Guardian in the first place.

Turlough acted selfishly, always preventing himself from blame. He could lie convincingly to most though some, such as Tegan and the Brigadier, were not taken in by him.

Tegan did not like Turlough, finding him untrustworthy. She did not approve of the Doctor letting Turlough consider the Black Guardian's offer, believing that Turlough would choose the crystal. However, the Doctor was confident in Turlough's morals.

Despite this, he recognised the Doctor's good intentions; he tried to make the Black Guardian reconsider his order to kill the Time Lord. He understood the TARDIS systems well enough to be able to run a diagnostic in The Five Doctors and programmed the TARDIS to rescue the Doctor and Peri in Planet of Fire.

Turlough was the last male companion to travel with the Doctor on-screen until Adam Mitchell, who joined in Dalek in 2005

[Exterminate]

No matter how much I watch Turlough, I am constantly on the fence with him. I never quite feel like I should like him, but I sort of want to at the same time. I suppose because of his other stories they have to keep most of his actions a bit questionable. He's alright in this story though

[poprockgeek]

Hard to judge him from this one story, though I do know some of his back story from the audios I've listened to with him in. I thought he was good in this though. Cool outfit too.

[Nyki]

I've liked him a lot better since watching the Guardian trilogy, but I never really felt much connection with Turlough.  And he looks a bit absurd trying to be convincing as a schoolboy.

[Vampyros Adric]

I liked the idea of Turlough! An alienated, ambiguous adolescent who was not the stereotypical companion. It provided some good dynamic with (not only the Doctor) but also Tegan - which was unusual and provided an interesting plot device.

Unfortunately Turlough suffers from a number of problems. Instead of an angst ridden adolescent we got a mid-20 something public school boy who appealed to absolutely no one. The fact that he wanted to kill the Doctor was an interesting development, but once that had been resolved, the Doctor took very little interest in him! A strange character with lots of potential but, in the end little was made of this potential.

And he didn't have a badge for mathematical excellence!

[Vampyros Adric]

I should add that none of the problems were down to Mark Strickson's acting - which I thought was really good. He also seems very happy with his part in the show and is a thoroughly nice chap!

[Nyki]

I should add that none of the problems were down to Mark Strickson's acting - which I thought was really good. He also seems very happy with his part in the show and is a thoroughly nice chap!

Yes, and he seems very aware of the shortcomings in how the character was handled.  He commented somewhere that they always just resorted to having him knocked out.

[Tardis-Console]

Is he actually meant to be a school boy then? I wasn't sure if maybe he just dressed like one. He looks about 30

[Nyki]

Is he actually meant to be a school boy then? I wasn't sure if maybe he just dressed like one. He looks about 30

Well, he's actually an alien, so who knows, but when he first appeared he was at a public school and no-one seemed to think there was anything odd about it.

[Peri-Peri]

I had a bit of a crush on Mark Strickson when I was young. I was never hugely keen on the character though. I liked him but like Ex says above, there was always something about the character that sort of had me on edge

[Dame Roger]

The character made sense at first when he was sent there by the Black Guardian and was (rather feebly) trying to kill the Doctor. After that whole plotline was resolved, though, they never really seemed to know quite what to do with him. There was a whole heap of potential for character development in all kinds of ways, but he never really seemed to go anywhere.
Although, as Vampyros Adric said, that is in no way a reflection on Mark Strickson's performance, which was always excellent.

[Aneurin]

I have only seen him in this and the one in Lanzarote but I don't remember much about him from that story. In this one though he was a bit of a wet blanket. It was like he took the role usually taken by the woman and was the damsel type character. I think behind the scenes Tegan secretly batters him