Victoria Waterfield

[Peri-Peri]

Victoria Maud Waterfield, born 1852, was the daughter of Edward Waterfield, and companion to the Second Doctor.

Victoria's father, Edward Waterfield, and his colleague Theodore Maxtible had experimented with time travel and accidentally established a link between Maxtible's house and the Dalek city on the planet Skaro. The Daleks had used Victoria as a hostage in order to control her father and Maxtible.
A Dalek confronts Victoria. (DW: The Evil of the Daleks)

Having been taken prisoner, and eventually moved to Skaro, Victoria became stranded on the alien planet - her father having died to save the Doctor's life. Drawing on this experience, Victoria became prepared to encounter more advanced civilisations than her own. With her father's death, Victoria was now an orphan. Having no family to return to, she decided to join the Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon on their travels.

Victoria always tended to look for the humanity of the circumstances she found herself in. Rather than wonder at the TARDIS, Victoria worried about the Doctor's age. Until her abduction by the Daleks, Victoria apparently led the sheltered life that accompanied women from wealthy British families in the 19th century. She was, however, quite capable of looking after herself.

Although Victoria loved the Doctor and Jamie, and enjoyed their company, she missed her home and father. Since she had joined the TARDIS crew only as a result of her father's death, she was somewhat of an unwilling adventurer. Victoria had begun commenting with greater frequency on her dislike for the dangers she, Jamie, and the Doctor often encountered in their travels. Unsurprisingly, she took her first opportunity to settle down with an established, caring, family. Having no family to return to, and realising that her travels had changed her outlook and expectations, Victoria decided to stay with Maggie and Frank Harris in the 20th Century, rather than continue her travels with the Doctor, despite the fact that Jamie, who had feelings for Victoria, tried to persuade her to stay.

[Nyki]

I love Victoria, and I think she's a somewhat underrated companion.  Although she's sheltered and used to being looked after, she has a touch of the formidable female Victorian adventurer about her, and she's far from helpless, even if her secret weapon here is distracting Kaftan by screaming.  And I love the relationship between her, Jamie and the Doctor.

[Saber]

I agree, she is very underrated. It's such a shame that so much of her appearances on the show are missing because DW put in some excellent performances

[Nyki]

I'm pretty sure it's unique in Doctor Who that in two of the seven stories she appeared in, she co-starred with her father.

[Peri-Peri]

It's a shame that most people's knowledge or memory of her is as a screamer. I think she had a couple of famous screams in the show and it sort of stuck and I think for a lot of people that is how she is remembered but it is a shame because to watch her here or in recons or to listen to the audios you can see that there is so much more to her

[Aneurin]

I like her. She seems a bit dim, but at the same time doesn't seem as dim as she comes across if that makes sense. Like she has it in her, she just needs to learn to show how good and bright she can be. It's a shame so much is lost because I would have liked to have seen more of her

[Exterminate]

I don't think it was so much that she was dim, but more that she was perhaps naive. She had after all been taken from Victorian England and then whisked off into time and space

[Tardis-Console]

I thought she was great. She was well written and played brilliantly. I think the writers got it spot on because it was so believable that she came out of Victorian England and her responses to things seemed very genuine, even if she did take it all in perhaps a little too easily, though I suppose they can't really dwell on all that too much and I don't know how that develops in her other stories

[Roranicus]

I don't think it was so much that she was dim, but more that she was perhaps naive. She had after all been taken from Victorian England and then whisked off into time and space

I tend to agree. I think she is obviously, if even only for her time, a bright young girl. I think she is just a bit wet behind the ears. She is only about 18 or 19 anyway, so her experience would be shocking by anyones standards, but to come from a time where technology was only just reaslly beginning and then to see all this stuff?? I think she handled it well

[Nyki]

I thought she was great. She was well written and played brilliantly. I think the writers got it spot on because it was so believable that she came out of Victorian England and her responses to things seemed very genuine, even if she did take it all in perhaps a little too easily, though I suppose they can't really dwell on all that too much and I don't know how that develops in her other stories

Well, by this time, she'd been held prisoner for some time by the Daleks, then taken in a time machine to Skaro and had to help overcome the Daleks and escape (and all in a huge Victorian dress) so it's not completely new to her.