Tegan Jovanka was a
Doctor Who companion. She was played by Australian actress Janet Fielding. She first appeared in
Logopolis (episode 116).
In
Logopolis, Tegan was a 21-year old flight attendant who was en route to her first real job with her aunt. They got a flat. Seeing the
TARDIS and thinking it was an actual police box, she entered it. During the episode her aunt was killed by
The Master.
Doctor Who, played by
Tom Baker, dies at the end of
Logopolis and she witnesses him regenerating into a man who curiously resembled the
Dish of the Day1 in
The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That is to say
Peter Davison.
Her final appearance as an official companion was in
Resurrection of the Daleks (episode 134). At the end of the episode, the TARDIS puts in a stop on Earth. Tegan -- weary of her long journeys, occasional personality clashes with the other members of the TARDIS, and the large amount of death that seemed to follow in Doctor Who's
wake -- choses to stay on Earth.
Tegan returned briefly for
The Caves of Androzani (episode 136) for a guest shot.
Tegan, with a figure that would push her into the ranks of the "
anatomically elite"
2, seems to be a
perennial favorite companion among Doctor Who's mostly male sweaty-palmed following. Tegan was no bimbo, however. She was self-confident to the point of being a bit brash.
Tegan's character was unique in that she was the longest running Doctor Who companion (appearing in 19 episodes) and the only companion to be introduced during a
regeneration episode.
Fielding herself quit acting shortly after playing the Tegan role and worked for an
advocacy group for women in film and television. She also became an agent and actually represented
Paul McGann, the American TV incarnation of Doctor Who.
_________
1 Peter Davison plays the talking cow dish in
Miliways.
2 She had big fucking tits, okay.