Ace

Ace is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A 20th-century Earth teenager from the London suburb of Perivale, she is a companion of the Seventh Doctor and was a regular in the series from 1987 to 1989. She is considered one of the Doctor's most popular companions. Ace appeared in ten stories (32 episodes), and was the final companion in the original run of the classic series. Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel said that the character was written to be a "fighter and not a screamer". In the television series Ace reveals that her real given name is Dorothy. Her family name is never explicitly stated in the series but spin-off media refer to her as both Dorothy Gale and Dorothy McShane. Character history Ace is a 16-year-old human who first appears in the 1987 serial Dragonfire, where she is working as a waitress in the frozen food retail complex of Iceworld on the planet Svartos. She had been a troubled teen on Earth, having been expelled from school for blowing up the art room as a "creative statement". Gifted in chemistry (despite failing the subject at O-level), she was in her room experimenting with the extraction of nitroglycerin from gelignite when an explosion (later revealed to be a time-storm created by Fenric) swept her up and transported her to Iceworld, many years in the future. There, she meets the Doctor and his companion Mel. When Mel leaves the Doctor at the conclusion of the serial, he offers to take Ace with him in the TARDIS, and she happily accepts.