Like many people associated with Doctor Who for its nearly 49 years of existence, actors who’ve
played companions to the wandering Doctor may choose depart from show, but they
never fully leave it.
Yes, fandom is sometimes difficult. Science fiction fans are
loyal, adoring and sometimes over the top, but in the end, they love the
character as much as they love the actor who plays them, which is why, at this
time, our hearts hurt to learn of their passing. And the fact that is, in the
last eighteen months, Doctor Who has
lost four beloved actors who played enduring roles on the cult show in the
1970s –Nicholas Courtney, Elizabeth Sladen, Caroline John and now Mary Tamm.
Tamm, who joined the show for season sixteen as Romanadvoratrelundar
(Romana for short), passed away on July 26, after an 18 month battle with
cancer. She was 62. Like Elizabeth Sladen, like Caroline John, her illness
was kept secret from the press and fandom.
When she joined the show in 1978, it was at a crossroads.
After fifteen successful seasons, the series was showing its age. While Tom
Baker was well settled into the role after four years, the producers were
trying to figure out how make the show fresh for his fifth year. So for season
sixteen, they came up with The Key to
Time arc (something proposed by producer Graham Williams two years earlier).
For the first time in the shows history, the entire season would be linked under
an umbrella theme.
And at first, Tamm was not keen on the idea of playing a
companion to the Doctor. While the 1970’s companions began to change, grow and
become more three dimensional than their 1960’s counterparts, at times they
still were the typical damsel in distress. But producers assured her that
Romana, a fellow Time Lord, would be just as smart and capable as the Doctor. And
at first, you could see they were sticking to that. But a little more than
halfway through the twenty-six episode season, the writers seemed to forget who
Romana was and her character began to de-evolve into the more traditional assistant
role, with nothing in site to prove they had any intention of developing the
character further. So as the season wound down, she decided not to return for
season seventeen, though her departure was not announced until after filming
had already been completed.
But fortune favored the production team, as Lalla Ward –who played
an instrumental role in the six episode season ending serial, Armageddon
Factor- was asked to take over the role for the next season. According to an
interview with Tamm back in 2007, she was willing to film a regeneration scene
to help smooth the transition between her and (eventually) Lalla Ward, but said
she was not invited to do so, and that she believed that producer John
Nathan-Turner created a false rumor that she was pregnant and thus that was why
she was not asked back.
After leaving the series, Tamm took leading roles in two BBC
dramas, The Treachery Game and its
sequel The Assassination Run. A leading role in the sitcom The Hello, Goodbye Man opposite Ian
Lavender was produced in 1984. She was also on the soap Brookside between 1993 and 1996, as well as many guest-star roles
on various TV series.
Still, Tamm continued her association with the show through the
audio plays of Big Finish, reprising Romana for the Companion Chronicle: The Stealers from Saiph in 2009. This was
followed by Ferril's Folly and Tales from the Vault in 2011. She also returned
as Romana in Big Finish’s second series of The
Fourth Doctor Adventures featuring Tom Baker, which will now be released posthumously
this January.
She is survived by her husband, Marcus Ringrose, daughter
Lauren and grandson Max.
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