Liz Shaw

http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/9/94/Liz_Shaw.jpg

Who's Elizabeth Shaw? Well, she's the Doctor's new assistant, that's who.

What do you think of Liz?

She was just marvellous, wasn't she? In Season 6, we had Zoe - intelligent and rather smug about it. She wore her intelligence on her sleeve in youthful enthusiasm.

Liz Shaw, on the other hand, was a different kettle of fish. She clearly built on the idea of having an highly intelligent companion, but she wasn't nearly as smug. She had a very dry wit. She's the only "side-kick" to the Doctor who I'd truly describe as an "assistant" as opposed to "companion" - I really feel that that sums up her role much better.

And a big part of her character was the superb way in which she was played by Caroline John, who clearly had a ball. There were four very different stories in which she was involved, and Inferno really gave her the opportunity to shine, as she played both Liz Shaw and the alternate version of the character. Absolutely wonderful :)

Liz is brill isn't she? I know much has been said about her being too clever and not being the kind of siekick Pertwee wanted, but I think she works really well with his Doctor. She gives as good as she gets and there's an obvious mutual respect between them.

What I like about Liz is how she's given her own little subplots- she's especially good in Ambassadors, being chased in Bessie then forced to work with Cyril Shaps, finding ways to escape when she can and generally being sarcastic to Reagan whenever possible. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you!" is particuarly wonderful! :)

It's a real shame she didn't do more, or even get a leaving scene.