Leela

A Sevateem warrior who traded animal skins for time travel, armed with a knife and an unshakeable sense of danger.

Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in Doctor Who, serving as the Fourth Doctor's companion from 1977 to 1978. A warrior of the Sevateem tribe, she originated on an unnamed planet in the far future where her people were descendants of the crashed Mordee Expedition starship crew. Leela barged into the TARDIS while the Doctor was content to travel alone, initiating a partnership that spanned nine stories and 40 episodes. Though she dressed in animal skins and wielded poisonous Janis thorns, she possessed high intelligence and empathy, often comforting companions like Toos and Idas. Her journey ended when she fell in love with Gallifreyan Andred during The Invasion of Time, choosing to stay behind on her home planet.

Quick Facts

Series: Doctor Who
First: The Face of Evil (1977)
Last: The Invasion of Time (1978)
Portrayed by: Louise Jameson
Species: Human
Affiliation: Fourth Doctor; K9
Family: Sole (father)
Occupation: Warrior

Lore & Background

Leela was the daughter of Sole and a member of the Sevateem, a tribe whose name is a corruption of "survey team." They descended from the crew of an Earth starship from the Mordee Expedition that crash-landed on an unnamed planet. Though often labeled a noble savage, Leela grasped advanced concepts easily, translating them into terms she could cope with. She usually dressed in animal skins and was armed with a knife or poisonous Janis thorns, which she used against threats despite the Doctor's disapproval. Her travels took her through encounters with killer robots in The Robots of Death, murderous homunculi in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, the Rutan Host in Horror of Fang Rock, and the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey. In the latter adventure, she met Andred, fell in love, and decided to remain on Gallifrey with him, taking the first K-9 with her.

Reader's Guide

Leela's characterization began with producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes wanting a companion like George Bernard Shaw's Eliza Doolittle: bright but unsophisticated. Writer Chris Boucher reused the character from his unproduced proposal The Mentor Conspiracy, naming her after Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled and viewing her as a mix of Khaled and Emma Peel. Jameson won the role over 26 other actresses between August 10 and 25, 1976; Emily Richard was the first choice but unavailable.

Initially wearing red contact lenses to make her naturally blue eyes brown, Jameson's performance defined a warrior who valued the Doctor's gentleness yet remained strong-willed. In spin-off media, she explored Gallifrey as Romana's bodyguard in Big Finish audios, surviving civil wars and regaining vision with vampire blood. She also appeared in Jago & Litefoot, various audio dramas with Tom Baker, and a 2017 War Doctor story where she was erased from timelines but drawn back by her will.