RIP Legendary Actress Jean Marsh

By Owen Quinn author

photos copyright BBC

Just as we get new Doctor Who on screen, the show has lost a former companion. Jean Marsh whose career has spanned decades from the classic Upstairs, Downstairs to movies like The Eagle Has Landed and The Changeling. She was also a power behind the camera as co-creator of the House of Eliott. She is an Emmy award winner and in demand both here and in America. She appeared in The Twilight Zone, Return to Oz, Willow and so much more.

But for Doctor Who fans, she is one of ours and started with William Hartnell when she played Lady Joanna in The Crusade . She would later earn companion status when she joined the Doctor, William Hartnell, in the Daleks’ Masterplan as Space Security Service agent Sara Kingdom. She joined the Doctor and Steven, Peter Purves, in the battle to save the universe. While we take kickass companions for granted these days, Sara was the original and the best. Like an Avengers girl, she brought girl power to the Tardis like never before. She was tough, sassy and totally loyal to the Doctor and Steven. This loyalty was twisted by the evil Mavic Chen who allied himself with the Daleks. He persuaded her to murder her own brother under false pretences which she did before joining the Doctor. That brother was Bret Vyon played by future Brigadier actor Nicholas Courtney.

Sara would be the second companion to die when she sacrificed herself to save the universe. She grabs the Time Destructor and is aged to death right before Steven’s eyes before the Doctor can deactivate it. Thanks to Sara, Chen and the Daleks were defeated but with two companions dead, Trojan handmaiden, Katarina and Sara, at a terrible cost.

Jean was married to the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee for five years before they divorced but she would make another appearance in Doctor Who and this time she was an enemy of the seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy.

In Season 26, the legend of Merlin crosses dimensions as Jean as the magically powerful witch Morgaine and her troops including mad son, Mordred. She says the seventh Doctor is Merlin and this will be their last battlefield. Beautifully weaving the Arthur mythology into the story, Jean was not a one dimensional villain. She was a real badass, capable of summoning the Satan like Destroyer in a classic cliffhanger when she attempts to entice Ace, Sophie Aldred and Shou Yuing, Ling Tai into giving her the Excalibur to ensure her victory. Using her powers, she uses racism to break the girls apart but fails.

Battlefield was a special story because it marked the final appearance of both Jean in the show but also the Brigadier. For fans, it was lovely to see Bret Vyon and his sister reunited on screen once more. The scene where she meets the Brigadier and honours the fact he is a soldier was nicely done, again giving another level to the character. She may be a mad witch but she has honour and her defeat is brought about because her heart is broken when she discovers her true love, Arthur, is dead. She is devastated and ends up in a prison owned by UNIT. To this day, that is where she still remains.

Jean would appear in a photo in The Day of the Doctor when Clara found photos of all the Doctor’s former companions in the Back Archive. In the photo, she is with Mike Yates, fallen UNIT soldier from the Pertwee era leading to fans trying to piece how Sara and Mike Yates crossed paths.

Jean Marsh was pure quality in everything she has done and her contribution to the lore of Doctor Who cannot be overstated enough. Rest easy.

I’ll leave you with one final quote I’ve taken from Battlefield. which reflects today.

“Jean Marsh, who burned like starfire and was as beautiful. Rest in peace.”