Katarina - Daughter of the Gods

Katarina (Adrienne Hill) was introduced in the serial The Myth Makers (1965) and was also the serial that saw the departure of Vicky (Maureen O'Brien). She was the first companion to ever be killed off on Doctor Who. Kataraina was a Trojan handmaiden in 1BC. She was only in a few episodes of The Dalek’s Masterplan, meeting her tragic end in episode four.

 

Vicki,, has slipped away with the Doctor's blessing and she journeys on to the plains where she finds Troilus and they declare their love. Moments later Troilus’ cousin Aeneas arrives with reinforcements and helps them escape the area.

Katarina  was taken hostage by a man named Kirksen, and he locked himself and Katarina in an airlock. Steven pleaded with Bret Vyon, played by Nicholas Courtney, who would later become Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, to turn the ship around and take Kirksen where he demanded to go.

In the background, you can hear the screams of Katarina in the airlock, and by the time Bret decides to meet Kirksen’s demands, Katarina hits a button and she and Kirksen are ejected into space, much to the dismay of Steven and the Doctor. Katarina had done so in order to save her god's life and Steven (she worshiped the Doctor as the god Zeus.) The Doctor chooses to remember Katarina as "A daughter of the Gods".

There is very little footage left, but the scene of Katarina actually struggling and hitting the button exists. Besides the full length audio CDs, there are video reconstructions using still photos, and actual clips for the Dalek’s Masterplan. One of the main reasons why she belongs on the list is that she was a companion who was written out in such a tragic way. No one had ever thought about doing that up until this point. 

History:

As a young woman, Katarina served Cassandra,  princess of Troy. She was little more than a slave. In 1200 BC,  Cassandra sent her to spy on the Doctor and his friends, in  particular Vicki Pallister, known to her as Cressida, to gather evidence she was a Greek spy. To this end, Katarina befriended Vicki, who sent her to help the Doctor get Steven Taylor back to the TARDIS after a spear thrust had badly injured him.

 

The Doctor first met Katarina when she was a little girl living near Tro in his seventh incarnation. She spoke to him of her ambition to serve as handmaid to a priestess because her poor family could not afford to feed her any longer. The Doctor gave them a gold coin to alleviate their poverty but, on learning Katarina's name, he realised that she would die young (as he had already witnessed it in his personal timeline). (An Unfulfilled Dream)