As well as on TV, countless characters have died in the Doctor Who comic strips, novels and audio, too. Before he returned for the 50th anniversary, Paul McGann had already partaken in over a decade's worth of audio plays for Big Finish. During them he travelled with Charlotte Pollard and the alien K'rizz but no companion was a better fit than the straight talking Northerner Lucie Miller, as played by the incomparable Sheridan Smith. Together McGann and Smith made four seasons of audio adventures meeting Zygons, Cybermen, Giant Spiders and Morbius along the way. The series also reintroduced Susan Foreman, still played by Carole Ann Ford, and gave her a son, Alex, played by Jake McGann - the Doctor's great-grandson. The end of the fourth series of adventures once again pitted the Doctor against the Daleks but this time the cost would be high indeed with the Doctor's other companion, Tamsin Drew, being casually exterminated by the pepperpots before Alex got blasted, too. With the listeners still reeling from this, the producers then gave them a heartbreaking finale in which Lucie, flying a Dalek saucer, had the chance to defeat them - at the cost of her own life. Separated and impotent, the Doctor can only listen over the intercom as Lucie says goodbye and crashes the saucer, her closing line: "I'm Lucie bl**ding Miller!" becoming instantly iconic. Smith had been superb throughout her time on the audios and this death was a huge shock for listeners. Its impact on the Eighth Doctor has been profound, too.
Writer of The Blog of Delights, a review site covering film, TV, cult TV, books and audio. Fan of Dr Who, Bond, X-Men and Marvel. Also the writer of e-book 'Fictional Legends: Doctor Who - the TV Adventures' for Collca.
