Leela, played by Louise Jameson, was one of the best companions of Classic Doctor Who. At the end of the Fourth Doctor story The Invasion of Time, Leela stayed on Gallifrey to marry Andred, a Gallifreyan. Her story wasn't done, though. In the Virgin New Adventures novel Lungbarrow, Leela and Andred are revealed to be expecting the first natural born child seen on Gallifrey in millennia (Leela was never one to stick to the rules). In subsequent Gallifrey audio adventures produced by Big Finish, Leela becomes Time Lord President Romana's bodyguard, divorces Andred, and is blinded. She also joins Jago and Litefoot, seen in the Talons of Weng-Chiang, in their investigations in another spin-off audio series before finally being laid to rest in a three-part Companion Chronicles story in what appears to be a post-Time War era. It sounds like Leela's story is well and truly told, right? Wrong! If the Doctor succeeds in restoring Gallifrey, Leela could still be there. One interpretation of her audio adventures is that she doesn't end her association with Gallifrey until after the Time War. Since Gallifrey was "frozen" during the War, any restoration of the Doctor's home planet could bring Leela back along with it, too. Louise Jameson could, therefore, easily cameo in an episode featuring Gallifrey's return. Mind you, K-9 wouldn't necessarily be with her. K-9 Mark I was originally left with Leela at the conclusion of The Invasion of Time but was whisked away by Professor Gryffen in the 2009 spin-off series K-9. This version of K-9 "regenerated" to have more sophisticated features and fought the Department for two seasons of the non-BBC programme. If Leela did ever return, therefore, some definitive statement might need to be made about whether K-9 is still on Gallifrey or not. Of course, it would be possible to claim that K-9's move over to the non-BBC series takes place afterwards. In fact, Gryffen zapping K-9 away might only be possible after Gallifrey's restoration, anyway.
Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year.
You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike
