Doctor Who: 8 Spin Off Characters Who Became Canon

2. Kate Stewart

In an age that gave us Kickstarter and cheaper digital recording equipment, making a decent fan film is easier than ever. Back in the 90s, though, it required a certain level of fan devotion to produce an unlicensed movie based on your favourite sci-fi franchise. Kate Stewart, daughter of the Doctor's Classic Series ally Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, first appeared in Downtime, a straight-to-video film produced by Reeltime Pictures in 1995. As the production was not licensed by the BBC, Reeltime Pictures couldn't feature or even mention the Doctor but was able to use other characters from the series, such as the Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith and Victoria Waterfield (all of whom appeared) and enlisted the original actors to reprise their roles. Kate, as portrayed by Beverley Cressman, was introduced here and made one other on screen appearance under Reeltime Pictures as the lead character in 2004's Dæmos Rising. In 2012, about 18 months after the Brigadier's actor Nicholas Courtney passed away, the Eleventh Doctor story The Power of Three aired and made the first canonical acknowledgement of Reeltime Pictures in the BBC series. Kate, now played Jemma Redgrave, visited the Eleventh Doctor in the home of his companions to enlist his help. She subsequently appeared in the 50th anniversary and then again in the Series 8 finale alongside Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor and an implied Cyberman resurrection of her father.