M is for... Merak

A young medic from the planet Atrios. He was in love with the Princess Astra - a relationship which they tried to keep secret but was common knowledge to the military leadership. They suspected the pair of attempting to initiate unofficial peace negotiations with the Zeons, who they had been warring with for ten years. When Astra disappeared Merak was despondent and would do anything to find her. She had been locked in a heavily irradiated zone of the Atrian city by the Marshal, then abducted by the Shadow - servant of the Black Guardian who was manipulating the two factions. Knowing that the Doctor and Romana were tracing her, he accompanied them to Zeos. Thinking that their locator device was tracking her, Merak stole it from Romana. He found Astra, but she had been mentally subjugated by the Shadow and she tried to kill him. Found by the Doctor and Romana, he was then transported to the Shadow's hidden domain. After she had been transformed into the sixth segment of the Key to Time, Merak refused to believe what he had witnessed and continued to search for her. The rogue Time Lord Drax found him and took him back to Atrios before the Shadow's domain was destroyed. When the Doctor broke up the Key, Merak was reunited with Astra.

Played by: Ian Saynor. Appearances: The Armageddon Factor (1979).

• Saynor appeared in costume dramas The Mallens, District Nurse and The Corn is Green (with Hollywood legend Katherine Hepburn, as well as sitcom The Cuckoo Waltz. He continues to act, often in his native Wales.