P is for... Pritchard, Mrs

Stern, cold-hearted housekeeper of Gabriel Chase, a gloomy mansion in Perivale. The Doctor and Ace visited here in 1883 when it was in the possession of a man named Josiah Samuel Smith. Pritchard only assumed her role at night, after the day staff had left - unwilling to remain there after dark. Smith lived in the house with his ward Gwendoline, a guest named Redvers Fenn-Cooper, and a butler named Nimrod - identified by the Doctor as a Neanderthal. Fenn-Cooper had been an adventurer who had explored Africa, but now appeared to be mentally unstable.

Mrs Pritchard treated him cruelly and disliked Nimrod, but was kinder towards Gwendoline. She resented Ace's influence over the girl.

Hidden beneath the house was a spaceship belonging to an entity known as Light, which was hibernating after conducting a survey of life throughout the galaxy. It had been contact with Light's energies which had deranged Fenn-Cooper. Nimrod had been a specimen collected by it during its survey. Locked up in the ship was another creature called Control. She and Smith had been agents of Light. One would interact with the environment, allowed to be influenced by it, whilst the other remained behind as an experimental control subject.

Smith had assumed the role of an English gentleman but he sought even greater status - by having Fenn-Cooper assassinate Queen Victoria. 

It transpired that the housekeeper was actually Lady Margaret Pritchard, wife of the house's owner Sir George, and Gwendoline's mother. Smith had killed Sir George and hypnotised his wife and daughter. They recalled their true identity and were reunited, just before Light turned them both to stone to prevent them evolving. 

Played by: Sylvia Syms. Appearances: Ghost Light (1989)

• Syms was a huge star of British cinema throughout the 1950's and '60's, appearing in such classics as Ice Cold In Alex (1958) and Victim (1961). She guested in many TV series in the 1960's including The Saint (multiple times in different roles), The Baron, Danger Man, Paul Temple and The Strange Report. Latterly (she died in 2023) she was a regular in EastEnders.
• William Hartnell played her father in the drama The World Ten Times Over (1963).