C is for... Codal

One of the Thal party which traveled to the planet Spiridon. He was the team's scientist. Codal and his colleagues believed they had come to destroy a small Dalek scientific unit - to prevent them learning the secret of invisibility from the natives. However, it transpired that Spiridon was the staging post for an invasion of the entire galaxy and there were 10,000 Daleks on the planet, held in suspended animation.
Codal was captured by Spiridon slave workers and taken to the Dalek base. The Doctor was later captured also, and found himself in the same cell as the young Thal. Codal admitted that, unlike his colleagues, he was not terribly brave, and had only volunteered because all of his friends had done so. The Doctor pointed out to him that bravery wasn't about not being afraid. It was about being afraid but doing what had to be done anyway. Codal helped the Doctor escape and rejoin the rest of his group. He survived the mission, leaving Spiridon to return to Skaro in the captured spaceship of the Dalek Supreme.

Played by: Tim Preece. Appearances: Planet of the Daleks (1973).

• Preece is probably best remembered for his role as Tom, the son-in-law of Reggie Perrin. Catchphrase: "I'm not a _______ person". He played Tom in the first two series of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, and reprised the role in 1996 for The Legacy of Reginald Perrin.