L is for... Litefoot, Prof. George

Litefoot was an eminent pathologist, based at the mortuary at Limehouse in East London. His father had worked for the Diplomatic Corps in China and lived there with Litefoot's mother. When it came time for them to return to England, the Emperor gifted them an ornately decorated cabinet. This was of decorative value only, as no-one had ever been able to open it.

It transpired that this was really a form of time machine, created in the 51st Century by a war criminal named Magnus Greel. He had used it to escape his time, travelling back to the 19th Century. The process was unstable, however, and his body was badly deformed. He required regular infusions of life-force from others to stay alive. Helped by a peasant named Li H'sen Chang, Greel set out to locate his time cabinet, and eventually traced it to London. Chang assumed the role of a theatrical magician which gave Greel a base beneath the Palace Theatre, adjoining the sewers.

The Doctor came into contact with Prof. Litefoot when he was sent the bodies of Chang's victims to examine - including a man who had been savaged by a giant sewer rat created by Greel to guard his lair.

Intrigued by the Doctor and Leela, Litefoot invited them to his home for a late supper.

He was prepared to copy Leela's unorthodox dining habits so as not to insult her, being the perfect Victorian gentleman. 

Litefoot was most indignant when Chang's men attacked him in his own home. He accompanied the Doctor to the mouth of the sewer which now housed the old River Fleet, so that he could rescue Leela.

Palace Theatre owner Henry Gordon Jago arrived at his home one evening, mistaking him for a servant. He had found a bag of strange implements in the theatre basement, after it had been abandoned by Greel. The two men joined forces and staked out the theatre to see who would come back for them. This led to them being captured by Greel and held at his new base - the House of the Dragon.

An escape attempt failed, but they were soon joined by the Doctor and Leela, and together fought Greel and his men.

Played by: Trevor Baxter. Appearances: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1976).

• Baxter was a much-admired playwright as well as an actor. He features in the Kenneth Williams diaries where, unusually for Williams, he gets a good write up. Williams was appearing in his play The Undertaking.
• Litefoot and Jago were considered for a potential spin-off series of their own, but nothing came of this until many years later when they appeared together in a number of audio adventures.
• Baxter died in July 2017.