P is for... Poul

Poul acted as Mover on a Sandminer craft. These vast mobile refineries scoured desolate landscapes in search of valuable minerals. The small human crew, supplemented with a workforce of robots, could be away from home for up to two years at a time. Poul had been assigned to Storm Mine 4, captained by Commander Uvanov. 

There was a hidden agenda behind his presence on this particular mission, however. He was really an agent working for the company which ran the mining operations, placed here incognito with a robot colleague. Their role was to identify a man named Taren Capel, who was fomenting a robot revolution and who had issued warnings to the company. The robot colleague was disguised as a black Dum-Class machine - D84.

Leela was able to spot that Poul was not all he appeared through his body language. Crew members began to die one by one and, when told by the Doctor that a robot might be responsible, Poul was sceptical. However, when he discovered a damaged, deactivated robot with blood on its hand, he realised that the Doctor had been right. Unfortunately Poul suffered from an extreme form of Robophobia known as Grimwade's Syndrome. The idea that robots could be killers broke his mind. He had to be left cowering on the command deck whilst the Doctor, Leela and two of his colleagues - Uvanov and second-in-command Toos - worked together with D84 to defeat Capel, who had been masquerading as crewman Dask. Poul survived until a rescue ship could be sent, and was taken home for treatment.

Played by David Collings. Appearances: The Robots of Death (1977)

• Second of three appearances in the series for Collings, the first being as Vorus in Revenge of the Cybermen. Later he played the title role in Mawdryn Undead.
• For fantasy genre fans he is also known for his portrayal of Silver in Sapphire and Steel, and he voiced Legolas in the BBC's radio adaptation of Lord of the Rings.
• He also guested in the final episode of Blake's 7.
• Poul was named after noted science fiction writer Poul Anderson (1926 - 2001). He was given the first name Ander in spin-off fiction written by his creator, Chris Boucher.
• Poul and D84 were based on Isaac Asimov's Elijah Bailey and R Daneel Olivaw, another human / robot detective pairing.
• The character reappears in the Missing Adventures novel Corpse Marker, as well as in the Kaldor City audio range.