L is for... Llewellyn, Daniel

Daniel Llewellyn was the mission controller for Guinevere One, a probe built by the British Rocket Group. It was due to arrive on Mars on Christmas Day 2006 and was championed as part of P.M. Harriet Jones' new "Golden Age".

Llewellyn was concerned that the Group had lost contact with the Probe at the last minute, and when it was re-established the viewing public were greeted to the sight of alien beings. It had been intercepted by a spaceship belonging to the scavenger Sycorax race, who were on their way to Earth.

Llewellyn was taken to UNIT HQ, established beneath the Tower of London, where he met the Prime Minister and UNIT's Major Blake. One third of the world's population fell under the mental control of the aliens, and Llewellyn realised that this was due to a blood sample he had included on the probe.

When the Sycorax vessel arrived above London, Harriet Jones, Blake and Llewellyn were all transported up to it, along with Jones' assistant Alex.

Despite seeing Blake killed by the Sycorax commander, Llewellyn took responsibility for what was happening on Earth as he had given them the blood sample through which they were controlling people. He was also killed by the commander, who was only interested in dealing with a leader of humanity.

Played by: Daniel Evans. Appearances; The Christmas Invasion (2005).

• Guinevere One was inspired by the British Beagle II probe, which lost contact after crashing onto the surface of Mars on Christmas Day 2003.
• Llewellyn's role with the British Rocket Group came from the BBC's spin-off website for this story, which also claimed that he was a Professor. The British Rocket Group was the organisation founded by Bernard Quatermass in the classic BBC serials of the 1950's, and which had been referenced in Remembrance of the Daleks.

L is for... Liz 10

The Doctor encountered Liz 10 on the generational space vessel Starship UK. It was the 33rd Century, and the Earth had been ravaged by solar flares. Each country built its own space ark and set off for a new home. This was the vessel carrying the populations of the United Kingdom, as well as some of its historic buildings. Liz lived in Buckingham Palace, as her full title was Queen Elizabeth Xth. She liked to mix secretly with her people, when she wore a porcelain mask. She was convinced that her government was keeping a great secret from her, and so approached the Doctor for his help in discovering what it was. He had discovered that the vessel lacked any engines, yet still moved through space.

He also realised that Liz's mask was centuries old, yet designed to perfectly fit her features. She was much older than even she realised. When she confronted her Prime Minister, Hawthorne, at the Tower of London, she discovered the truth.

Starship UK relied on a captive giant space whale to propel it through the cosmos. The creature was tortured to make it move. The UK population were to be informed of this and could vote to release it - at the cost of the vessel's likely destruction. Alternatively, they could vote to forget all knowledge of this and travel on oblivious to the creature's well-being. Liz herself had set this up and had voted to forget over the decades.

When the creature was freed by the Doctor, it transpired that it was willing to help anyway.

Sometime later, Starship UK was visited by River Song who had come looking for a painting in the Royal Collection - an image of an exploding TARDIS, which was the work of Vincent Van Gogh. She needed this to warn the Doctor. Liz stopped her - but agreed to her taking the painting after seeing its subject.

Played by: Sophie Okonedo. Appearances: The Beast Below, The Pandorica Opens (2010).

• In 2003, Okonedo had played the companion Alison in the animated Doctor Who adventure Scream of the Shalka. She would have continued with the role had this gone to series, but it was cancelled after the announcement that the TV series would return in 2005.

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.

L is for... LInDA

A group of individuals who came together through their shared fascination with the Doctor. 

A young man named Elton Pope had encountered the Doctor as a child, on the day his mother was killed, and he had become obsessed with meeting him again. He came across the blog by a woman named Ursula Blake, who was reporting on the events of Christmas Day 2006 - the Sycorax attack - and who had come upon the Doctor in Trafalgar Square.

He contacted her and she introduced him to her friends - Mr Skinner, Bridget and Bliss.

They decided to formalise their group and Elton suggested the name LInDA - "London Investigations 'n' Detective Agency". They met in the basement of a shut-down library every week.

Over time, they dwelt less on the Doctor and more on socialising, even starting their own band. Elton was inspired in this by his love of the Electric Light Orchestra. Mr Skinner was writing a noir-ish detective novel, Bliss was a budding sculptress, and Bridget revealed how she had initially travelled down to London to find her missing daughter.

One day a man named Victor Kennedy arrived, and he attempted to get them to focus on finding the Doctor once more. He put a stop to their socialising during their meetings and tried to make them more professional in their activities. One by one, the members stopped attending. Kennedy had excuses for this, but Elton and Ursula discovered that he was actually an alien Abzorbaloff, and had attacked and absorbed their friends into his body. Ursula was also absorbed but the creature was stopped when the group members joined forces to tear him apart, and he was himself absorbed into the earth.

Ursula was saved by the Doctor within a paving slab, and she continued to live with Elton.

Played by: Marc Warren (Elton), Shirley Henderson (Ursula), Simon Greenall (Mr Skinner), Moya Brady (Brigit) and Kathryn Drysdale (Bliss).

Appearances: Love & Monsters (2006).

• Russell T Davies based the group on Doctor Who fans he had encountered. Many came together through their love of the programme, but their friendship transcended it. There were a few, however, who were so obsessed that they could talk of nothing else and became annoyed when the conversation went into other areas. This was the inspiration for obsessive kill-joy Victor Kennedy. It has been claimed that one fan in particular lay behind Victor - Ian Levine, who had acted as unofficial continuity adviser for much of the JNT era.
• RTD had previously used the name in the children's magazine programme Why Don't You...?, when the 'L' had stood for 'Liverpool'.
• Elton claims to have been inspired to use 'n' by Chaka Demus 'n' Pliers - but they are actually Chaka Demus & Pliers.
• Simon Greenall was best known for his recurring role with Alan Partridge.
• Kathryn Drysdale was one of the main cast members of Two Pints of Lager..., which used to be on a constant repeat loop on BBC 3.
• Moya Brady has worked with Russell T Davies more recently - having featured in It's A Sin.
• Marc Warren was introduced as the new principal villain in The Three Musketeers when Peter Capaldi left to become the Twelfth Doctor.
• Elton was considered for a return on two occasions - as one of the 'Children of Time' in The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, and as one of those visited by the Tenth Doctor during his "farewell tour" in The End of Time Part II.

L is for... Lin

Lin was an archaeologist working in the Victorian tunnels beneath Sheffield City Hall. The body of a 9th Century warrior had been found here, which was being excavated by her and her colleague Mitch. Unfortunately, in the grave was a part of the remains of a Reconnaissance Dalek. After its destruction the body had been split up to be buried far apart, as exposure to ultra-violet light could reanimate it. The creature was brought back to life under a UV lamp and reconstituted its full body, then attached itself to Lin. She fell under its mental control and was compelled to help it locate armaments and build a new temporary casing for itself. This meant her killing anyone who got in its way.

Once the Dalek had built its casing, it discarded her. She and Mitch then helped the Doctor to stop it signalling to present day Daleks to come and invade.

Played by: Charlotte Ritchie. Appearances: Resolution (2019).

• The idea of archaeologists working on New Year's Day is a thoroughly stupid one.

L is for... Lilt

One of the staff at the Tranquil Repose funerary complex on the icy planet of Necros. Lilt was a particularly brutal man, quick to violence and who would resort to torture to get information quickly. He and his partner Takis oversaw security in the complex, which could be at risk from body snatchers. Tranquil Repose did not want anyone looking too closely into its operations, as the bodies of many of the people interred there had been used to produce a new race of Daleks by Davros who - posing as the Great Healer - controlled the complex.

Lilt and Takis were unhappy at the way Tranquil Repose was being run and so sent a secret message to Skaro, informing the Supreme Council of Davros' whereabouts.

Both men survived the destruction of the complex - blown up by a bomb wielded by the assassin Orcini.

The Doctor advised that they not try to recreate it. He showed them a plant which grew so profusely that it was known as the weed-plant, but could also be processed into a high protein foodstuff. Lilt and his partner were to become farmers.

Played by: Colin Spaull. Appearances: Revelation of the Daleks (1985).

• Spaull was an old friend of director Graeme Harper. He employed him again on Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel, where he played Mr Crane - making him only the second actor to appear in both incarnations of the series.
• Before being offered the part of Lilt, he had been considered to play the mutant who attacks the Doctor in the snow.

SFX 360

You might be interested to know about the latest issue of SFX Magazine, out today, as it has some Doctor Who content. Inside we have an interview with Maureen O'Brien, to tie in with the release of the Season 2 Collection.

There are some free gifts as well - namely a double-sided poster with artwork from the new Doctor Who and the Daleks illustrated edition, backed with a Big Finish Third Doctor image. There are also a pair of art cards depicting Lee Binding's covers for the Seasons 2 and 8 box sets.