Grace Holloway

Last updated

Grace Holloway
Doctor Who character
Grace Holloway.jpg
Grace Holloway in Doctor Who .
Portrayed by Daphne Ashbrook
In-universe information
Species Human
GenderHuman
Affiliation Eighth Doctor
Home Earth
Nationality American
Home eraLate 20th Century
Appears in Doctor Who (1996)

Dr. Grace Holloway is a fictional character played by Daphne Ashbrook in the 1996 television film Doctor Who , a continuation of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who . [1] A cardiologist from San Francisco in 1999, she assists the Eighth Doctor in defeating the renegade Time Lord, the Master. [2]

Contents

Character history

Daphne Ashbrook on set of Doctor Who in 1996 Daphne Ashbrook.jpg
Daphne Ashbrook on set of Doctor Who in 1996

When the Seventh Doctor lands on December 30, 1999 in San Francisco, he is gunned down by a gang on the streets of Chinatown. Unaware of his alien physiology, Grace accidentally kills him when she attempts to operate. He subsequently regenerates into his eighth incarnation, and involves Grace in his fight to prevent the Master from opening the Eye of Harmony and destroying the Earth at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 2000. At the end, the Doctor offers to take Grace along with him in the TARDIS, but Grace declines, preferring to stay behind and apply the lessons she has learned from him.

Grace is described by the Doctor as "tired of life but afraid of dying." She is a warm and compassionate person who was disillusioned early in life when she realized that she could not hold back death. As a result, she puts on a cold, aloof front in an effort to protect herself from her feelings and to mask her own insecurity. She realizes this over the course of her adventure with the Doctor and learns to feel hope again, placing it in the form of the Doctor, an alien who can literally come back to life, as well as regaining confidence in herself as a medical practitioner and as a person. She also rapidly develops a romantic attachment to the Doctor, stating at one point, "I finally meet the right guy and he's from another planet."

Other appearances

Grace's life after her encounter with the Doctor is not explored on-screen beyond the television movie, although the Doctor does have to deal with the after effects of those events in the spin-off Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Unnatural History , by Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum.

Grace appears in the Doctor Who comic strip story The Fallen, published in Doctor Who Magazine #273-#276, where she conducts experiments to merge human and Time Lord DNA, the latter obtained from tissue left behind by the Master. However, the Master is not in his Time Lord body, but that of a shape-shifting creature known as a morphant. The resulting hybrid begins to consume people, but is stopped with the Eighth Doctor's help. Grace promises the Doctor she will destroy all the remaining morphant DNA samples, and the two part ways once more. She subsequently appears as a dream image in The Glorious Dead (DWM #287-#296) and makes a one-panel cameo in the last regular Eighth Doctor comic strip adventure, The Flood (DWM #353). In Prisoners of Time, a series to celebrate the 50th anniversary, the Doctor meets her soon after the events of the TV Movie. She travels with him for a while but is overwhelmed by what she sees. Before the Doctor can return her to Earth, she is kidnapped by Adam Mitchell, who is travelling through time to kidnap the Doctor's companions.

Daphne Ashbrook performed in the Big Finish Productions audio play The Next Life opposite Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, but playing a different character named Perfection.

In the novelization of the Sarah Jane Adventures episode Death of the Doctor , Sarah Jane lists the current whereabouts of several of the Doctor's former companions, including a "Doctor Holloway" who is looking into new breakthroughs in surgery in San Francisco.

Originally, Grace Holloway was to appear in the second Eighth Doctor novel, Vampire Science, but legal issues with the BBC and Universal prevented this from happening. According to Big Finish, their audioplays cannot use TV-movie characters Grace Holloway or Chang Lee due to Universal's ownership of the characters. Grace's appearance in the comics appears to have been separately negotiated.

Related Research Articles

The Master (<i>Doctor Who</i>) Character in TV series Doctor Who

The Master, or "Missy" in their female incarnation, is a recurring character and one of the main antagonists of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its associated spin-off works. They are a renegade alien Time Lord and the childhood friend turned archenemy of the title character, the Doctor.

<i>Doctor Who</i> (film) 1996 British television movie

Doctor Who, also referred to as Doctor Who: The Movie or as Doctor Who: The Television Movie is a 1996 television film continuing the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was developed as a co-production between Universal Studios and BBC Worldwide. It premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 15 days before its first showing in the United Kingdom on BBC One and two days before being broadcast in the United States on Fox. It was also shown in some countries for a limited time in cinemas.

<i>Virgin New Adventures</i> Novels based on Doctor Who, 1991 to 1999

The Virgin New Adventures are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. They continued the story of the Doctor from the point at which the television programme went into hiatus from television in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Foreman</span> Fictional character in Doctor Who

Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter of the Doctor and original companion of their first incarnation, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season. Ford reprised the role for the feature-length 20th anniversary episode "The Five Doctors" (1983) and the 30th anniversary charity special Dimensions in Time (1993).

The Doctor Fictional sci-fi TV series character

The Doctor is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, often with companions. Since the show's inception in 1963, the character has been portrayed by fourteen lead actors. The transition to each succeeding actor is explained within the show's narrative through the plot device of regeneration, a biological function of Time Lords that allows a change of cellular structure and appearance with recovery following a mortal injury.

Nyssa (<i>Doctor Who</i>) Fictional character in the TV series Doctor Who

Nyssa is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is played by Sarah Sutton. Although Nyssa was created by writer Johnny Byrne for the single Fourth Doctor serial The Keeper of Traken, the production team subsequently decided she should be retained as a continuing character. Nyssa returned in the following serial, Logopolis, in which the Fourth Doctor regenerated, and remained as a companion of the Fifth Doctor. She was a regular in the programme from 1981 to 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Shaw</span> UK sci-fi tv series character, created 1970

Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw is a fictional character played by Caroline John in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs. A civilian member of UNIT, an international organisation that defends Earth from alien threats, she was the companion of the Third Doctor for the 1970 season. Liz appeared in 4 stories.

Ace (<i>Doctor Who</i>) Fictional character in the TV series Doctor Who

Ace is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A 20th-century Earth teenager from the London suburb of Perivale, she is a companion of the Seventh Doctor and was a regular in the series from 1987 to 1989 and returned in 2022. She is considered one of the Doctor's most popular companions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Kingdom</span> Fictional character in the TV series Doctor Who

Sara Kingdom is a fictional character played by Jean Marsh in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A security officer for Mavic Chen from the 40th century, she later joined the First Doctor and Steven to work against Chen's interests. She is sometimes classed as a companion of the First Doctor but the BBC's official Doctor Who website does not include her in their list of companions. Her status as a companion is commented upon in its Episode Guide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seventh Doctor</span> Fictional character from Doctor Who

The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Izzy Sinclair</span> Fictional character in Doctor Who comic

Isabelle "Izzy" Sinclair is a fictional character who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was a companion of the Eighth Doctor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Destrii</span> Fictional character

Destrii, or the Primatrix Destriianatos, is a fictional character who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was a companion of the Eighth Doctor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kroton (Cyberman)</span> Fictional character

Kroton is a fictional character who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a companion of the Eighth Doctor. The character is separate from the Krotons, the villains of the 1968 serial The Krotons.

The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daphne Ashbrook</span> American actress (born 1963)

Daphne Lee Ashbrook is an American actress best known for playing Grace Holloway in Doctor Who: The Movie, Melora Pazlar in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Jackie Kowalski in Hollywood Heights, and Dawn Atwood in The OC.

<i>The Eight Doctors</i> 1997 novel by Terrance Dicks

The Eight Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Terrance Dicks and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures range and features the Eighth Doctor and introduces his new companion, Sam Jones. The novel takes place immediately after the 1996 television movie.

<i>The Gallifrey Chronicles</i> (Parkin novel) 2005 novel by Lance Parkin

The Gallifrey Chronicles is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the last of the Eighth Doctor Adventures range and features the Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner, and Trix MacMillan. This book, along with a few others in the series, was reprinted in 2011 and is available as an e-book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eighth Doctor</span> Incarnation of a fictional character from Doctor Who

The Eighth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Paul McGann.

Death of the Doctor is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 25 and 26 October 2010. It is the third story of the fourth series. A cross-over story with Doctor Who, the story features actress Katy Manning reprising her role as Jo Grant for the first time since the 1973 Doctor Who serial The Green Death and a guest appearance by Matt Smith—Doctor Who's lead actor from 2010 to 2013—as the Eleventh Doctor. In the episode, Tia Karim, a rogue member of UNIT allies with members of the Shansheeth alien race to lure Sarah Jane and Jo into a trap so they can access the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS, and change history and Karim can leave Earth, with the cover story of the Doctor's funeral. Exposition at the end of the episode provides updates on the lives of numerous companions from the "classic era" who had gone unaddressed in the revived era. This story was the last to feature Sarah Jane and the Doctor together on-screen.

References

  1. "Chang Lee & Grace Holloway". Old Doctor Who. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  2. "Grace Holloway | Doctor Who World" . Retrieved 20 October 2022.