Character history
The character first appears in The Haunting of Thomas Brewster , where he met the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa on 1867 while he was being haunted by what he thought was the ghost of his mother, who had died in 1851. It turned out that he was under the control of an alien pretending to be his mother. After the Doctor helped him, he stowed away in the Doctor's TARDIS and accidentally set it on a solo flight.
Brewster gained limited control over the TARDIS. On one of his stops, the TARDIS was taken from him for ransom and he was forced to work for Gerry Lenz, who had met the Doctor in previous incarnations. At this time, Brewster met the Doctor's old friends, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Polly Wright. The three of them rescued the TARDIS from Lenz and saved the Earth from dying and from a Coffinloader, a beast which fed on dying worlds.
Eventually, the TARDIS began to malfunction due to Brewster's meddling. Before the ship could come to any further harm, Brewster was helped by an elderly Adric (who was unintentionally saved from his apparent death in Earthshock by Block Transfer Computations subconsciously sent to him by the Doctor while trying to recover the stolen TARDIS, that caused Adric to be sent into a pocket dimension based on an Aztec jungle), who got him back to London a few months after his departure. Afterwards, the Doctor invited him to join him on his travels.
Soon after he joined, they returned to the location of one of his previous travels, where it was revealed that Brewster had sold several vital components of the TARDIS to the marooned crew of the Gamma. Among the components Brewster sold was the TARDIS' conceptual geometer, the removal of which greatly destabilised the structure of the TARDIS and eventually caused the collapse of the ship's internal dimensions. However, the Doctor was able to reconnect the geometer to the TARDIS, restoring its interior to normal.
Brewster later convinced the Doctor to take him to 2008 supposedly to see his future. In fact, he wished to be reunited with a young woman named Connie Winter, whom he had met whilst travelling in the Doctor's TARDIS alone. Thomas decided to stay in 2008 with Connie rather than continue travelling with the Doctor and Nyssa, the Doctor giving him the deed to his house on Baker Street.
Brewster enjoyed his life with Connie, but tragedy struck: She was hit by a car and suffered an irreversible coma. Feeling alone in a time where he didn't fit, Brewster found the time machine he had built while under the control of the alien pretending to be his mother in 1867. He was trying to return to his own time when he was contacted by Symbios, a sentient planet which was being invaded by an alien robot species called the Terravore. Brewster provided Symbios with hosts who were riding the London Underground. After defeating the Terravores with the Doctor, now in his sixth incarnation, Evelyn Smythe and DI Patricia Menzies, Brewster stole the TARDIS key, snuck aboard and demanded the Doctor and Evelyn that they return him to his own time. After some convincing from Evelyn, who genuinely wanted to help him, the Doctor acquiesced.
After an adventure in Victorian Lancashire, Brewster was left behind by the Doctor. However, he went on to travel with an alien trader in an interstellar company.
Although Brewster doesn't appear directly, he plays an indirect role in the Eighth Doctor audio series Stranded; when circumstances force the Doctor and his current companions to take up full-time residence in London after the TARDIS is seriously damaged, Brewster had converted the Baker Street house into flats, forcing the Doctor to live in the attic and simply act as the property's landlord.
Tegan Jovanka is a fictional character played by Janet Fielding in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. An Australian airline stewardess and a native of Brisbane who was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1981 to 1984. Tegan appeared in 20 stories.
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.
Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, he was a regular in the programme from 1980 to 1982 and appeared in 11 stories. The name Adric is an anagram derived from Nobel Prize-winning physicist Paul Dirac.
Logopolis is the seventh and final serial of the 18th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Fourth Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Janet Fielding as new companion Tegan Jovanka.
Dr Evelyn Smythe is a fictional character played by Maggie Stables in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A professor of history from the 20th century with a fondness for chocolate, she is a companion of the Sixth Doctor and encounters the Seventh Doctor as well.
Castrovalva is the first serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 4 to 12 January 1982. It was the first full serial to feature Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. The title is a reference to the lithograph Castrovalva by M. C. Escher, which depicts the town Castrovalva in the Abruzzo region, Italy.
The Keeper of Traken is the sixth serial of the 18th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 31 January to 21 February 1981.
Four to Doomsday is the second serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 18 to 26 January 1982.
The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison.
The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Tom Baker.
Kinda is the third serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 9 February 1982.
Time-Flight is the seventh and final serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 to 30 March 1982.
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels or shares adventures with the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as an audience surrogate. They provide the lens through which the viewer is introduced to the series. The companion character often furthers the story by asking questions and getting into trouble, or by helping, rescuing, or challenging the Doctor. This designation is applied to a character by the show's producers and appears in the BBC's promotional material and off-screen fictional terminology. The Doctor also refers to the show's other leads as their “friends" or "assistants"; the British press have also used the latter term.
The Crimes of Thomas Brewster is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra from 28 May – 4 June 2016.
The Five Companions is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is free to subscribers and released with Army of Death.
The Boy That Time Forgot is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Time Reef is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is a three part adventure, released with the single episode story that follows it, A Perfect World.
A Perfect World is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is a one part story which was released along with Time Reef, the story which precedes it.
Philippa "Flip" Jackson is a fictional character played by Lisa Greenwood in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is a companion of the Sixth Doctor. Her first appearance was in "The Crimes of Thomas Brewster".
