Gareth Jenkins (in-universe)

In the 1980s, Gareth Jenkins was an eight-year-old boy from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, who wrote into the BBC One audience wish-fulfilment programme, Jim'll Fix It, to ask if they could help him to meet Colin Baker and see the TARDIS interior set in-person. As a part of the request, he demonstrated that he already had a complete Sixth Doctor's costume which his grandmother had made for him.

The producers of Jim took Jenkins' request further, and worked with John Nathan-Turner's staff at Doctor Who to create a sketch around the boy, A Fix with Sontarans. Jenkins — and his kid-sized Sixth Doctor's costume — did indeed play a major role in it, opposite Colin Baker and Janet Fielding. The mini-episode began – unlike most mini-episodes of the BBC Wales era – with series' full opening opening credit sequence. Janet Fielding's name was omitted from the intro entirely, as was the norm for actors on Doctor Who until 1996. In this instance, however, the intro displayed "starring Colin Baker", followed by "with Gareth Jenkins".

By the time the sketch was filmed, Jenkins' growth spurt in the interim was demonstrated by the prominent gap between his sweater-vest and trouser waist, and by his trouser cuffs exposing most of his yellow spats.

At the conclusion of the episode, Baker presented Jenkins with both a Jim'll Fix It medal and the "meson gun" prop to keep.

Jenkins' appearance is included among the archival footage shown in the 2006 documentary short, Built for War, an extra feature of The Sontaran Experiment DVD.

He is not related to the Gareth Jenkins who works with Big Finish Productions.

Gareth Jenkins, the "character"
Since A Fix with Sontarans so thoroughly breaks the fourth wall, it's difficult to consider Gareth Jenkins a character within the televised Doctor Who continuity — especially since the script called for him to say that he had watched Doctor Who on television. However, it is possible to give a few details about the Jenkins "character".


 * He is transported from Earth to the Doctor's TARDIS by accident.
 * He wears a boy-sized version of the Doctor's outfit.
 * He knows how to operate the TARDIS' controls from watching the Doctor do so on Doctor Who
 * He kills the two Sontarans, because his Doctor Who viewings have told him which switches to press to kill the two Sontarans.
 * Group Marshall Nathan says that in the year 2001, when Sontarans invade, the adult Gareth leads a resistance movement which turns away the invasion fleet.