Caroline John

Caroline John played companion Liz Shaw in Doctor Who, beginning with "Spearhead from Space" and concluding with "Inferno." She later reprised the role for the anniversary specials "The Five Doctors" and "Dimensions in Time," and also for the spin-off P.R.O.B.E. series produced by BBV.

She played the role of the Doctor's companion in 1970 opposite Jon Pertwee. Unlike many of the preceding female companions of the Doctor, Liz Shaw was a scientist and understood much of the Doctor's technobabble. This was perhaps the downfall of the character; Liz and the Doctor discussed things on an equal level of intelligence, and the Doctor respected and rarely patronised her. As the essential role of the companion in Doctor Who is to ask a lot of questions which the viewer might be asking themself, incoming producer Barry Letts considered her character was unsuitable and decided against renewing her contract. Caroline was pregnant at the time, which would have meant her having to resign anyway.

Caroline reprised the role of Shaw in the anniversary episode The Five Doctors, where her character's unearthly scream of "Stop him!" is still fondly remembered by Doctor Who fans, and also appeared in the special episode Dimensions in Time 1993, part of the BBC's annual Children in Need appeal. She has more recently appeared in one of Big Finish Productions' audio dramas based on Doctor Who, "Dust Breeding" (2001), although playing a different character than Liz.

She is married to Geoffrey Beevers, who played the renegade Time Lord known as the Master in The Keeper of Traken. Beevers also appeared in "Dust Breeding" and co-starred with his wife in "The Devil of Winterborne" and "Unnatural Selection."

A popular story told by Caroline John recounts how, in preparation for her role on Doctor Who, she purchased a dictionary of scientific terminology, then found that all the technical terms the writers had her character using were made up.

In addition to her role as Liz Shaw, Caroline John has also appeared as Laura Lyons in a 1982 televised version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," starring Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes. She has also appeared in episodes of Z-Cars, Casualty, The House of Elliot, and EastEnders.