Kane (Dragonfire)

Kane and Xana were part of a criminal gang on the planet Proamon. After he was captured by security forces, Kane was exiled to the cold, dark side of Svartos. Once there he became the ruler of the space trading colony, Iceworld, though he secretly hungered for vengeance on his people for banishing him.

As time passed, he persuaded or purchased others as slaves and minions, convincing them to enter his service and carry out his whim. Kane's body temperature was so low, that he could kill humans by simply touching them, though he would die if exposed to direct sunlight or extreme heat. Kane's main henchman was Belazs.

When the Seventh Doctor informed Kane that Proamon's sun had gone supernova, leaving no-one on whom he could take his revenge, Kane attempted suicide by exposing himself to direct sunlight. (TV: Dragonfire)

In reality, however, Kane survived. Decades later, he was reunited with Melanie Bush on the set of her reality television series, 24 Carat. Kane, introduced as "a visitor from the Ice Colonies", appeared on the show to pitch Mr Melty, his patented face peel, which he said was "guaranteed to strip away the ravages of time". When Mel rejected his proposal, he revealed that he also produced a range of lifelike ice sculptures, but she remained uninterested. (WC: A Business Proposal for Mel!)

Behind the scenes

 * Originally, the character was scripted to be named "Hess." However, around this time (August 1987), the Soviet Union government had announced that they were no longer blocking the release of Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess on humanitarian grounds, an announcement closely followed by the 93-year-old Hess' death by apparent suicide at Spandau Prison in Berlin, West Germany. These events forced a name change to Kane.
 * "Kane" came about because it also had four letters, which allowed the script editor, Andrew Cartmel, to easily replace "Hess" with "Kane" in the scripts. (DOC: Fire and Ice)