Tegan Jovanka

Tegan Haybourne (née Jovanka) was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, and a temporary companion to the First Doctor during the Game of Rassilon in the Death Zone.

She was an Australian air stewardess trainee who wandered into the Doctor's TARDIS seeking help when she mistook it for a genuine police box. She quickly became embroiled in the events surrounding the Doctor's regeneration and found herself a somewhat unwilling passenger of the Fifth Doctor, as he failed to successfully return her to her proper time and place. Tegan was one of the few companions to have parted company with the Doctor and then return for a significant number of adventures.

She was joined in her travels at various times by Adric, Nyssa, Marc, Turlough, Kamelion and, briefly, the Brigadier. She played the Game of Rassilon in the Death Zone on Gallifrey, where she also met the First, Second and Third Doctors, along with Susan Foreman and Sarah Jane Smith.

Tegan's relatively long tenure of service onboard the TARDIS belied an ambivalence about travel with the Doctor. Even through her final glimpse of the TARDIS, she vacillated between wanting to stay and wanting to go.

She was one of the few human companions of the Doctor to be able to pilot the TARDIS; although she was only successful once and this was by pressing random buttons on the console.

Childhood
Tegan was born in Brisbane on 22 September, 1960 (AUDIO: The Gathering) to Bill (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) and Joy Jovanka. (PROSE: Qualia) She had several brothers. (PROSE: Qualia) Her father's parents, Mjovic and Sneshna Jovanka, were Serbian and emigrated from Yugoslavia to Australia, (PROSE: Cold Fusion) but had returned to their homeland by 1981, (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) whilst her maternal grandfather, Andrew Verney, was British. (TV: The Awakening)

Her extended family included her mother's siblings Vanessa (PROSE: Qualia) and Richard Frazer, who was married to Felicity and had two sons; Colin and Michael. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) Tegan called Colin her favourite cousin. (TV: Arc of Infinity) She also had other cousins who worked in blast-mining in Australia. (AUDIO: The Contingency Club)

Tegan lived on a cattle farm when she was young, describing it as being as far away from civilisation as it could be. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) She was living on a sheep farm owned by her father by the early 1970s, (PROSE: Logopolis, AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane) which her father let her drive around in a tractor when she was ten. She was a natural driver but preferred aeroplanes, being allowed to fly her father's Cessna when she was older. (PROSE: Logopolis) One particular flight had not gone well due to turbulence. (PROSE: Time-Flight) When she was a child, her mother took her to a corroboree, which gave her a recurring nightmare of strange white figures coming out of the dark. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) She played a spelling game called Magic Robot as a girl and was talented at drawing, a hobby that her father encouraged her to do. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)

Tegan learnt how to dance the Charleston for a school play. (TV: Black Orchid) Not especially bright as a child, she often took the blame for others because she could not think up her own excuses. Her next door neighbour and best friend, Felicity Spoonsy, introduced her to cigarettes which got often got her in trouble and also seduced Gary Lovarik, whom Tegan fancied. (PROSE: The King of Terror) She went to school with another next door neighbour, Mike Bretherton, and was taught Physics and Chemistry by Miss Anderson. (AUDIO: Hexagora)

At the age of thirteen, she made a deal with God that she would be good if He killed her grandmother, who died of a coronary thrombosis six weeks later. (PROSE: The King of Terror) She had been ill for more than six years, during which Tegan's parents kept her away to avoid upsetting her at so young an age. (AUDIO: Warzone) When she was fifteen, she broke her toe during track and gym, so Mike carried her books home for her. (AUDIO: Hexagora) She spent many a Saturday in Brisbane with her friends; Flis, Susannah, Dave and Richard, taking the ferry to the shops and buying clothes and records. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)

Move to London
After William had an affair with a twenty-year-old typist, Tegan moved away to the coast with Joy and went to boarding school, where she studied for a few terms before being expelled. She ran away to Sydney and squatted in Kings Cross before her father found her and sent her to live with her aunt Vanessa in London. (PROSE: The King of Terror) When she was eighteen, she was obsessed with music, R-rated films and boys. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)

Tegan later went to college (AUDIO: The Lady of Mercia) and studied foreign languages and Aboriginal culture, wanting to broaden her horizons and see the world. To that end, she spent most summers abroad, visiting Hong Kong in 1979 (PROSE: Cold Fusion) but never visiting the United States. Believing that it would be "a glamorous something to do", she decided to pursue a career as an air stewardess. (PROSE: The King of Terror) Vanessa told her to give up the job should it ever stop being fun. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)

Although she came from a Jewish family, Tegan was not religious. Despite this, she still prayed after her mother told her that Bill had been diagnosed with cancer and was retiring from the farm, giving it up to Tegan's uncle Richard. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties)

Joining the Doctor
On 28 February, 1981, Vanessa agreed to drive Tegan to Heathrow Airport for her first day as an air stewardess. The car broke down in the London Borough of Barnet, prompting Tegan to wander into the TARDIS in search of help. The Fourth Doctor and Adric took off without knowing that Tegan was aboard, taking her to Logopolis. After they told her of 's murder of Vanessa using his Tissue Compression Eliminator, she helped them stop the Master's plans and the entropy he unleashed.

After the Master was defeated, Tegan witnessed the Doctor's fall and regeneration into his fifth incarnation. (TV: Logopolis) Knowing that the new Doctor needed a "responsible adult" to help him recover, and seeing herself as the only real candidate next to Adric and Nyssa, (PROSE: When It Was Fun) she helped get him back to the TARDIS and took off, going to Castrovalva where he recovered from his regeneration and they thwarted the Master again. (TV: Castrovalva)

Although the Doctor gave her a bedroom aboard the TARDIS, (AUDIO: Psychodrome) Tegan wanted to be taken to Heathrow and continued to wear her uniform to remind the Doctor and herself of the fact. (PROSE: When It Was Fun)

Attempts to return to Heathrow
After leaving Castrovalva, the TARDIS materialised on the Psychodrome where she was faced with her childhood nightmare about Aboriginal dancing. She also learnt that she had a subconscious grudge against the Doctor due to associating him with Vanessa's death. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) Three days after Logopolis, they landed on Scientifica where she met Chris Cwej, whose fake Australian accent annoyed her, calling it racist. (PROSE: Cold Fusion) They later landed on Isopterus where they faced giant termites (COMIC: On the Planet Isopterus) and on 1950s Earth, where she told Edward Grainger about Australia. (PROSE: First Born)

On Monarch's ship, Tegan sketched a man and woman for him which he used for the Minister of Enlightenment and the Minister of Persuasion's humanoid forms. The Doctor gave her a TARDIS key in the event that she was separated from the others. (TV: Four to Doomsday) After the TARDIS landed on Deva Loka, Tegan accidentally fell asleep at the place of shared dreams, allowing the Mara to enter her mind and possess her until it left her for Aris, a Kinda, after which it was seemingly destroyed using mirrors. (TV: Kinda)

Another attempt to get Tegan to Heathrow resulted in the TARDIS landing in 1666 London where they faced the Terileptils, one of whom she hit with a gun. (TV: The Visitation) After escaping the Great Fire of London, the Celestial Toymaker attempted to turn them against one another, trying to do so with Tegan by showing her her father's funeral. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) In the 11th century, Czar U'thai and his warriors tried to kidnap a European village's women, as well as Tegan. (PROSE: The Immortals)

She once argued with Adric and the Doctor when the helmic regulator had been reprogrammed (AUDIO: The Toy) and helped to defeat the Star Men, (AUDIO: The Star Men) the Red Queen (AUDIO: The Contingency Club) and Clarimonde, who mistook her for Jo Grant. (AUDIO: Zaltys) The first historical figure that Tegan met during her travels was Harry Houdini, whom the Master had convinced that the Doctor was evil. (AUDIO: Smoke and Mirrors)

Enjoying her travels
After some time travelling, Tegan confessed to Adric that she had begun to enjoy travelling in the TARDIS and visited Cicero Prime, (AUDIO: Kingdom of Lies) Yorkshire at various points in time (AUDIO: Ghost Walk) and Argentia where she helped solve a murder. (AUDIO: Serpent in the Silver Mask) Tegan, Adric and Nyssa were kidnapped by Adam Mitchell for the Master, but they were saved by various incarnations of the Doctor. (COMIC: In Their Night, Endgame)

Having already admitted to Adric that she was starting to enjoy their adventures, (AUDIO: Kingdom of Lies) Tegan decided that she wanted to stay with the crew for a while and told the Doctor not to continue trying to take her to Heathrow. She strove to prove the Doctor innocent after he was accused of murder at Cranleigh Hall on 11 June, 1925, prior to which she had enjoyed the Cranleighs' party and showed talent at dancing the Charleston. (TV: Black Orchid) The crew celebrated Christmas in the TARDIS (PROSE: In the TARDIS: Christmas Day) and arrived on Lemaria during the celebration of another holiday, Freedom Day. (PROSE: The Constant Doctor)

They encountered the Dar Traders on Battlefield, where Tegan cradled Nyssa's body during her three minutes of death. Unbeknownst to Tegan, the Traders had foretold Adric's death. (AUDIO: The Darkening Eye) She helped to defeat the I Predator in 1981. (AUDIO: Iterations of I)

The crew landed on a planet of forests and statues where she argued with Adric, whom a gestalt entity prematurely mourned. (PROSE: Hearts of Stone) During a trip to 2526, she found herself facing the Cybermen for the first time. Adric lost his life when a ship crashed into Earth and Tegan was furious at the Doctor's refusal to go back in time and rescue him. (TV: Earthshock)

Left behind
Finally arriving at Heathrow Airport, albeit it in 1982, Tegan, the Doctor and Nyssa again thwarted the Master, after which the Doctor and Nyssa dematerialised in the TARDIS without Tegan. She ran out of the airport too late to catch them and was upset at having been left behind. (TV: Time-Flight)

Tegan's time as an air stewardess was short-lived after she assaulted an unruly passenger mid-flight, resulting in her being fired during her first year. During this time, she caught the attention of the android Kylex-12, who identified her as a time traveller. The two began a romantic relationship, but Tegan found him over-attentive and broke up with him just as he prepared to propose to her. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam)

Rejoining the TARDIS crew
In January 1983, Tegan went to Amsterdam to visit her cousin Colin Frazer, only to find that he had disappeared, having been captured by Omega to lure Tegan to him. He used Tegan as leverage in his plan to create a new body for himself using the Doctor. Once the process was done and had begun to fail, Tegan reunited with the Doctor and Nyssa and watched Omega's defeat before he could revert to anti-matter and destroy Earth. (TV: Arc of Infinity)

Tegan was approached by Kyle, whom she rebuffed before he directed her and the Doctor to a Rembrandt van Rijn exhibit showcasing drawings of spacecraft. At the museum, they encountered the Nix and became aware of Teldek, later learning of Kyle's connection to her. After Teldek's defeat, Kyle accepted that Tegan did not love him and decided to continue living in the hope that he could find someone who would. Before Tegan and Nyssa entered the TARDIS, the Doctor went on a number of adventures without them, returning a few days later for them. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam) She was annoyed to find that her things had been put in storage. (AUDIO: The Elite)

Travelling by choice
After leaving Amsterdam, the Doctor took Tegan and Nyssa to Florana where they came across a Dalek known as the High Priest and Tegan led a band of rebels in what she had wanted to be a bloodless revolution. (AUDIO: The Elite) To recover after Florana, the trio stayed in Brisbane for several days before Tegan found that Mike Bretherton had disappeared. They managed to find him, turned into an insect, and Tegan told him that she had loved him. (AUDIO: Hexagora)

Tegan began having dreams of snakes due to her connection to the Mara. She helped defeat the Dark on Akoshemon's moon,(PROSE: Fear of the Dark) Byzan and Albis on Sirius, (AUDIO: The Children of Seth) Vi'Al, (PROSE: The God Machine) the Voorvolika, (PROSE: The Armageddon Chrysalis) Carnak (PROSE: The Haven) and the Dren. (PROSE: The Penalty)

After returning to Heathrow so that Tegan might meet a friend, the TARDIS crew met and defeated (PROSE: Night Flight to Nowhere) and later saved the universe from a cyclotron. (PROSE: Lackaday Express) In 1896, Tegan attempted to change time slightly but events remained unchanged, just as the Doctor expected. (PROSE: The Sands of Time) They also visited Morestra (PROSE: Zeta Major) the Necropolitan to mourn Adric (PROSE: Wake) and 493 Ravenna. (PROSE: Goths and Robbers)

On an old Earth colony, Tegan was taken prisoner by Anna for company. Tegan managed to escape, after which the Doctor and Nyssa told her that Anna had only been an imprint and not, strictly speaking, real. (PROSE: Soul Mate) Tegan felt left out on F-four because of her lack of scientific knowledge and wandered off, uncovering the truth behind a deadly disease. (PROSE: No Exit)

Tegan and Nyssa asked the Doctor to teach them how to properly fly the TARDIS. (PROSE: Men of the Earth) Under the influence of the Mara, Tegan set the coordinates to Manussa where she attempted to suppress the monster. However, she was unable to and helped it feed on the negative emotions of those at a ceremony celebrating its defeat. The Doctor managed to defeat it and believed himself to have permanently freed Tegan from its possession. (TV: Snakedance) Recovering from Manussa, Tegan, the Doctor and Nyssa went on holiday in Tasmania where they encountered vampires, (PROSE: Goth Opera) just as they later would on Gallifrey. (COMIC: Blood Invocation)

Tegan and Nyssa were chased by Endovorms in the form of lions at Trafalgar Square, (AUDIO: The Lions of Trafalgar) and helped the Doctor defeat the Akunites aboard the HMS Aquitaine. (AUDIO: Aquitaine) Tegan witnessed the Peterloo Massacre and was appalled at the conditions of the factories in Manchester. (AUDIO: The Peterloo Massacre) The Doctor told them that he would take them to the 2012 Olympics but instead landed in 1982, (AUDIO: The King of the Dead) later taking them to Mistpuddle where they solved a murder. (AUDIO: The Mistpuddle Murders)

Marc joins
The Doctor took Tegan and Nyssa to 63 BC Cumae so that he might meet Cicero. The three travellers were put through a series of tests by Tartarus, along with Cicero and his slave Marc, with the latter joining the TARDIS crew after becoming a freedman. Tegan knew of Talos from Jason and the Argonauts. (AUDIO: Tartarus)

On Proxima in the 30th century, Tegan helped defeat Professor Kalu. (AUDIO: Interstitial) In 19th century Ireland, she and Marc tracked down and rescued the Doctor and Nyssa from the Spae Wife and her carnival. She was able to remind Nyssa of who she was in order to remove the Spae Wife's influence. (AUDIO: Feast of Fear)

Landing on Samotis, the TARDIS crew were drafted into the race (AUDIO: Warzone) and eventually came face to face once more with the Cybermen, who partially converted Marc. After restoring his memories, the Doctor left him, Tegan and Nyssa on Carlanna with a great deal of money, feeling guilty over Marc's conversion. (AUDIO: Conversion)

Turlough joins
On Earth, Tegan met two different versions of the retired Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, whom she took a liking to. In contrast, she greatly distrusted Vislor Turlough. When she mistook Mawdryn for the a regenerating Doctor, Tegan was infected with his virus which caused her to age backwards until the Brigadier saved her thanks to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. Afterwards, Turlough joined the TARDIS crew, something that Tegan was not pleased with. (TV: Mawdryn Undead)

Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough had to come together in the Gardens of the Dead to save the Doctor (AUDIO: Gardens of the Dead) and the two women persuaded the Doctor to save Ophiuchus. (COMIC: Ophiuchus) Thanks to Turlough's sabotage, the TARDIS ended up on Terminus where he and Tegan had to look for Nyssa. After Nyssa was cured of Lazar's disease, she chose to remain and shared an emotional farewell with Tegan. (TV: Terminus)

In 1904 Russia, Tegan and Turlough were separated from the Doctor and boarded a train to St Petersburg, on which they investigated a murder. (PROSE: Gudok) They later encountered the Eternals and Tegan was forced to deal with the unwanted attentions of Marriner, who did not love her so much as want to live vicariously through her emotions. During the same adventure, she saw Turlough turn from evil and reject the Black Guardian. This caused her to warm up to Turlough somewhat. (TV: Enlightenment)

After leaving the Eternals, the TARDIS landed in Buzzard Creek, Arizona in 1905 where they came across a freakshow. (AUDIO: Freakshow) They also met Edward Grainger, whom Tegan had already met in his personal future. (PROSE: Falling from Xi'an)

With Turlough and an older Nyssa
Two days after Nyssa left, Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough arrived on Helheim where they were reunited with Nyssa, fifty years older. They investigated a medical facility attempting to cure Richter's Syndrome, after which Nyssa boarded the TARDIS to go home. However, Tegan pointed out that it would likely be some time before the Doctor managed to get her there. (AUDIO: Cobwebs)

On Chodor in the 28th century, the TARDIS crew uncovered the true origins of the corrupt society, after which they discovered that Tegan was still influenced by the Mara. (AUDIO: The Whispering Forest) The Mara left Tegan and possessed the Doctor before Tegan and Turlough expelled it with a circle of cameras and screens. (AUDIO: The Cradle of the Snake)

Tegan, the Doctor, Turlough and Nyssa went up against the Sontarans, (AUDIO: Heroes of Sontar) Rennol on Vektris (AUDIO: Kiss of Death) and the Rat King in England (AUDIO: Rat Trap) before visiting Calcutta, (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger) Eight slash Q Panenka (AUDIO: The Jupiter Conjunction) and the monkey house of a zoo. (AUDIO: The Monkey House)

The Doctor tried to take the crew to Tegan's father's farm in 1980s Brisbane but a hit by a Zygma beam meant that Nyssa and Turlough were transported to the 51st century whilst Tegan and the Doctor remained in the console room. The two groups managed to find one another and defeat Magnus Greel. (AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane) In 2013, Tegan and Turlough were infected by quartz and, at Mulkris's bidding, destroyed Eldrad's ring. (AUDIO: Eldrad Must Die!)

Accidentally arriving in E-Space, Tegan encountered the Marshmen on Adric's home planet of Alzarius (AUDIO: Mistfall) and helped defeat Balancer Skaarsgard on Isenfel. (AUDIO: Equilibrium) The crew also came up against the Sandmen and Tegan was forced to say farewell to Nyssa as she chose to remain behind to power a portal to allow the TARDIS to return to N-Space. (AUDIO: The Entropy Plague)

Adventures with Kamelion
In 1215 England, Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough encountered and were joined in the TARDIS by Kamelion. (TV: The King's Demons) The Doctor tried to take them to the Eye of Orion, en route to which a phoenix appeared in the TARDIS before the Doctor was able to trick it out. (PROSE: The Bird of Fire) The remains of the Mara in Tegan's mind affected Kamelion and resulted in him being controlled by it for a brief time. (PROSE: Mark of the Medusa)

A few days after Kamelion joined, the crew landed in the Crystal Bucephalus where Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough were arrested for murder. Whilst briefly stranded in the mid-1980s, Tegan met a teenage McDonald's employee named Ace, who would later become a companion of the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus)

Tegan did not trust Kamelion but apologised to Turlough for not having trusted him. She warmed to Kamelion somewhat after adventures at Rastana (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist) and Abertysswg, (AUDIO: Black Thursday) eventually standing up for him in 1984 York. (AUDIO: Power Game) However, after a visit to Mekalion Kamelion decided that he was too dangerous to journey out of the TARDIS with Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough and chose to remain within the TARDIS. Despite how Tegan's feelings towards him had somewhat changed, she did not mind Kamelion's decision. (AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire)

Final adventures
The Doctor took Tegan and Turlough to the Eye of Orion to relax. Soon enough, the pair were drafted into helping their travelling companion (as well as his first, second and third selves) complete the Game of Rassilon. In the Death Zone, she met Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Susan Foreman and Sarah Jane Smith and spent an extended period of time with the First Doctor. After her Doctor was made Lord President in Borusa's place, Tegan was surprised that he wanted to run from the Time Lords. (TV: The Five Doctors) She later met the Eighth Doctor, who saved her, Turlough and the Fifth Doctor from a Raston Warrior Robot. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)

Tegan began to feel that the Doctor and Turlough shared a bond that she was not a part of and missed Nyssa. An attempt to show Turlough what the Fourth Doctor looked like resulted in Kamelion being overwhelmed by her memories of her mother, father and aunt. (PROSE: Qualia) She once again encountered the Sontarans (PROSE: Sontar's Little Helpers) and the Master, who hypnotised her and made her stab the Doctor. (PROSE: The Velvet Dark)

The trio visited Oxaqua, (PROSE: The Oxaqua Incident) Mesique, (PROSE: Winter on Mesique) Melphis, (PROSE: Class 4 Renegade) Moon Village One, (COMIC: The Lunar Strangers) and 1980s London where they were reunited with the Brigadier. (PROSE: The Nemertimes) They also visited the location between universes, which Tegan named Ringpullworld and where Huxley's prose style reminded her of Vanessa, (AUDIO: Ringpullworld) and fought the Master and the Cybermen once more. (PROSE: Birth of a Renegade)

After receiving damage from Sentinel Six, the Doctor landed the TARDIS inside Sea Base 4 in 2084 where Tegan was taken hostage for a time by Nilson. When the Doctor released hexachromite gas into the base to stop the Silurians and Sea Devils from attacking, he asked Tegan and Turlough to give the Silurians oxygen but everyone died. (TV: Warriors of the Deep) To recover, they visited Tayborough Sands where Tegan decided that she wanted to visit her grandfather, Andrew Verney. (PROSE: Deep Blue)

In Little Hodcombe, George Hutchinson tried to have Tegan burnt as the Queen of the May, but she survived after she was switched for a straw figure at the last moment. The crew left with Will Chandler, (TV: The Awakening) who travelled with them for a month as the Doctor attempted to take him home. (PROSE: The King of Terror) She met Peri Brown and Erimem at a cricket match attended by two versions of the Doctor and, that night, got drunk with them at a pub. (PROSE: Graham Dilley Saves the World)

The TARDIS took Tegan to Lant Land, which she believed to be a simulation, (AUDIO: Lant Land) 21st century Earth for Christmas shopping where she had the most fun she had had since shooting a Cyberman, (PROSE: Last Minute Shopping) London where she helped undo Margaret Thatcher's assassination, (PROSE: The Assassin's Story) Rome where she and Turlough were kidnapped by Sextus Cornelius, (PROSE: Rome) the Isle of Mona in the 11th century (PROSE: The Fall of the Druids) and to Allen Road where they met the Judoon. (COMIC: The Forgotten)

Landing on Frontios, Tegan met humans from the far future and had to pretend to be an android in front of the Gravis. Tegan and the Doctor left in the TARDIS to take the Gravis to Kolkokron, (TV: Frontios) although they first accidentally landed on Queth. (PROSE: Life After Queth) After depositing the Gravis, the Doctor took Tegan to Africa on the last day of Earth (PROSE: Perfect Day) before they were summoned to Gallifrey where she met Leela and became Earth Ambassador to Gallifrey. (AUDIO: Time in Office) They went on to visit Salient Point, (PROSE: Keeping It Real) Elizabeth II's coronation, (COMIC: Where's the Doctor?) Ann's christening (PROSE: Categorical Imperative) and Camelot (PROSE: The Creation of Camelot) before returning for Turlough. (TV: Frontios)



Departure
A time corridor dragged the TARDIS to 1984 London where Tegan was knocked out after coming across a Dalek. She helped to defeat them, but the carnage of the Dalek civil war disillusioned her to her travels in the TARDIS. Remembering what Vanessa had told her when she started her job as an air stewardess, she bid an emotional and accusatory farewell to the Doctor and Turlough and ran off before the Doctor could respond.

Even so, she ran back in time to see the TARDIS dematerialise, calling out her goodbyes. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) She left the warehouse and escaped from Gustave Lytton's policemen by jumping onto a boat. (PROSE: Resurrection of the Daleks)

Unbeknownst to her, Tegan left the TARDIS with damage to her brain which would result in a tumour. She would later ascribe it to the numerous times she was knocked out or possessed. (AUDIO: The Gathering)

Later life
After parting with the Doctor, Tegan returned to Brisbane using money that her family wired to her so that she might leave London. By 1987, she was running her father's farm (PROSE: Encounter on Burnt Snake Flat) and rarely thought about her adventures in the TARDIS, (AUDIO: The Gathering) although she did give an interview to River Song (PROSE: When It Was Fun) and was, at some point, interviewed by UNIT before having her mind wiped. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The Doctor visited her in 1987 to reassure her that she did not have to worry about the Mara, as well as that her father would survive the snake bite that he suffered. (PROSE: Encounter on Burnt Snake Flat) After her father died, she took over his animal feed company Verney Food Supplies, a job that she did not find especially fulfilling. She lived a normal life with few friends other than colleagues that she did not like. (AUDIO: The Gathering)

In the 1990s, she answered a small advert in Time Out magazine which called for anybody who knew what the word "TARDIS" meant. She went to London where she was reunited with Sarah Jane Smith and met Liz Shaw, Jo Grant and Dorothy McShane and reminisced with them over wine, although she was less positive than the others. (PROSE: Girls' Night In)

Tegan embarked on a romantic relationship with Michael Tanaka, a colleague of hers. However, she ended the relationship in 2006 after discovering that she had an inoperable brain tumour which she suspected was the result of her TARDIS misadventures. She was told that she was unlikely to live more than a year. On her birthday that year, she was reunited with the Doctor and refused his offer of travelling again or finding a cure, telling him that she was happy with her life. She resumed her relationship with Michael.

Despite only having been given a year to live, (AUDIO: The Gathering) Tegan was still alive in 2010, by which time she was, according to Sarah's research, campaigning for Aboriginal rights. (TV: Death of the Doctor) She entered into a relationship with Nyssa, (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane) whom she had last seen in E-Space, (AUDIO: The Entropy Plague) and went with her to Sarah's funeral one spring day. The pair discussed Sarah with the other guests and helped fight the Jackals of the Backwards Clock. (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane)

By the 2020s, Tegan had had a breakdown and was sent to Shawlands for therapy due to her stories about her time in the TARDIS, which were not only considered fanciful but also embarrassing for the government. She came to believe that her memories were delusions stemming from her trauma following Vanessa's death. Whilst at therapy, she developed her writing skills. After leaving, she married Dr William Haybourne and lived with him in Cambridge after he was appointed chair at St Cedd's College. She wrote a book called Good Companions.

Fifty years after Vanessa's death and ten years after the Haybournes' wedding, William fell ill whilst giving a lecture and died. On her way back to her empty home from the funeral in Exeter, Tegan met an incarnation of the Doctor that she did not know, calling himself Dr Smith, on a train. Although she played a role in helping defeat the Sigrarnons, she believed that it was a dream and parted ways with him. After sorting out the matter of William's estate with their lawyer, she went looking for Dr Smith's house but found that there had not been a house at that address for years. (PROSE: Good Companions)

Personality
Tegan was stubborn, loud and direct, once describing herself as "just a mouth on legs." (TV: Earthshock) While she often bickered with her fellow travellers, her intrinsic honesty and morality proved useful. The Doctor once noted that these qualities made her a good coordinator. (TV: Castrovalva) She was also more likely to detect a threat to the Doctor's safety than her fellow companions. (TV: Castrovalva, Mawdryn Undead)

She considered Nyssa to be her best friend (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger) and was greatly saddened when she first left the TARDIS. (TV: Terminus) On Deva Loka, Tegan argued with Adric after he suggested she was too weak-minded to defy the Mara and that the ensuing chaos was her fault. (TV: Kinda) However, she also showed concern for Adric's well-being when he was captured and tortured by (TV: Castrovalva) and was indignant at the Doctor's apparent unwillingness to save Adric's life. (TV: Earthshock)

Although she despised violence, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) she would resort to it under extreme circumstances. When the Master threatened the Doctor in March 1215, Tegan immediately threw a knife at him. (TV: The King's Demons) She also killed a Cyberman in 2526. (TV: Earthshock)

The Doctor often encouraged her to find her inner strength with the words, "Brave heart, Tegan". (TV: Earthshock, Enlightenment, Warriors of the Deep, The Awakening) Although she told him that she found it annoying and asked him never to say it again, he did so on numerous subsequent occasions. (AUDIO: Psychodrome) He saw her saying the phrase back to him as he regenerated. (TV: The Caves of Androzani) On one occasion, Tegan said, "Brave heart" to encourage Nyssa. (AUDIO: The Star Men) She muttered those words to herself after leaving the TARDIS and watching it dematerialise. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)

Tegan claimed that the Doctor often gave her "half pained, half patronising" looks and later described him as the most annoying man that she had ever met. (AUDIO: Aquitaine) On one occasion, she derisively referred to the Doctor as a "posho". (AUDIO: The Peterloo Massacre)

Adric once described Tegan as being "unreasonably highly strung". (AUDIO: The Toy)

Appearance
Tegan was small, slender (PROSE: Arc of Infinity) and attractive, (PROSE: Warriors of the Deep) with aggressively close-cropped, dark auburn hair. (PROSE: Kinda, The Eight Doctors) She gave off an efficient and determined aura. (PROSE: Earthshock)

When she first travelled with the Doctor, she wore a neat purple uniform skirt and blouse (TV: Logopolis, etc.) with stylish shoes, (PROSE: Earthshock) which she kept on to remind the Doctor that she wished to return home. (PROSE: When It Was Fun) She did, however, change into a "spritely confection" of a taffeta dress for the party at Cranleigh Hall. (PROSE: Black Orchid)

Upon reuniting with the Doctor and Nyssa, Tegan wore a white jacket with matching shorts and a camisole top, (PROSE: Arc of Infinity) an outfit that she wore for some time due to her possessions having been stored away. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam) She later wore a rainbow-coloured dress with a white sash about her waist. (PROSE: Warriors of the Deep, The Eight Doctors)

In her seventies, Tegan had hair as grey as a winter's day, having allowed her colour to grow out when she was sixty. Her hair reminded her of her mother's. (PROSE: Good Companions)

Other information
Tegan spoke one of the many indigenous Australian languages fluently. (TV: Four to Doomsday)

She was a talented artist, sketching the latest fashions on Earth for Enlightenment to see. (TV: Four to Doomsday) On another occasion, she drew a picture of two Cybermen. (PROSE: Lackaday Express)

Before leaving Earth, Tegan had seen Blake's 7. (PROSE: Cold Fusion)

At the age of three, Tegan didn't like ice cream. (TV: Kinda)

In terms of her personal politics, Tegan described herself as "a fully paid up Aussie republican" and "downright Bolshie." (AUDIO: The Children of Seth)

The renegade Time Lady Iris Wildthyme met Tegan (as well as Adric and Nyssa) when she spent Christmas in the TARDIS on one occasion during the Doctor's fifth incarnation. Iris came to dislike Tegan, later describing her as "that shrill Australian woman". (AUDIO: Excelis Dawns)

At one point during her travels with the Doctor, Tegan visited Nocturne. The Seventh Doctor later told his companions Ace and Hex that it was "a particularly lively visit". (AUDIO: Nocturne)

The Doctor once compared Tegan and Turlough to bickering siblings. (AUDIO: Freakshow) On another occasion, Turlough jokingly told Tegan that "stubbornness is one of Australia's greatest exports". (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger)

Nyssa considered Tegan to be her best friend. (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger) Tegan held Nyssa in the same esteem. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam) Tegan considered Nyssa to be "too good for this world", once expressing a desire to be more like her. (AUDIO: Aquitaine)

The tigress Dawon once referred to Tegan as a "shrieking she-cat". (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger)

The Fifth Doctor used to hide from Tegan in the TARDIS' Cloister Room. (AUDIO: No Place Like Home)

Shortly before his death on 31 December 1926, Major Cyril Haggard referred to Tegan as "an Antipodean harpy". (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger)

After he believed that she had been killed in India on 31 December 1926, the Fifth Doctor told Lady Adela Forster that Tegan was "very dear" to him. (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger)

She believed that her first name was Welsh in origin. (COMIC: The Immortals)

Harry Houdini was the first historical figure whom she met during her travels with the Doctor. (AUDIO: Smoke and Mirrors)

Tegan once told Nyssa that the English were "surly buggers". (PROSE: Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life)

The Eleventh Doctor once described Tegan as "a gobby Australian". (TV: The Crimson Horror)

Two days after she met Adric, Tegan told Nyssa that he "rubbed [her] up the wrong way" and accused him of being condescending and "a male chauvinist". Shortly afterwards, she described the Doctor as an "incompetent lunatic who talks gibberish". (AUDIO: Psychodrome)

Tegan disapproved of blood sports. (AUDIO: Equilibrium)

Tegan was a fan of Talking Heads. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam)

She disliked modern art. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam)

Tegan once referred to Adric as "Pyjama Boy". (AUDIO: The Contingency Club)

The Seventh Doctor speculated that the book How To Complain, which Ace found in the TARDIS library, had belonged to Tegan. (PROSE: Last Rites)

Tegan's ex-boyfriend Michael Tanaka told the Fifth Doctor that he believed she was in love with him at one point. The Doctor later asked her about this, but Tegan denied it, laughing at the idea. (AUDIO: The Gathering)

Behind the scenes

 * Janet Fielding appears in-character as Tegan with the Sixth Doctor in NOTVALID: A Fix with Sontarans, a story which this wiki does not consider a valid source.
 * According to REF: The Doctor: His Lives and Times, Tegan gave a full account of her travels with the Doctor to a mysterious individual by the name of Dr Song.
 * Tegan's name was borne from producer John Nathan-Turner suggesting Tegan (after an Australian girl he knew) or Jovanka (after the ) as given names to script editor Christopher H. Bidmead. Bidmead mistook "Tegan (Jovanka)" as the full name. (DWM 234)
 * The character Tegan was created when Elisabeth Sladen and Louise Jameson couldn't reprise their roles as Sarah Jane Smith and Leela respectively.