Alison Cheney

Alison Cheney was a barmaid in Lancashire, who became a companion of the Ninth Doctor.

Biography
Alison was Joe Latham's girlfriend. She once took up a degree in History, but had to drop it to live with Joe.

She met the Ninth Doctor in 2003 when she worked at the pub in the abandoned town of Lannet, Lancashire. The Doctor had just arrived in the TARDIS and, noticing the absence of people in Lannet, came in for a drink. The Shalka had by this time caused a mass exodus of the townsfolk, who did not understand that an alien invasion had taken place but, nevertheless, fled in fear.

Alison was subsequently kidnapped by the Shalka, who modified her body to transmit the Shalka's screams. At the end of the Shalka incident, Alison accepted the Doctor's invitation to become his companion. Joe however showed concern of Alison travelling with the Doctor, fearing for her safety. However, the Doctor noted that the TARDIS was a time machine and he had probably already dropped Alison at her mother's house. But when Joe phoned up Alison's mother and asked if Alison was there, he got a negative answer. (NOTVALID: Scream of the Shalka)

Behind the scenes

 * Sophie Okonedo, who voices Alison, would later play future Queen Liz Ten in TV: The Beast Below and TV: The Pandorica Opens.
 * Whilst Alison mentions that she once did a degree in history, her degree was also in ecology according to production notes, but ecology was excised from the script.
 * According to the production information text on the Scream Of The Shalka DVD, in original drafts of the script, Alison lived with her family, who would play a part in the story. Other drafts mention that Joe (under Shalka control) attacked Alison's mother to get the keys to her car, and later sent her flowers to apologise. This factor was taken out and her mother was reduced to a mention.