Grace Holloway

Dr. Grace Holloway is a San Francisco cardiologist and ally of the Doctor.

Profile
Grace has the dubious distinction of being directly responsible for the death of the Seventh Doctor and his subsequent regeneration into the Eighth. After being hospitalized for minor gunshot wounds, the Doctor was X-rayed in preparation for surgery, and showed an abnormality -- a second heart. Called for her expertise, Holloway attempted exploratory surgery using a probe, in the process causing severe damage to the Doctor's circulatory system and causing him to die (his regeneration would not occur for several more hours due to the anesthesia). When the Doctor finally regenerated into a new form, Grace at first refused to believe he was the same man, but gradually became convinced, especially after watching the new Doctor extracting the remains of her probe from his chest.

She was possessed for a short while by the Master, during which time she betrayed the Doctor. She later unwillingly opened the Eye of Harmony inside the TARDIS and was in fact killed, but the Doctor used the Eye to bring her back to life.

In the end she decided not to go with the Doctor. After sharing a romantic kiss with her, the Doctor departed in the TARDIS and each of them went their separate ways.

Grace expressed an interest in Puccini's operas and the art of da Vinci. She was also the live-in girlfriend of a man named Brian for a while, though he left him the same day she met the Eighth Doctor. (DW: Doctor Who: The TV Movie).

After the Doctor's departure, Grace began examining the remnants of a substance the Master spat at her during the battle, which led her to working with an MI6-sponsored genetics lab in hopes of creating a human-Time Lord hybrid capable of regeneration. When Holloway later is reunited with the Doctor, he chastises her for this, though they ultimately reconcile and part company with another kiss. (DWM: The Fallen) Sometime later, the Doctor experienced a hallucination that he and Grace were married. (DWM: The Glorious Dead)

Grace Holloway's ultimate fate has yet to be revealed, however the Eighth Doctor indicated that he was familiar with her work and that she was destined to do "great things". (DW: Doctor Who: The TV Movie) Holloway, however, misinterpreted this as being a reference to her work with MI6 on the human/Time Lord hybrid. (DWM: The Fallen)

Behind the scenes
Grace at one point exclaims "I finally found the right guy and he's from another planet!" Although the 1963-89 series occasionally gave subtle hints of attraction and even romance between the Doctor and other characters, this is the first time a character identified as a companion had been heard to directly express attraction towards the Doctor. The 2005 revival would see more of this with characters such as Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Jack Harkness and Madame de Pompadour.