Winifred Bambera

Brigadier Winifred Bambera was a member of UNIT in the United Kingdom.

Early life
As an 8-year-old child in Zambia, Winifred once played with a lost leopard cub in Musi-O-Tunya National Park. Her older brother tried to rescue her from the cub's mother, and was badly mauled; Winifred used her father's rifle to rescue both children. Her father beat her as a punishment. (PROSE: Downtime)

UNIT career
In 1995, Bambera was a Captain working under Brigadier Charles Crichton, when she was called to assist in the defeat of the Great Intelligence. (PROSE: Downtime) After Crichton's departure, she was promoted to Brigadier. As Brigadier and leader of UNIT, she worked with the Seventh Doctor and retired UNIT Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart against Mordred, when he and his knights came across a dimensional gateway in Carbury. She also met and fought alongside the knight Ancelyn. She took a quick liking to both Doris Lethbridge-Stewart and Ace; after the battle, the three went drove off for a "girls' day out". (TV: Battlefield) Bambera and Ancelyn got married shortly after. (PROSE: Excalibur of Mars)

She was part of the resistance when the Ice Warriors invaded the United Kingdom in 1997. (PROSE: The Dying Days) She later had twins with Ancelyn. (PROSE: Head Games)

In 1999, Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart had a meeting with Bambera to discuss being brought back into the fold in some way. Bambera refused his request. (PROSE: The Danger Men)

Bambera was still in charge of UNIT in 2001. (AUDIO: Animal)

In 2001, she investigated Margrave University, where she enrolled Ace and Raine Creevy so they could go undercover. She told the Seventh Doctor about the greenhouse. She interrogated Scobie. She didn't like the Doctor agreeing to the Numlock demands and told the Doctor, Ace and Raine to leave, which she found unusual when they did without question. (AUDIO: Animal)

At some point, Winifred was taken to the Black Archive by UNIT to have her record as a companion of the Doctor taken. She was photographed standing next to Ace. Her memories of the visit were subsequently erased and she was sent on her way. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The Eighth Doctor once tried to invite Bambera and Ancelyn to Christmas dinner at the Brigadier's house, but they were holidaying in Avalon. (PROSE: Faithful Friends: Part 3)

Promoted to general, Bambera was in Peru when several Silurian nests became active across Britain and they attempted an invasion of the country. (AUDIO: United) By the 2020s, she was still a general at UNIT. (AUDIO: Signs and Wonders)

Later in her life, Merlin sent Excalibur to Ancelyn in order for him to use it to stop Phobos and Deimos from drifting away from Mars. Ancelyn broke his foot in a football match and told Bambera to go in his place. Bambera met Bernice Summerfield on Mars, and together they were informed by a hologram of Merlin as to how to use Excalibur. (PROSE: Excalibur of Mars)

According to one account, Bambera was listed as 'missing in action' after the Sea Devils attacked a classified military post on the South Wales coast. (PROSE: At Childhood's End)

Behind the scenes

 * In an early draft of The Zygon Invasion, Bambera played a major role, at one point mercilessly killing a Zygon who resembled her son. In the aired episode, her role was replaced with Colonel Walsh.