Editing Evelyn Smythe

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{{Infobox Individual
|image       = Evelyn Smyte (Real Time).jpg
|species     = Human
|origin      = [[Earth]]
|mother      = Evelyn Smythe's mother
|father      = Evelyn Smythe's father
|sister      = Mary Smythe
|spouse      = Evelyn Smythe's ex-husband{{!}}Ex-husband
|spouse2     = Justice Rossiter
|first       = The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)
|appearances = {{appears}}
|voice actor = Maggie Stables
}}
[[Dr]] '''Evelyn Rossiter''' (neé '''Smythe''') was a [[companion]] of the [[Sixth Doctor]].

A [[History]] [[lecturer]] at [[Sheffield Hallam University]], Evelyn was identified by the Doctor as a [[causal nexus|nexus point]] and, after an adventure to [[1555]], insisted that she travel with him. After falling in love with [[Justice Rossiter]], she remained on [[Világ]] to marry him, leaving the Doctor on bad terms.

Evelyn twice met the [[Seventh Doctor]] and made peace with him. She died after suffering a [[heart attack]].

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Evelyn Smythe was born in [[1945]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)|The Marian Conspiracy]]'') As a child, she was called "Evey" by her family. She had a [[sister]] named [[Mary Smythe|Mary]], who was [[Evelyn Smythe's mother|her mother]]'s favourite. Her parents and Mary had all died by [[2000]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Arrangements for War (audio story)|Arrangements for War]]'')

When Evelyn met the [[Sixth Doctor]] in 2000, she was a [[history]] [[lecturer]] at [[Sheffield Hallam University]] with a particular interest in [[Tudor]] politics. Most of her working life had been focused almost totally on academic research, so much so her [[marriage]] had broken down after a row with [[Evelyn Smythe's ex-husband|her husband]] about her attending an academic conference on their [[wedding]] anniversary. Part of her work included extensive investigation of her [[family tree]] and the life of one of her [[ancestor]]s, [[John Whiteside-Smith]], an adviser at the court of [[Elizabeth I]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)|The Marian Conspiracy]]'') She also struck a friendship with [[Hebe Harrison]], a student at the university whom she tutored and shared her love for chocolate cake with. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rotting Deep (audio story)|The Rotting Deep]]'')

=== Joining the Doctor ===
It was the [[Temporal dissolution|sudden disappearance of her family from history]] — including her [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] relative — that led the Doctor to identify her as a temporal nexus point who threatened the time stream. He appeared in Sheffield in 2000 and took her to [[January]] [[1555]] to try to save her life by correcting the interference. This turned out to be a paradoxical result of her own actions in encouraging an attempt on the life of Elizabeth's half-sister and predecessor, [[Mary I]]. With this averted, she insisted on joining the Doctor on his travels; she would not pass up the opportunity to travel through time and explore history firsthand. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)|The Marian Conspiracy]]'')

With the Doctor, she met [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]], [[Charles Darwin]] and the [[Silurian]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (audio story)|The Spectre of Lanyon Moor]]'', ''[[Bloodtide (audio story)|Bloodtide]]'') She was present during the [[Dalek]] invasion of [[Gallifrey]], where she had her [[eye print]] scanned into the [[Eye of Harmony]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Apocalypse Element (audio story)|The Apocalypse Element]]'')

In [[London]] in [[2001]], she befriended [[Cassandra Schofield|Cassie]], a young [[waitress]] turned into a [[vampire]] by [[William Abberton|Nimrod]]. She and the Doctor set out to find a cure. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Project Twilight (audio story)|Project: Twilight]]'') By the time they returned in [[November]] [[2004]], Cassie had been brainwashed by [[the Forge]]. It was only through Evelyn's persuasion that she was returned to her original personality. Before Cassie could escape in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Evelyn, Nimrod killed her. This devastated Evelyn. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Project Lazarus (audio story)|Project: Lazarus]]'')

Cassie's death and the Doctor's inability to save her strained Evelyn's relationship with him. She needed some time away. During this time, on the planet [[Világ]], Evelyn grew close to a man named [[Justice Rossiter]], but felt that she could not leave the Doctor for him. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Arrangements for War (audio story)|Arrangements for War]]'')

They travelled to [[Fortune (town)|Fortune]] after landing on a train. Here she met a young woman, Rachel-Ann Donovan, who wanted to find her father's killer. She was forced to jump from the train to avoid being captured as an accomplice to murder. She met [[Sam (A Town Called Fortune)|Sam]] when she entered town to find out where the Doctor had been taken. When the Doctor was rescued she used her research skills to scour the local newspapers to find information about the murderer. She was trapped in the newspaper building when it was set alight but was rescued before being kidnapped and placed in the mine which was rigged to explode. After the mayor was arrested for the attempted murder of Evelyn and the Doctor she realised that it was Sam who killed Rachel-Ann's father by accident. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Town Called Fortune (audio story)|A Town Called Fortune]]'')

Evelyn was suffering from a heart condition when she met the Doctor, something which she never told him lest he refuse to let her travel with him. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Project Lazarus (audio story)|Project: Lazarus]]'')

The Doctor and Evelyn landed in [[Washington DC]] in [[1865]] in [[Ford's Theatre]]. They encountered Robert Knox again posing as [[Oscar Wilde]]. She discovered that Knox had poisoned the drink which killed [[John Wilkes Booth]]. After confronting Knox, she went to [[Clara Harris]] and saw that Booth was alive. Going back to the Doctor, she discovered that Knox was being animated by the [[Indo]]. Knox told him the Booth was being ressurected by an Indo as part of the Booth Experience Knox was peddling. The Doctor asked Evelyn to stay behind whilst he did his part of the plan, as she knew how history should plan out and make sure Lincoln was assassinated in the correct way. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Assassin in the Limelight (audio story)|Assassin in the Limelight]]'')

[[File:Feast of Axos.jpg|thumb|Evelyn above [[Axos]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Feast of Axos (audio story)|The Feast of Axos]]'')]]
At some point during her travels with the Doctor, they visited the court of Elizabeth I. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Thicker Than Water (audio story)|Thicker Than Water]]'') She remained in contact with Hebe as well, gifting her a button for her [[mobile phone]] in case of a crisis that would send an [[SOS]] call to the TARDIS, as well as advising her on making use of chocolate cake in emergency packages. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rotting Deep (audio story)|The Rotting Deep]]'')

Another time, Evelyn and the Doctor travelled to [[Mortlake]] in [[1568]] and met Dr [[John Dee]]. Evelyn learned that at some point in the future she would write the book ''[[The Merlin of Mortlake: The Life and Talents of Dr John Dee]]'' when the Doctor asked her to sign his copy, but he refused to allow her to read it. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Mortlake (short story)|Mortlake]]'')

=== Life on Világ ===
On a return trip to Világ, Evelyn left the Doctor to marry Rossiter. The Doctor reacted badly and refused to say goodbye properly. She had hoped the Doctor would attend her wedding and give her away, but he never turned up. She had surgery to cure her heart condition, but the surgery used [[Killoran]] blood to disguise the problem. This caused headaches and a short temper.

Two years later, the Doctor arrived with his companion [[Melanie Bush]] to visit Evelyn, who was having problems with her stepdaughter [[Sofia Rossiter]]'s ideologies. Evelyn and Mel were kidnapped to become political prisoners. The activists, who had injected Evelyn with Killoran DNA, knew Sofia, but she was not involved with their plot. The Doctor and Sofia worked to save Evelyn's life and although her heart condition was not cured, Evelyn was happy. She and the Doctor made their peace at the renewing of Evelyn and Rossiter's vows. While Evelyn was being treated for the damage done by the Killoran DNA, the [[Seventh Doctor]] secretly visited her to tell her that [[Hex|Thomas Hector "Hex" Schofield]], Cassie's son, had joined him as a travelling companion. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Thicker Than Water (audio story)|Thicker Than Water]]'')

Ten years after Rossiter's death, Evelyn was accidentally transported to the planet [[Pelachan]] billions of years in the past by a temporal stabiliser which she had discovered in an archaeological dig. Further investigation revealed the stabiliser was from a timeship called the ''Pelican''. It had crashed on the planet Pelachan in the distant past (hence the similar names). Evelyn lived on Pelachan for two years before suffering a fatal [[heart attack]]. It was during this time that she met Hex, who had been sent to Pelachan by the Doctor. The Seventh Doctor arrived just before her death. He asked her to help him defeat the [[Word Lord]] [[Nobody No-One]] in a complex plan involving trapping him in the [[Hand of All]], a [[pocket universe]] composed entirely of words, sustained only by Evelyn's "narration". When Evelyn died, Nobody No-One died with her. The Doctor delivered the [[eulogy]] at her funeral. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Death in the Family (audio story)|A Death in the Family]]'')

=== An alternative view ===
According to another account, Evelyn may not have ended her initial travels with the Sixth Doctor on Világ, but on [[Earth]]. In this timeline, she was returned to [[Earth]] a decade before she left, forcing her to live her life in isolation from her relations, her career and her home. She feared she would run into her younger self and suffer the cruel end afforded by the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]]. She was rescued from this paradox by the Sixth Doctor and [[Melanie Bush|Mel]], whom she had never previously met. Upon the conclusion of an adventure with the pair, she asked to be taken home via the [[Eye of Orion]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Instruments of Darkness (novel)|Instruments of Darkness]]'')

=== Undated events ===
* The Doctor and Evelyn once visited [[Gernica]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Death Will Not Part Us (audio story)|Death Will Not Part Us]]'')

== Legacy ==
Evelyn's friendship and gifts with Hebe Harrison would bring the young woman into the Doctor's life as well. After graduating and becoming a marine biologist. When an [[oil rig]] she was inspecting became overwhelmed by murderous wildlife, Hebe used the SOS button to call the TARDIS, where the Sixth Doctor and Mel helped to solve the crisis. Hebe later informed the Doctor about their mutual connection in Evelyn, moving the Doctor to let her join in his travels. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rotting Deep (audio story)|The Rotting Deep]]'') In a morbid parallel, her very existence would be erased much like Evelyn's nearly was, in this case from the actions of [[Patricia McBride]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Chronomancer (audio story)|Chronomancer]]'')

The [[Twelfth Doctor]] saw Evelyn, among other companions, when [[Bernice Summerfield]] was hit by temporal energy in the [[Pyramid Eternia]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Big Bang Generation (novel)|Big Bang Generation]]'')

== Alternate timelines ==
In [[Cyberverse|an alternate timeline created by the Cybermen]], Evelyn was converted into a [[Cyber-Controller]] by a [[Cyberman]] technorganic virus. She was defeated by [[Reece Goddard]], who learnt her identity before ageing to death. ([[WC]]: ''[[Real Time (webcast)|Real Time]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Real Time (audio story)|Real Time]]'')

== Alternate realities ==
In [[Parallel universe (He Jests at Scars...)|another universe]], Evelyn Smythe would've been a companion of the Doctor, had [[The Valeyard (He Jests at Scars...)|the Valeyard]] not merged with him in [[the Matrix]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[He Jests at Scars... (audio story)|He Jests at Scars...]]'')

== Personality ==
The [[Sixth Doctor]] said that Evelyn was the most well-prepared and useful [[companion]] he had ever had, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)|The Marian Conspiracy]]'') although she considered him to be her companion and often pretended to understand what he was saying to shut him up. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Real Time (audio story)|Real Time]]'') She was not a very good [[sailor]] and once tried to read ''[[Moby-Dick]]'', but gave up "before they even raised [[anchor]]". ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Bloodtide (audio story)|Bloodtide]]'') She found that [[cake]] was an excellent solution to most of [[life]]'s problems ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)|The Marian Conspiracy]]'') and enjoyed [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] [[musical]]s and considered herself to be a poor storyteller, usually embellishing facts. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Pirates (audio story)|Doctor Who and the Pirates]]'')

== Appearance ==
Evelyn had a pudding bowl haircut threaded with silver and a face that gave the impression that she rarely stopped smiling, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Instruments of Darkness (novel)|Instruments of Darkness]]'') although some accounts showed her with short, curly dark brown hair. ([[AUDIO]]:''[[The Sandman (audio story)|The Sandman]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Death in the Family (audio story)|A Death in the Family]]'') [[Archibald Flint]] described her as a rather attractive lady with a young face, something that she had not heard in some time. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (audio story)|The Spectre of Lanyon Moor]]'') 

She often wore [[cardigan]]s, namely an [[orange (colour)|orange]] one ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)|The Marian Conspiracy]]'') and a [[red]] one. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Pirates (audio story)|Doctor Who and the Pirates]]'') The [[Sixth Doctor]] remarked that she looked "very fetching" in one. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Project Lazarus (audio story)|Project: Lazarus]]'') When she travelled to [[1554]], she carried a [[handbag]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)|The Marian Conspiracy]]'') She used [[Avon (business)|Avon]] night cream. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Arrangements for War (audio story)|Arrangements for War]]'')

== Behind the scenes ==
* Evelyn is a particularly tricky character for the casual fan of Big Finish productions to follow, because her stories were released more-or-less chronologically only prior to ''Thicker Than Water''.
** After this story, however, additional adventures have been told which are set much closer to ''The Marian Conspiracy'' than ''Thicker Than Water''. Moreover, her appearance in the ''[[Past Doctor Adventures]]'' was part of a plan to make her a regular companion in the PDAs and predates the way her character was written out of the audio series. However, ''Instruments of Darkness'' proved to be her only appearance in the PDAs.
** However, the novel range was cancelled before additional Evelyn stories could be penned, leaving her exit and subsequent first meeting with Mel at odds with the way both events were depicted in audio. Nevertheless, it is curious that [[Gary Russell]], who wrote ''Instruments of Darkness'', allowed this contradiction since he was the producer of ''Thicker Than Water''. Russell later somewhat addressed the issue in the novel ''[[Spiral Scratch]]'', in which it is suggested, though not clearly delineated, that the novel range and the audio range occur in two separate realities.
* Along with [[Charlotte Pollard]], [[Thomas Brewster]] and [[Liv Chenka]], Evelyn is one of only four companions created by Big Finish who have been depicted meeting two incarnations of the Doctor, namely the [[Sixth Doctor]] and the [[Seventh Doctor]]. After serving as the former's companion for several years, she met the latter in the audio stories ''[[Thicker Than Water (audio story)|Thicker Than Water]]'' and ''[[A Death in the Family (audio story)|A Death in the Family]]''. Prior to these encounters, she had observed the Seventh Doctor from afar. The same is also true with respect to the [[Fifth Doctor|Fifth]] and the [[Eighth Doctor]]s. On that occasion, she described the Fifth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors as "lovely," seeming like "a rather jolly man" and "charming" respectively. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The 100 Days of the Doctor (audio story)|The 100 Days of the Doctor]]'')

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