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Kate Lethbridge-Stewart
Doctor Who character
First appearanceDowntime (1995)
Last appearance"Empire of Death" (2024)
Created byMarc Platt
Portrayed by
Shared universe appearances
Duration1995, 2004, 2012–2015, 2021–2024
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
Affiliation
ChildrenGordon Lethbridge-Stewart (son)
Relatives
HomeEarth
Home era21st century

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, also known as Kate Stewart, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series, The War Between the Land and the Sea. She was initially created by writer Marc Platt and was played by Beverley Cressman in the independent direct-to-video spin-offs Downtime (1995) and Dæmos Rising (2004). Kate was re-introduced by writer Chris Chibnall in the 2012 Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three" played by Jemma Redgrave, who continued to reprise the role in a recurring capacity through 2024. She will star as a lead character of the spin-off programme The War Between the Land and the Sea, which is set to begin filming in September 2024.

Kate is one of the longest-running recurring characters in the revived run of Doctor Who, appearing alongside the Eleventh Doctor, Twelfth Doctor, Thirteenth Doctor, Fourteenth Doctor, and Fifteenth Doctor. Within the series narrative, she is a principal ally of the Doctor and serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and later the Commander in Chief of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), an organisation that defends Earth from alien threats. Kate is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who initially led UNIT during the original run of Doctor Who. Her character also appears in a number of extended universe material including the Big Finish Productions audio drama series UNIT, for which Redgrave reprised her role.

Character history

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart first appears in the direct-to-video spin-off Downtime (1995), in which Kate is depicted as having grown up not knowing of her father Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's work fighting extraterrestrial threats in UNIT and believing he had a more ordinary military job. Blaming his work for the disintegration of their family, she becomes estranged from him and lives on a narrowboat with her only son, Gordon. However, a shared experience fighting the Great Intelligence alongside the Brigadier and Sarah Jane Smith allows her to reconnect with her father and develop a closer relationship. Later, Kate battles a Dæmon alongside ex-UNIT operative Douglas Cavendish in the direct-to-video spin-off Dæmos Rising (2004).

Kate is re-introduced in the 2012 Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three", where she meets the Doctor for the first time in his eleventh incarnation. She is now the Chief Scientific Officer of UNIT, opting to lead the organisation towards a more science-based approach, and has dropped Lethbridge from her surname to not receive any special favours. She and the Doctor face the Year of the Slow Invasion, during which cubes are sent by the Shakri to observe the human race in advance of an impending attack, and manage to stop them.[1] In "The Day of the Doctor" (2012), Kate and UNIT's scientific advisor Petronella Osgood encounter the Eleventh Doctor again alongside his earlier incarnations, the War Doctor and the Tenth Doctor. They confront shape-shifting Zygons in the Black Archive, UNIT's secret vault in the Tower of London, and negotiate a peace treaty allowing 20 million Zygons to settle on Earth disguised as humans.[2]

Kate works alongside the Twelfth Doctor for the first time in "Death in Heaven" (2014). When Cybermen are released onto the streets by Missy, Kate and Osgood arrive with UNIT officers and take Missy and the Doctor into custody on the plane Boat One. However, Missy escapes when Cybermen attack Boat One, during which a part of the fuselage blows off and Kate is sucked out of the plane. She is saved and returned safely to the ground by her father, who was converted into a Cybermen.[3] Later, Kate summons Clara Oswald to UNIT headquarters in "The Magician's Apprentice" (2015) when Missy freezes all planes on Earth, which turns out to be her way to get UNIT's attention to arrange a meeting with Clara.[4] In "The Zygon Invasion" / "The Zygon Inversion" (2015), Kate goes to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to investigate a splinter group of Zygons who start an uprising after rejecting the peace treaty made with humans. Surviving an attack by a Zygon rebel, she takes its place and reconvenes with the Doctor in the Black Archive. A standoff ensues there between her and the Zygon rebel leader Bonnie with two Osgood Boxes that could unmask or destroy every Zygon on the planet. Aided by the Doctor, the conflict ends with both sides re-affirming the peace treaty.[5]

Kate re-appears in "Survivors of the Flux" (2021), which reveals that an alien by the name of the Grand Serpent infiltrated UNIT over several decades and facilitates its shutdown in 2017. When Kate threatens to expose him, she is forced to go on the run after a failed attempt on her life. During the 2021 Sontaran invasion of Earth in "The Vanquishers" (2021), Kate emerges to lead the human resistance and triumphs with the help of the Thirteenth Doctor. By 2022, Kate is able to re-establish UNIT. She takes the Master into custody in "The Power of the Doctor" (2022), but UNIT's headquarters are overrun by Cybermen and blown up. Kate attends a companion support group meeting and discusses recruiting them to UNIT.

Kate begins using her full surname Lethbridge-Stewart again and has become the Commander in Chief of UNIT by the time she meets the Fourteenth Doctor in "The Giggle" (2023). Together, they face and defeat the Toymaker, a battle which causes the Doctor to bi-generate into the Fifteenth Doctor. During an alternate timeline shown in "73 Yards" (2024), Ruby Sunday goes to Kate for help regarding a mysterious woman following her and causing all others who approach the woman to flee; in her attempt to capture the woman, Kate befalls the same fate and abandons Ruby. In "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" / "Empire of Death" (2024), the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby return to UNIT for help regarding the mysteries of Ruby's mother and the recurring face of Susan Triad, whom they discover is actually the harbinger of the god of death, Sutekh. Sutekh destroys all of Earth, killing everyone including Kate, but she is brought back to life after his defeat at the hands of the Doctor.

Characterisation

Creation and casting

The character of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was initially created by Marc Platt for the spin-off drama Downtime, which was released direct-to-video by Reeltime Productions in September 1995. In the release, Kate, played by Beverley Cressman, is shown to be the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and lives with a son named Gordon. The video was novelized by Platt in January 1996 as part of the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It was followed by the novel The Scales of Injustice by Gary Russell in July, which revealed that Kate was the daughter of the Brigadier and his first wife Fiona. Cressman reprised her role as Kate for a sequel spin-off drama entitled Dæmos Rising (2004), which was released direct-to-DVD by Reeltime Productions in March 2004.[6]

When writing the Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three" (2012), Chris Chibnall felt it was appropriate for the episode's plot of a year-long slow invasion to bring back the organisation UNIT, which had played a central role in the show's classic run. The programme's executive producer and head writer Steven Moffat enthusiastically agreed when Chibnall asked whether he could bring back UNIT. According to Moffat, Chibnall then decided to add a twist regarding the new leader of UNIT which the BBC was not aware of until the script was delivered.[7] In 2011, the Brigadier's actor Nicholas Courtney passed away, which was reflected in-universe with the Doctor finding out about the Brigadier's death in the episode "The Wedding of River Song" (2011). To pay tribute to Courtney, Chibnall came up with the idea of having UNIT be led by the Brigadier's daughter, Kate Stewart. In an interview with Radio Times, Chibnall expressed that "Given that we were bringing back UNIT, I thought it would be a nice way to honour the character of the Brigadier and Nicholas Courtney’s contribution to the show by anchoring UNIT to his family. It was a way to keep that family line going, after we’d heard last year on screen that the Brigadier had died."[8] Once the script was in production, Chibnall, primarly a fan of the television series, was surprised to discover that the character of Kate already existed in non-television spin-off media, which he had been completely unaware of.[6]


List of appearances

Video

Television

Audio dramas

See also

References

  1. ^ Chibnall, Chris (writer); Mackinnon, Douglas (director) (22 September 2012). "The Power of Three". Doctor Who. Series 7. Episode 4. BBC. BBC One.
  2. ^ Moffat, Steven (writer); Hurran, Nick (director) (23 November 2013). "The Day of the Doctor". Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One.
  3. ^ Moffat, Steven (writer); Talalay, Rachel (director) (8 November 2014). "Death in Heaven". Doctor Who. Series 8. Episode 12. BBC. BBC One.
  4. ^ Moffat, Steven (writer); MacDonald, Hettie (director); Bennett, Peter (producer) (19 September 2015). "The Magician's Apprentice". Doctor Who. Series 9. Episode 1. BBC. BBC One.
  5. ^ Harness, Peter (writer); Nettheim, Daniel (director) (31 October 2015). "The Zygon Invasion". Doctor Who. Series 9. Episode 7. BBC. BBC One.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference complete history power of three was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Reunited: Unit Return in The Power of Three". BBC. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  8. ^ Mulkern, Patrick (22 September 2012). "Doctor Who: The Power of Three review". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2012.


[Category:Doctor Who audio characters]] [Category:Doctor Who companions]] [Category:Fictional brigadiers]] [Category:Recurring characters in Doctor Who]] [Category:Television characters introduced in 1995]] [Category:UNIT personnel]]

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