is a of the
First Doctor . She was one of the programme's very first regulars and appeared in the bulk of its first two seasons from
1963 -
65 , played by
Jacqueline Hill . In a film version of one of the serials, ''
Dr. Who And The Daleks '' (
1965 ), Barbara was played by actress
Jennie Linden , but with a very different personality and backstory — she is also a granddaughter of "
Doctor Who ".
Barbara was a history teacher at the
Coal Hill School , working with science teacher
Ian Chesterton . One of their students was
Susan Foreman , the granddaughter of
The Doctor , who showed unusually advanced knowledge of science and history. Attempting to solve the mystery of the "unearthly child", Chesterton and Wright followed Susan back to the junkyard, where they heard her voice coming from what appeared to be a
Police Box . When they investigated further, they discovered that the police box exterior hid the much larger interior of a time machine known as the
TARDIS , and were whisked away on an adventure in time and space with the Doctor and Susan.
Barbara was a strong-willed woman and provided a maternal figure to Susan. She was frequently the only person who could stand up to the First Doctor's cantankerous personality. The chemistry between Ian and herself was also evident, although the nature of their relationship was never made explicit in the television series.
In the serial ''
The Aztecs '', Barbara was hailed as a goddess by the
Aztec civilization. Despite the Doctor's protests that she could not change history, she attempted to turn the Aztecs away from their practice of
Human Sacrifice . In ''
The Reign Of Terror '', she established a friendship with Leon Colbert and was distraught when he was killed. After many travels, Ian and Barbara eventually used a
Dalek time machine to get home, albeit two years after their disappearance and presumably with much explaining to do to their friends and families.
Since
1994 , the character has appeared in several ''Doctor Who'' novels from
Virgin Publishing and
BBC Books . In the BBC Books novel, ''The Face of the Enemy'' by David A. McIntee (
1998 ), the story of Ian and Barbara, now married to each other, is picked up in the early
1970s . In this book, they have a young son named John. Subsequent novels mention a
1980 s pop star named Johnny Chester or Johnny Chess, intended to be the same character. Chess was idolised by the
Seventh Doctor 's companion
Ace and was briefly married to the
Fifth Doctor 's companion
Tegan .
Jacqueline Hill returned to the series in
1980 , guest starring in the
Fourth Doctor serial ''
Meglos '' as the priestess Lexa.
