(sometimes spelled '''Zoe Herriot'''), or simply '''Zoe''', is a fictional character played by of the
Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from
1968 to
1969 .
Zoe first appeared in the serial ''
The Wheel In Space '', where she was the librarian on board Space Station W3, also known as the Wheel. when the
Cybermen attacked, she aided
The Doctor and
Jamie in defeating them and later stowed away aboard the
TARDIS . In
David Whitaker 's script for ''The Wheel in Space'', Zoe's last name was spelled "Heriot", but the double-"r" misspelling is also seen in reference works.
Zoe held a degree in "pure mathematics" and was a genius, with intelligence scores comparable to the Doctor's. Those, coupled with her
Photographic Memory and the advanced learning techniques of her era, made her somewhat like a human calculator, able to perform complicated mathematics in her head. Part of the reason for her wanting to travel with the Doctor was her chafing at the restrictions and sterile surroundings of her station-bound existence. Having been on the Wheel all her life, however, meant that her real world experience was severely limited, and that gave her an ability to frequently get herself in trouble.
Together with the Doctor and Jamie, she met the Cybermen again when they invaded 20th Century
London , entered the surreal Land of Fiction, fought the
Ice Warrior s and survived the battlefields of
The War Chief 's
War Games . Her journeys with the Doctor came to an end in that last serial, when the
Time Lord s finally caught up with the Doctor. Forcing a
Regeneration on him and exiling him to
Earth , the Time Lords returned Jamie and Zoe to their own times, wiping the memory of their experiences with the Doctor (save for their first encounters with him) in the process.
Zoe's life after her return to her own time was not further explored in the series. In the
Spin-off short story ''The Tip of the Mind'' by
Peter Anghelides , due to the memory blocks placed by the Time Lords, she is unable to access the subconscious memories of her time with the Doctor and make sense of the strange dreams these cause. Unfortunately, this causes her work to suffer, and she never reaches her full potential.
Wendy Padbury returned as an illusory image of Zoe in the 20th Anniversary television movie, ''
The Five Doctors ''. Padbury also acted in the
Big Finish Productions audio play ''
Davros '', but playing a character other than Zoe.
