Steven Taylor (Doctor Who)

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Doctor Who character

Steven in The Time Meddler.
Steven
Affiliated with First Doctor
Race Human
Home planet Earth
Home era Unspecified future
First appearance The Chase
Last appearance The Savages
Portrayed by Peter Purves

Steven Taylor is a fictional character played by Peter Purves in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A space pilot from Earth in the future, he was a companion of the First Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1965 to 1966.

Contents

[edit] Character history

Steven first appears in the serial The Chase, when the Doctor and his companions, Ian, Barbara and Vicki, find him on the planet Mechanus where he crash-landed two years before. He joins the Doctor and Vicki as a companion in the following serial, The Time Meddler, when they discover that he stowed-away in the TARDIS after having escaped the burning Mechanoid city unbeknownst to them. Steven is a strong-willed individual, who is more capable when there is something physical to do than when there is thinking to be done. He has a finely developed sense of right and wrong, and places a high value on human life.

Steven follows the Doctor through The Daleks' Master Plan, a dark and dangerous adventure that takes the lives of Sara Kingdom and Katarina. He argues with the Doctor when he refuses to prevent the events of The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. Steven is ready to part company with the Doctor over the deaths that happened, in particular that of a woman named Anne Chaplet. He rejoins the Doctor, however, at the same time that they acquired a new travelling companion, a young woman by the name of Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet, who is apparently a descendant of Anne's.

Steven's journey eventually ends during the The Savages, when he decides to accept the responsibility of leading the combined society of Savages and Elders that is attempting a lasting peace. His life beyond that is not explored in the series.

The exact time period that Steven originally came from is not specified in the television series. However, in The Daleks' Master Plan, set in the year 4000, Steven states that he comes from "thousands of years" before that period. The Past Doctor Adventures novel Salvation by Steve Lyons states that he comes from the mid-23rd century. The Virgin Missing Adventures novel The Empire of Glass by Andy Lane states that Steven was raised in a Hiveblock on Earth. As with the other spin-off media, the canonicity of the novels is uncertain.

Steven Moffat, a Doctor Who fan and writer of several episodes of the revived series, named the lead character in his sitcom Coupling (BBC Two, 2000–04) "Steve Taylor", although this was apparently a coincidence. Moffat later explained that although he was aware of the Doctor Who companion, the "Steve" was chosen because the character was based upon himself, and the "Taylor" to suggest a thematic link to the character of Mark Taylor in his earlier sitcom Joking Apart.[1]

[edit] List of appearances

[edit] Television

Season 2
Season 3

[edit] Audio dramas

  • Mother Russia (an adventure related by Purves in the character of Steven)

[edit] Novels

Virgin Missing Adventures
Past Doctor Adventures

[edit] Short stories

[edit] Comics

  • "Are You Listening?" by Warwick Gray and Colin Andrew (Doctor Who Summer Special 1994)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Moffat, Steven (2004-06-08). "Coupling Season 4" (requires free registation to view). Outpost Gallifrey. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.

[edit] External links

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Companions of the First Doctor
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Companions Susan Vicki Sara Dodo
Barbara Polly →
Ian Katarina Ben →
Steven