Caroline John, the news of whose death on 5th June has been confirmed today, made for an atypical Doctor Who companion when she entered the series in 1970.

Although she would later allege that it was a photograph of her dressed in ‘60s dolly bird fashions which drew her to the attention of the production office, her companion, Liz Shaw, was conceived as very far from a dolly bird – even if her dress sense sometimes suggested otherwise.

A scientist from the University of Cambridge, Liz was arguably the first of the Doctor’s companions to convince as someone genuinely able to engage with the Doctor on an academic level. Others, such as Susan and Zoe, had been profoundly intelligent and otherworldly; but the constraints of the format of the series, and the necessity for them to play a second fiddle role within it, meant that, inevitably, over time, they lost their edge.

In this respect, Liz Shaw had the advantage: in appearing in only one season, Liz’s character never diminished. Jon Pertwee’s first year as the Doctor, in which Caroline John accompanied him as Liz, is remembered as the gritty face of ‘70s Who: a season that goes from plastics manufacturing to alternate world apocalypse via Earth reptiles, a sabotaged nuclear reactor and a mission to Mars.

As Doctor Who‘s current showrunner, Steven Moffat, commented today: “Caroline was a brilliant actress and in her role as Liz Shaw, a tremendous co-star for Jon Pertwee in his first year as the Doctor. She was not just a sidekick but a scientist in her own right and a match for the universe’s number one know-all. The Doctor’s companions should never be his assistants – they’re the people who keep him on his toes, and that’s what Caroline did.”

In later years, the UNIT team of the Doctor, Brigadier and the sergeants and captains on the UNIT payroll would get accused of ‘cosiness’, even as they scaled the heights of audience popularity. But Liz Shaw, while accomplished, warm and dryly witty, would never be allowed to be muddle-headed or cute.

When the Doctor encounters Liz’s alternate world self in her last story, Inferno, the militaristic pragmatism of Section Leader Shaw is a reminder that, in our world too, Liz is more than capable enough to make her own decisions without asking the Doctor what to do.

One decision Liz made off-camera was to leave the Doctor: Caroline John’s pregnancy coinciding with her being written out of the show, as the production team sought to reimagine the UNIT setup. A passing reference to Liz having returned to Cambridge serves to acknowledge her departure onscreen; but later authors would seek to do more with the character. In Jim Mortimore’s 1997 novel, Eternity Weeps, Liz dies from the virus Agent Yellow – although by the time of Russell T Davies’s Death of the Doctor for The Sarah Jane Adventures (2010), Liz is still alive and working for UNIT’s Moon Base.

Leaving the programme did not curtail Caroline John’s connections with Doctor Who, returning to the show for appearances in The Five Doctors and Dimensions in Time. She was also a mainstay of Big Finish Productions and BBC Audio soundtracks and talking books for many years. From 2007 to 2012, John appeared in five Companion Chronicles for Big Finish, while she narrated the novelisations of Doctor Who and the Silurians and Inferno, as well as the soundtrack for The Ambassadors of Death, for BBC Audio.

Caroline John was married to the actor Geoffrey Beevers, who survives her and who himself memorably appeared in Doctor Who as the Master in 1981’s The Keeper of Traken. Her niece, Souska John, had a small role as a child in Peter Davison’s debut serial, Castrovalva.

John’s death is a sad reminder of how many of our childhood icons – and of the Pertwee era, in particular – are leaving us. In these days of 24 hour social media, it is perhaps strange that such sad news should take over two weeks to reach the internet, but if the reason for this is at all to do with the family’s need for privacy at such a time, it is not only understandable but has been rightly respected.

The sympathies of everyone at CultBox go to Geoffrey Beevers and to all of Caroline’s family. Rest in peace, Liz Shaw. You helped to make our Saturday nights things to be cherished, and you shall be missed.