Character Profile - Romana: Fact File

Fact File

Name	Romana
Species	Time Lord
Place of Origin	Gallifrey
Associated Doctors	Fourth Doctor
Relationships
First Appearance	The Ribos Operation
Portrayed By	Mary Tamm Lalla Ward

Appearances

(NC) denotes a Non-Companion appearance

The Ribos Operation
The Pirate Planet
Stones of Blood
The Androids of Tara
The Power of Kroll
The Armageddon Factor
Destiny of the Daleks
City of Death
The Creature from the Pit
Nightmare of Eden
The Horns of Nimon
The Leisure Hive
Meglos
Full Circle
State of Decay
Warrior's Gate
The Five Doctors

Mary Tamm played Romana's first incarnation

Lalla Ward played Romana's second incarnation

Overview

Romana I with K-9

Romana arrives in the TARDIS upon the instruction of the White Guardian in order to help the Doctor assemble the six segments of the Key to Time. Firstly, they arrive on the planet Ribos, followed by a trip to Zanak, where another planet turned out to be the second segment, and a trip to Earth, where Romana fought carnivorous stones for the third segment.

The search for the fourth segment took Romana to the planet Tara, where android doubles caused trouble. Romana is almost sacrificed to Kroll in the battle for the fifth segment on the planet Delta III. The final segment was found of the planet Atrios. Here, it was disguised as an actual person. Once the Key to Time was assembled, it was handed over to the White Guardian, but Romana continued travelling with the Doctor against the wishes of the Time Lords.

Romana is captured by Daleks

Now on the run, Romana changed her appearance, regenerating to her second incarnation. Romana was then caught up in the Dalek-Movellan war on the planet Skaro, before taking a trip to Paris in 1979, where Romana and the Doctor encountered Scaroth. On the planet Chloris, Romana came face to face with the creature from the pit.

Romana helped out when the collision of two spaceships uncovered a drug-smuggling plot involving the Mandrels. She also helped to put a stop to the evil Nimon, who was posing as a god to destroy worlds. At some point, the Doctor took Romana to Cambridge, and while there, were taken by a time scoop to the Death Zone on Gallifrey. However, they were caught in a time eddy and never arrived.

Romana and K-9 on Brighton Beach

In search of a holiday, the Doctor takes Romana to the leisure hive on the planet Argolis. On the planet Tigella, Romana claimed the TARDIS as her own to buy her life, before tricking her captives and rescuing the Doctor from Meglos.

The Time Lords once again asked for Romana's return, but before she could go back to Gallifrey, the TARDIS became trapped in E-Space, another smaller universe. Here, Romana visited Alzarius, meeting new companion Adric, and had a run in with some vampires. However, at the gate between E-Space and her home universe, Romana opted to stay behind, in order to help the enslaved Tharils free themselves.

Personality

Romana emulates her own version of
the Doctor's clothing

Romana shares many personality traits with the Doctor, which in her second incarnation, is seen through Romana's dress sense, wearing her own version of the Doctor's clothes.

Romana is exceptionally clever, often reaching the correct conclusion before the Doctor, due to her straight-forward attitude, especially during her first incarnation. This straight-forward attitude in her first incarnation often led to Romana being annoyed by the Doctor's eccentric attitudes.

Romana knew how to fix K-9

However, in her second incarnation, Romana became much more like the Doctor in the sense that she became more eccentric herself, often thinking up and going along with silly plans to fool the enemy.

Underneath the bubbly persona, however, there was a serious side to Romana. Like the Doctor, she would use violence and, only if absolutely necessary, she would be capable of killing.

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