Deborah Watling

British actress Deborah Watling endeared herself to generations of international science fiction fans as Victoria Waterfield, a companion to the Second Doctor on "Doctor Who" (BBC One, 1963-) from 1967 to 1968. Born Deborah Patricia Watling in the English town of Loughton on January 2, 1948, she was the daughter of professional actors Jack Watling and Patricia Hicks, and all of her siblings - half-sister Dilys, brother Giles (who later became the MP for Clacton) and Nicola (later a sculptor) - followed them into acting careers. Deborah began appearing alongside her father as a background player at the age of three, and after attending school on a sporadic basis, decided to fully invest herself in an acting career at the age of nine, playing the precocious niece of the title character in ITV"s science fiction series "The Invisible Man" (1958-1959). She soon found steady work on television, most notably as the inspiration for "Alice in Wonderland" in "Alice," a 1965 drama written by Dennis Potter for "The Wednesday Play" (BBC, 1964-1970), before landing her breakout role as Victoria on "Doctor Who." A proper young woman from Victorian England, she fell in with Patrick Troughton's Doctor after her scientist father was kidnapped by the series' main villains, the robotic despots known as the Daleks, and remained his companion through several Fifth Season serials, facing off against such well-remembered creatures as the Cybermen, Ice Warriors and the Yeti. Watling departed "Doctor Who" after the 1968 serial "Fury from the Deep," and worked sporadically in guest roles on television, including the BBC soap opera "The Newcomers" (1965-69) opposite her father Jack. There were also occasional film roles, most notably opposite Ringo Starr in the nostalgic "That'll Be the Day" (1973) and sang with Cliff Richard in "Take Me High" (1973), but Watling's primary showcase throughout the 1970s was television. Her last major small screen role came as a sexually voracious landlady's daughter in the period drama "Danger UXB" (ITV, 1979), after which she moved into a long and well-regarded career in theater. She also maintained her connection with "Doctor Who" through reprisals of her role in various charity television programs, radio projects and convention appearances. Her final stage role came in a 2014 stage production of Ibsen's "Ghosts" in Frinton-on-Sea, where she had made her theater debut as a child in "Roar Like a Dove." Watling died there in 2017, succumbing to lung cancer on July 21 at the age of 69.