Liz Shaw

Dr Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw was a scientist and a companion of the Third Doctor.

She was a civilian member of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. An accomplished scientist, Liz assisted the Doctor while there. This often involved her winding up in the same life-threatening situations as the Doctor. She also encountered and had some adventures with the Fourth (PROSE: Down to Earth) and the Fifth Doctor. (PROSE: Flashpoint)

Some time after leaving UNIT, Liz was headhunted to set up the Preternatural Research Bureau to investigate anything out of the ordinary, where she worked for more than two decades.

Liz was born to Reuben and Dame Emily Shaw. (HOMEVID: Ghosts of Winterborne, AUDIO: The Last Post) According to one account, she was born in 1943 in Stoke-on-Trent. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune) According to another, however, she was only in her mid-twenties when she joined UNIT. (AUDIO: The Blue Tooth) Although Dame Emily encouraged both Liz and her sister Lucy to pursue careers in the arts, Liz was far more interested in science. (AUDIO: The Last Post)

As a child, Liz was afraid of graveyards and hated the rusty watering cans, stand pipes and the smell of decayed flowers. Near her grandmother's grave was a fallen door that she imagined was a poor man's grave. She imagined that if she got too close the door would fall into the hole and she would either see what was in there or fall in herself. (HOMEVID: The Devil of Winterborne)

Liz studied at the University of Cambridge. She chose Newnham College over Girton College due to a lack of interest in cycling. She was a prude with little taste for fashion, preferring the remit of science. Her friendship with Jean Baisemore, however, led to her becoming more outgoing and developing a keener and more modern sense of style. She and Jean would often sit at a cafe's window and speak ill-favourably about people. She lived with her mother during her undergraduate degree but subsequently lived with Jean. (AUDIO: The Blue Tooth) She was also friends with fellow scientist Anne Travers (PROSE: Mind of Stone, The Enfolded Time) and was research fellows with Teri Billington. (AUDIO: The Sentinels of the New Dawn)