Tegan Jovanka

Tegan Jovanka was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors.

She was an Australian air stewardess trainee who wandered into the Doctor's TARDIS seeking help when she mistook it for a genuine police box. She quickly became embroiled in the events surrounding the Doctor's regeneration and found herself a somewhat unwilling passenger of the Fifth Doctor, as he failed to successfully return her to her proper time and place. Tegan was one of the few companions to have parted company with the Doctor and then return for a significant number of adventures.

She was joined in her travels at various times by Adric, Nyssa, Turlough, Kamelion and, briefly, the Brigadier. She played the Game of Rassilon in the Death Zone on Gallifrey, where she also met the First, Second and Third Doctors, along with Susan Foreman and Sarah Jane Smith.

Tegan's relatively long tenure of service onboard the TARDIS belied an ambivalence about travel with the Doctor. Even through her final glimpse of the TARDIS, she vacillated between wanting to stay and wanting to go.

She was one of the few human companions of the Doctor to be able to pilot the TARDIS; although she was only successful once and this was by pressing random buttons on the console.

Tegan was born in the city of Brisbane on 22 September 1960 (AUDIO: The Gathering) to William, (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) and Joy Jovanka. (PROSE: Qualia) Her maternal grandfather was Andrew Verney. (TV: The Awakening)

She had brothers, (PROSE: Qualia) at least one of whom was younger than her. She also had an uncle and aunt, Richard and Felicity, who was her mother's sister-in-law. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) Tegan had Serbian paternal grandparents who originally lived in Yugoslavia. They emigrated from Yugoslavia to Australia, (PROSE: Cold Fusion) though had apparently moved back to Yugoslavia some time before the death of Tegan's father. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) Tegan's maternal aunt was Vanessa, (PROSE: Qualia) and her cousin was Colin Frazer. (TV: Arc of Infinity) She had cousins who worked in blast-mining in Australia. (AUDIO: The Contingency Club)

She lived on a cattle farm when she was young (AUDIO: Psychodrome) and spent time in Caloundra, north of Brisbane. (PROSE: The King of Terror) As a child, her mother took her to a corroboree, which gave her a recurring nightmare of strange white figures coming out of the dark. (AUDIO: Psychodrome)

She went to high school with Mike Bretherton, who lived next door to her in Brisbane. They were taught physics and chemistry by Miss Anderson. In 1975, when she was fifteen, she broke her toe during track and gym and Mike carried her books home for her. (AUDIO: Hexagora)

Tegan grew up with a love of flying, much preferring aeroplanes to cars. She confessed to her aunt Vanessa that she had been spoiled by growing up in a family with its own plane. (TV: Logopolis)

Tegan attended college. (AUDIO: The Lady of Mercia) As she wanted to see the world and broaden her horizons, she studied foreign languages and Aboriginal culture. She spent most summers travelling abroad, visiting Hong Kong in 1979. (PROSE: Cold Fusion)

During the early 1980s, her father owned a sheep farm near Brisbane. (AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane) He died in 1981. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) That year, she moved to London to pursue a career as an air stewardess. (TV: Logopolis)