“Ian Briggs’ contribution cannot be overstated.” Andrew says, “But other writers who particularly responded to her and fleshed her out were Ben Aaronovitch, Marc Platt and Rona Munro. The evolution of the character, through their contributions, was an organic process.”

Much like Rose Tyler in 2005, and long before Buffy, Xena and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica were lauded for capable female characters, progressive story arcs, and sexual subtext – Ace became the emotional core of Doctor Who. While more adult connotations were initially vetoed by producer John Nathan-Turner, who rejected discussions about the character’s virginity in early scripts, in companion terms Doctor Who was poised to step closer to the real world. Far from distracting from the character of the Doctor, this actually allowed the Time Lord to be viewed more as an enigma – removed from humanity but forever its champion. While we may never truly identify with the Doctor, here we had arguably the first companion, we all either knew, could be, or could spot on the street. Disproving the theory that a companion’s main role is to provide exposition, themes of teenage angst, racism, and eventually sexual awakening all presented themselves in young McShane – a notable first for not only Doctor Who, but all genre TV of that age. Unaware of the significance of their actions, Andrew and his colleagues were formulating and plotting decades ahead of their time, “I only realised how different it was from the standard template years later. At the time, I just knew I liked it.”

Introduced in the final story of Doctor Who‘s twenty fourth season, Dragonfire, Dorothy (Ace) McShane is the polar opposite of the then current TARDIS incumbent, Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford). Ace was portrayed with great gusto by Sophie Aldred, who proved her acting chops in the very first scene she recorded – one in which she resisted the temptation of enlisting for the villainous Kane. Here we had an unruly, tempestuous tearaway who would be more likely to instruct an alien to “bog off” – than scream on the spot for minutes without pausing for breath. Although very little of her evolution had been formulated at this point, the first seeds of parental issues were sown, and from just the briefest of moments alone in the TARDIS, the potential for the dynamite combination of the 7th Doctor and Ace is clearly evident.

As Ace developed, so did the production team’s processes, Cartmel’s memoir of the era, Script Doctor, gives a fascinating insight into the changes he instigated, as lead actors and writers were invited to impromptu get-togethers to discuss their characters. With the trappings of the previous era well and truly discarded, and in just her first full adventure as the Time Lord’s companion – Ace quickly became immortalised in the show’s history.

Remembrance Of The Daleks kicked off the programme’s 25th anniversary season in spectacular, action-packed style. Feisty yet vulnerable, charming yet uncouth, Ace would tackle racism, face betrayal and – her crowning moment – batter a Dalek with a baseball bat – all within those 4×25 minute episodes. While it would take another year for Ace to truly share top billing with the Doctor, the template for the modern companion had been forged. Without a moment’s hesitation, and eager to go into battle for the Time Lord, Ace does not need to think twice as she holds off a patrol of Cybermen carrying nothing more than a catapult and an ancient bag of gold coins. Foreshadowing the devotion of post-2005 companions, the young McShane is beginning to realise her full potential in life and own self-worth, one which had previously been denied by birth and circumstance.