When Leela first burst onto the screen in 1977, she didn't just walk into the TARDIS; she basically hijacked it. She was a knife-wielding, Janus-thorn-throwing warrior from the Sevateem tribe, and honestly, she was unlike any companion the Doctor had ever had. Before her, we mostly had modern-day Earth girls who screamed at monsters. Leela? She tried to gut them.
It’s easy to look back at Leela from Doctor Who and just see the "noble savage" trope or the "Raquel Welch in space" outfit. But if you actually sit down and watch those Tom Baker seasons, there’s a whole lot more going on. She was smart. She was fiercely independent. And frankly, she’s one of the few people who could actually call the Fourth Doctor out on his nonsense.
The Warrior Who Refused to Be "Civilized"
The whole concept for Leela was basically "Pygmalion in Space." The Doctor, being a bit of a high-and-mighty Time Lord, wanted to educate her. He wanted to take this "primitive" woman and teach her about science, logic, and why you shouldn't just stab people when they're annoying.
But here’s the thing: Leela wasn't having it.
She learned, sure. She got better at the "te-sh-nician" stuff. But she never lost her edge. In The Robots of Death, she’s the one who figures out something is wrong with the robots based on pure instinct while the Doctor is busy being intellectual. She had this visceral, gut-level intelligence that the Doctor often lacked.
Louise Jameson, the actress who played her, actually used her own dog as inspiration for the character. Think about that for a second. That head-cocking thing Leela does when she's listening? That’s pure canine curiosity. It gave her an animalistic intensity that made her dangerous and unpredictable.
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That Infamous Costume
We have to talk about the leathers. It’s the 1970s, and the BBC producers—specifically Robert Holmes—wanted some "sex appeal." Jameson herself has been pretty open recently about how questionable she finds the costume now, especially given the "darkening" makeup they used on her skin back then.
"It was a costume that, for all my feminism, was rather questionable," Jameson told Radio Times in 2023.
But even in a tiny leather bikini, Leela never felt like a victim. She wasn't there to be eye candy for the Doctor; she was there to protect him. She saw herself as his protector, which is a wild reversal of the usual Doctor-companion dynamic.
The Tom Baker Tension (It Wasn't All Roses)
Off-screen, things were kinda tense. Tom Baker wasn't exactly thrilled when Jameson joined the show. He liked being the center of attention, and here was this classically trained actress from the Royal Shakespeare Company who was stealing scenes.
There's a famous story from the filming of Horror of Fang Rock. Baker was being particularly difficult, and Jameson finally just stood her ground. She told him, basically, that she was there to stay and they had to work together. It worked. They eventually became great friends, but that initial friction actually translated into a really interesting on-screen chemistry. They felt like two people who respected each other but didn't necessarily agree on... anything.
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That "Crap" Ending
Ask any fan about Leela’s exit in The Invasion of Time, and they’ll probably roll their eyes. It’s widely considered one of the worst exits in the show's history.
After battling Sontarans on Gallifrey, Leela suddenly decides to stay behind because she’s "in love" with Andred, a Gallifreyan guard she’s barely spoken to. It made zero sense. It felt like the writers just needed a quick way to get her off the show because Jameson's contract was up and she was headed to the Bristol Old Vic to play Portia in The Merchant of Venice.
Jameson herself hated it. She’s said she wished Leela had died heroically saving the Doctor. Staying behind to be a housewife on a stuffy planet like Gallifrey just didn't fit the woman who used to hunt monsters in the jungle.
Redemption in the Audios
Thankfully, the story didn't end there. If you haven't checked out the Big Finish audio dramas, you're missing the real ending for Leela. In the Gallifrey series, we see her become a political powerhouse on the Time Lord home world. She's not just "the savage" anymore; she’s a diplomat, a warrior-leader, and eventually a veteran of the Time War.
They even did a special "Season 15" Blu-ray trailer recently where an older Leela, played again by Jameson, faces down Daleks during the Time War. It finally gave her the gravitas she deserved.
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Why Leela Still Matters in 2026
Leela paved the way for every "warrior" companion that came after. Without her, do we get Ace? Do we get River Song? Probably not. She broke the mold of the companion who exists just to ask, "What is it, Doctor?" and then get kidnapped.
She was a skeptic. She didn't believe in the "gods" of her people once she saw the truth. She was a scientist of the physical world, even if she didn't know the math.
What you should do next to appreciate Leela:
- Watch The Robots of Death: It’s arguably the best story of her run and shows her at her most capable.
- Listen to the Gallifrey audio series: If you want to see her character actually grow beyond the 70s TV tropes, this is where it happens.
- Look for her "Time War" short on YouTube: It’s only a few minutes long, but it rights the wrongs of her 1978 exit.
Honestly, Leela was a character ahead of her time. She was messy, violent, loyal, and incredibly smart in ways the Doctor couldn't always quantify. She wasn't just a companion; she was a survivor.