Deborah Watling

[thisbluespirit]

Some more sad news for Doctor Who fans (well, of the Classic variety at least): Deborah Watling has died, aka companion Victoria Waterfield. A lot of people have linked to the clip from Tomb, but it is such a beautiful scene, so I'm going to do it as well:

Watch on YouTube

(Forgive the embed outside the cut this once.)

Victoria was a companion that I always liked the idea of more than what they actually did with her most of the time, but Debbie Watling always seemed pretty lovely, and she had a very good relationship and rapport with both Patrick and Frazer. My old telly adventures have also led to me watching her (at least briefly) appear in The Power Game, along with her father, Jack, who was a regular (a favour which she returned in DW, getting him cast as Professor Travers in two of the Yeti stories).

Comments

[persiflage_1]

Life sucks. 2017 needs to die RIGHT NOW!

[thisbluespirit]

It is sad, although 2017 has also brought us a female Doctor, so maybe it can limp on for a bit in hope? (2016, however... 0_o)

[ravenskyewalker]

However, 2017 is also the end of the Twelfth Doctor, so it's not my favorite year. It's possibly better than 2016, but I do wish people I respect would stop dying. (Ridiculous wish. Proves I'm gettin' old.)

[thisbluespirit]

Good years are hard to find these days... :-(

[persiflage_1]

Is Doctor Thirteen outweighed by all the deaths AND DumpsterDonald in the WH AND May and her fascist fantasists though?

[thisbluespirit]

There seems to be an edge of hope that one or both of them will go, though, and in 2016 it felt like everything would go on forever. Thirteen is a bright spot, though!

[persiflage_1]

Fair enough...

Hey, totally OT, but have you seen my original writing blog on Tumblr? It's @scribblelark: https://scribblelark.tumblr.com/

[thisbluespirit]

I hadn't, but I've followed it now. It looks v pretty and inspirational!

[persiflage_1]

Okay. 'V pretty and inspirational' are rather surprising descriptors, but hey, if that's how it looks to you, then good!

[thisbluespirit]

Well, the first thing I saw was the pretty blue and the picture of the boy and the dog, and the interesting quote, so that's how it struck me. But I'm easily pleased with a nice shade of blue! ;-)

[persiflage_1]

*giggles* Fair enough... I admit, I love the colour blue, esp that particular shade so I can see where you're coming from.

[flowsoffire]

RIP! Bless her soul ♥

[thisbluespirit]

Indeed. <3

[swordznsorcery]

When I was a kid, all my Targets seemed to be either Ian & Barbara, or Jamie & Victoria. And yes, I would have to agree that she was better as an idea than in reality. All that screaming! Still (from what I've seen - that era has suffered so badly from deletions), Deborah Watling made the character very likeable. Apparently she was like that in real life. And she really was much too young to go.

[thisbluespirit]

I haven't seen all her surviving episodes yet - there's The Ice Warriors still, and she was pretty good in Tomb. I just was particularly disappointed once I finally saw more of her in Enemy and Web of Fear. But it's hard to judge someone one there's so little of her left, to be fair. But they do seem to have let the possibilities of the characters go - much to Debbie's frustration as much as anyone else's from what I gather.

But, yes, she seems to have been very lovely - and she was, of all the companions, the champion screamer and proud of it. Monsters cowered from her scream...

[newmoonstar]

Definitely do watch 'The Ice Warriors' if you can, Victoria has some great instances of being incredibly brave in it, and some very cute moments with the Doctor when she's helping him defeat the Ice Warriors.

(And as an interesting side note, there's a blog on tumblr that actually did a survey of every Doctor Who episode for how often companions scream, and statistically, Sarah Jane is the official champion screamer for Classic Who, with all the female New Who companions beating every classic companion in the 'screams per episode' department, lol! But Victoria is definitely the only companion to actually kill a monster with her screams, so maybe she still *is* the champion screamer in that regard!)

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, yes, that was what I meant. I believe that they had a screaming competition between some companions at a con back in the day and Deborah Watling could indeed outscream them all, and they needed to turn the mic off when she was doing it!

Most of the companions scream at some point, but Victoria got to use her screams.

[newmoonstar]

Oh my gosh, Deborah Watling screaming into a microphone? I'm surprised half the people at that con didn't end up with hearing loss lol. She definitely had one of the most high-pitched screams, and I think that's why people remember it so well. Loudly and believably screaming on cue is actually pretty difficult from an acting standpoint, so all the ladies of doctor who are pretty badass in that respect. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Hee, yes. And Deborah Watling was acknowledged champion, although Bonnie Langford gets bonus point because she could scream in the correct key when requested.

(My sister was once, for GCSE drama, in a play where she had to finish by screaming and she used to wander around our house practising! It takes work! In that case, for all of us...)

[jhall1]

That's sad news. It somehow seems particularly shocking when all my memories of her are as a beautiful young woman. Where did the time go?

[thisbluespirit]

Where did the time go?

If only anyone knew the answer to that! But, yes, it is sad. 69 isn't young, but it isn't that old these days, either. :-(

[liadt]

:(

I did enjoy Victoria in 'The Abominable Snowman' being feistier than normal. Companions could vary from story to story!

[thisbluespirit]

Indeed they do!

[evelyn_b]

;_;

Thanks for posting this clip. <3

[thisbluespirit]

Aw. It is a lovely moment, isn't it?

[scripsi]

How sad. :(

[thisbluespirit]

Yes. :-/

[newmoonstar]

That's one of my favorite scenes in the whole show, played so beautifully by the two of them. Victoria is, and always will be, one of my favorite companions, and I will miss Deborah terribly. ;_;

[thisbluespirit]

Aww. *hugs*