Steven Taylor

Portrayed by: Peter Purves
Travelled with: First Doctor
Series: Classic

Steven Taylor was a companion of the First Doctor after being a solo spaceship pilot. While Steven was held prisoner, he built a wooden climbing frame construction to keep himself active, which let him climb onto the roof for fresh air as well. It was here, in the room in the Mechanoid City that Steven first met the Doctor and his companions, Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton and Vicki Pallister, followed soon after by the Daleks. When Steven first saw the TARDIS crew, he asked “Who won the war?” and introduced himself to them as “Steven Taylor, Flight Red Fifty.” Steven assisted the others in escaping the city, though he returned to collect HiFi and would ultimately fall from a great height when the Daleks destroyed the city. Steven stumbled through the jungle before finding the Doctor’s TARDIS, entering it as the Doctor and Vicki were saying their goodbyes to Barbara and Ian. Steven fainted and was therefore unconscious while the TARDIS dematerialised. When he woke up, he found they had re-materialised in England, 1066. The Doctor tried to explain the mechanics of the TARDIS to Steven, but his natural sarcasm showed when he questioned the chameleon effect of the TARDIS. Despite having a sharp wit, Steven was good-humoured with leadership skills as well as being independent.

Steven Taylor, a companion of the First Doctor

While adventuring in the city of Troy, Steven became injured by a spear and suffered blood poisoning. A local servant called Katarina helped nurse him back to health before joining the TARDIS herself in The Myth Makers (Classic Series). After his recovery, Steven experienced some of the worst things of his life, with the death of Katarina, SSS agent Sara Kingdom and her brother, Bret Vyon, while battling the Daleks once more in The Daleks’ Master Plan (Classic Series), prompting Steven to question the Doctor about the violence and death that seemed to follow him, even asking if the Time Lord considered the amount of lives lost worthwhile to defeat the Daleks. Steven became disgusted with the Doctor after the Time Lords abandonment of his Huguenot friends, particularly the young Anne Chaplet, becoming so disillusioned that he left the TARDIS after its arrival in 1966 London, though he returned to warn the Doctor of approaching policemen. Here he met Dodo Chaplet, who Steven thought may be a descendant of Anne Chaplet, proving that the latter had lived. Dodo joined the TARDIS crew and passed her cold onto Steven who had no immunity to it. Eventually, Steven chose to leave the TARDIS permanently to help rebuild a civilisation using his skills and training. When Chal invited him to assist the Savages and Elders to live together, Steven accepted the challenge, leaving the TARDIS in The Savages (Classic Series).