Information involving The Reality War, Belinda's personality and clothes, and some novels need to be added.
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Belinda Chandra, also known as Bel, was a human nurse who became an unwilling companion of the Fifteenth Doctor. He first met her when she was abducted into space by the inhabitants of a star system which had been named after her as an unlikely consequence of her controlling adolescent boyfriend Alan Budd buying her a novelty Star Certificate many years prior.
Although Belinda had no desire to become the Doctor's companion, viewing him as dangerously self-confident, the Doctor was keen to keep her onboard. This was partly due to the Doctor having recently met Mundy Flynn, an apparent descendant of Belinda's who was puzzlingly similar to her despite being from the distant 51st century. The choice to travel on the TARDIS was ultimately made for Belinda when the pair discovered that a mysterious force was "bouncing" them off 2025 Earth when the Doctor reluctantly tried to return there.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Childhood[[edit] | [edit source]]
Belinda Chandra was born in Croydon (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"]) on 5 April (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"]) 1992. When she was six days old, her great-aunt Manju drew the kala tikka on her forehead for protection, despite Belinda's mother, Lakshmi, and father not believing in such things. She had a naming ceremony when she was about a month old and was given the jathakam by Manju, which predicted that she would travel.
Belinda grew up in Croydon and was a well-liked and hardworking pupil at school, originally wanting to be a ballerina but later deciding that she wanted to be a doctor, which pleased her parents. She was encouraged by her jathakam whenever she felt that her life was boring and, according to one account, did not travel; (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"]) another claimed that her grandmother took her to India whenever she could. (TV: The Story & the Engine [+]Loading...["The Story & the Engine (TV story)"]) She watched the Eurovision Song Contest with her parents when she was little, remembering it as the best night of the year, and was allowed to stay up late for voting so long as she brushed her teeth and got into her pyjamas. (TV: The Interstellar Song Contest [+]Loading...["The Interstellar Song Contest (TV story)"])
When Belinda was about seven years old, she ran across a road without thinking and was pulled out of the path of a car by the Fifteenth Doctor, who immediately disappeared. (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"])
As a teenager[[edit] | [edit source]]
In sixth form, Belinda went on a trip to Paris and took home a miniature Eiffel Tower. She was an avid reader thanks to her father and read Richard Dawkins, with whom she disagreed on several points.
She bumped into Alan Budd in the school library and accepted his offer of going for ice cream and talking about Dawkins, whose book Alan was reading. They met again several evenings later and began to date. Although Belinda enjoyed their conversations and her father got along with him, Lakshmi pointed out that he never laughed and he was dismissive when Belinda showed him her jathakam.
For her sixteenth birthday, (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"]) Alan got Belinda a Star Certificate naming a star in the constellation Orion after her, (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"], PROSE: Star Certificate [+]Loading...["Star Certificate (feature)"]) carrying the present around all day and finally letting her open it on a park bench. (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"]) Belinda was weirded out by the certificate including the title "Miss" (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"]) and was disappointed that it was not something related to travel. Alan told Belinda what to do and eventually stopped giving reasons why she ought to do what he said, simply expecting her to obey. Although Belinda thought that Alan could be sweet, she eventually realised that his behaviour was controlling. (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"])
Alan proposed to her (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"]) and she saw what her life would be like if she remained with him, (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"]) especially when he insisted that she wear looser clothing and not use the telephone after 8pm. She rejected him (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"]) and went home where her parents comforted her and her mother reminded her that he never laughed. (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"])
Becoming a nurse[[edit] | [edit source]]
Belinda decided against taking a gap year and went to university where she studied nursing. (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"]) Memorising medical terms was a "breeze" for her. (PROSE: The Moon Cruise [+]Loading...["The Moon Cruise (novel)"]) Whilst doing her HIV training, she learnt about Rock Hudson. (TV: Lux [+]Loading...["Lux (TV story)"])
By 2025, she was living in a house share in Croydon (AUDIO: Firefall [+]Loading...["Firefall (audio story)"]) with several housemates, including Tombo and Kristine, and had her Star Certificate up on her bedroom wall. She worked in the emergency department of Able Free Hospital in London, (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"]) where she befriended Stefan Haines, and had a boyfriend for a year and a half. When she got the feeling that he was going to propose, she ended it. (PROSE: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (novelisation)"])
While working at the hospital, Belinda was once tasked with treating an elderly woman, having to skip her grandmother's birthday celebrations. Belinda spent the entire night keeping her alive, until the patient was wheeled away by the personnel. Two weeks later the woman recovered and came back to the hospital to thank Belinda for saving her life. Shortly before they met, Belinda briefly saw Mrs Flood, her neighbour. (TV: The Story & the Engine [+]Loading...["The Story & the Engine (TV story)"])
In late May of 2025, the Fifteenth Doctor came to the hospital in search of Belinda, having been told that she was going to be important. (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"]) The Doctor had also previously encountered Belinda's identical descendant, Mundy Flynn, on Kastarion 3 in the 51st century. (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"], Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"]) The Doctor, however, just missed Belinda at the hospital as she was treating patients. Belinda was told by Stefan that a doctor was looking for her, but she dismissed it as just part of the job on her way home. (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"])
Meeting the Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]
When Belinda arrived home, she found that her food in the fridge had gone bad, and was accused by Tombo of eating his food. Belinda corrected Tombo on her name and said Kristine was responsible for eating the food, but Tombo didn't listen. Belinda then went to bed. In the early morning hours of 24 May, Belinda was awoken by the sound of a rocket landing in her back garden. Going downstairs to investigate, Belinda was shocked when the robots onboard burst into the house, destroying the back door.
Belinda was kidnapped by the Missbelindachandrabots and taken to Missbelindachandra One to be installed as their queen. Along the way she experienced a Time Fracture. She was greeted by Sasha 55 who asked her to help them upon telling her about the oppression of the populace by the bots. Before being forced to marry the AI generator, the Fifteenth Doctor told her about the glitch in the robots systems that they can't hear every ninth word. After the rebels start their plan, she was taken to the rebels hospital she used her medical training to help the injured. Realising that the injuries where indirectly cause by her, she allowed herself to be captured by the robots and taken to the AI generator. She discovered that the AI generator was in fact her ex boyfriend. She used two versions of the same Star Certificate activating the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. The Doctor absorbed the energies saving her from being aged to death. She asked him to take her home for her next shift, and became irate at not being able to get back there. (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"])
Home, the long way round[[edit] | [edit source]]
Info from The Moon Cruise [+]Loading...["The Moon Cruise (novel)"], Spectral Scream [+]Loading...["Spectral Scream (novel)"], Counterstrike [+]Loading...["Counterstrike (audio story)"], The Official Doctor Who Quiz Book [+]Loading...["The Official Doctor Who Quiz Book"], Firefall [+]Loading...["Firefall (audio story)"], The Prison Paradox [+]Loading...["The Prison Paradox (comic story)"] needs to be added
After multiple failed attempts to get her home, the Doctor devised a different plan using a Vortex Indicator to draw a new route home. They landed in Miami, Florida, in 1952, where they discovered a cinema chained up. She noted that it was playing a film with Rock Hudson who she had learn about in her training for HIV. Reluctantly she agreed to help the Doctor investigate the cinema. Inside a diner, she was taken aback when racial segregation was mentioned, as Renée Lowenstein asked Logan Cheever to ignore the rules, though he had already ignored them. Returning to the cinema, they encountered Mr Ring-a-Ding discovering that he was the god of light, Lux. Being converted to 2-D animation, she noted that her figure was impossible and letting our her fear of not going back home, she gained some depth and being more emotional returned her to her human form. She helped the Doctor in his plans to get them back home, first encountering a fictional version of Renée and a Policeman, who she tried to rebuke after he assumed that she came from the Caribbean. They then encountered a second fiction where they were TV characters, one of them talked about the flammability of celluloid film. Getting back to N-Space, she made a pile of the film stock and asked Reginald Pye for his matches after noticing nicotine stains on his fingers. She ran after Reginald decided to start the fire and reunited with the Doctor afterwards, as Lux was defused by sunlight and the fifteen missing returned. (TV: Lux [+]Loading...["Lux (TV story)"])
After another failed attempt to get back to Earth, Belinda started to worry that something had happened to the planet. The TARDIS landed 500,000 years in the future and reassured her that the human race had travelled and colonised the stars. Leaving the TARDIS, they joined a drop force to discover what had happened to a mining colony. She used her medical training to help look after Aliss Fenly. She discovered that neither Aliss nor Mo Gilliben had heard of Earth. She briefly saw the Midnight Entity behind Aliss which scared her. When the Doctor thought of a way to save them and escape, by using the mercury to create a mirror for the creature to see itself, she ran for the airlock. However, the creature used Belinda as a host instead. Shaya Costallion shot her to relieve her of being a host. The Doctor then saved her life using the medical equipment in the base and she awoke safely in the TARDIS. (TV: The Well [+]Loading...["The Well (TV story)"])
Arriving on Earth, Belinda feared they had bounced 500,000 years into the past, the Doctor corrected Belinda that they had actually arrived in 1656, where the Doctor set up the vindicator for a new reading. Deciding to investigate some strange light phenomena, Belinda found herself separated from the Doctor. (COMIC: His Mad Pranks [+]Loading...["His Mad Pranks (comic story)"])
The Doctor and Belinda arrived in London in 2007 during New Year celebrations, briefly meeting Conrad Clark. (TV: Lucky Day [+]Loading...["Lucky Day (TV story)"])
Asking once again for another attempt to go home, the Doctor took her to Lagos, Nigeria to get another reading. He asked if he could stay for a while as he felt he belonged there, she allowed him after knowing that feeling from being taken to India by her nan. She remained in the TARDIS, experiencing several loud noises and the TARDIS lights turning red. After not getting any information in the TARDIS, she left to find the Doctor. Not coping with the busy streets and being accosted by many street vendors, she managed to get to the street where Omo Esosa's barber shop was located. She saw a girl who pointed her to the shop. Once inside she reunites with the Doctor who is confronting the Barber about his real identity. After Abena braided a map into the Doctor's hair they followed it into the centre of the ship. She helped him disrupt it, before escaping the ship. (TV: The Story & the Engine [+]Loading...["The Story & the Engine (TV story)"])
Telling Belinda that they may travel the "long way around", the Doctor piloted the TARDIS to six locations in quick succession: firstly, the studio of The Apprentice, where Alan Sugar told them that they are "both garbage", causing the duo to storm out, offended; secondly, The Queen Victoria, where Peggy Butcher tossed a drink at Pat Evans, splashing the time-travelling duo in the process; thirdly, to the studio of Gladiators, where they quickly popped their heads outside the TARDIS before leaving; fourthly to the dining room of the Traitors where Belinda recognised Linda; fifthly to the filming of a nature documentary; and finally to the Squirrel Club Clubhouse where they encountered Duggee and the Doctor and Belinda appeared as a beaver and a horse, respectively, with the Doctor commenting that this was "new". (TV: The Doctor's TARDIS lands in iconic BBC shows [+]Loading...["The Doctor's TARDIS lands in iconic BBC shows (TV story)"])
The Doctor and Belinda landed on Harmony Station. She noticed that Rylan Clark was on the stage and that this was the Interstellar Song Contest. Enjoying the contest, she was undisturbed by the Doctor's investigations. When the roof was opened to space she was saved when the VIP booth that they had landed in closed. She became upset and worried as not only had the Doctor been sucked out into space, so had the TARDIS. She encountered Cora Saint Bavier and Len Kazah who were trying to find more information about what had happened. She found out the Doctor was alive when they intercepted the communication between Kid and the Doctor, and learnt about what the corporation did to the Hellian. Cora revealed that she was a Hellian and that the corporation had ravaged their world just to a flavouring to their poppy honey product. She was worried about the Doctor as she had never seen him that angry. Her appearance in the gallery stopped him from acting out corporal punishment. She learnt from they learnt from the Graham Norton hologram about the death of planet earth. Discovering that he had enough readings they managed to get back to May 24 2025 before hearing the Cloister Bell and an explosion ripped through the doors of the TARDIS. (TV: The Interstellar Song Contest [+]Loading...["The Interstellar Song Contest (TV story)"])
In the wish world[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor and Belinda woke up in an idealised world where they were a married couple with a daughter Poppy and lived next to Melanie Bush. She called the authorities on Ruby Sunday for her doubts. When her mother Lakshmi Chandra and her friend Devika Babu arrived for a tea and chat, they asked about Poppy's birth and how long she was in labour, but neither Belinda nor Lakshmi could remember it. She then ran from the house in the confusion and went to a nearby river and screamed. Later that night she was woken by the Doctor's investigations. Learning about his doubt and that he found Rogue attractive she called the authorities on him. Mrs Flood also had her arrested. She was told by The Rani that she didn't have a daughter, but she believed in this completely. The Rani had her taken outside the barrier and she disappeared as reality collapsed. (TV: Wish World [+]Loading...["Wish World (TV story)"])
The day reset and she found herself alone in her bed with Poppy downstairs. She wondered what had happened to John, but shortly heard him and went to see him. He took her and Poppy through a new door in their house and entered the Time Hotel meeting Anita Benn. They all went to UNIT HQ, where Mrs Flood revealed to her than she was the Rani. As the fight against the bone beasts started, she went with Poppy to the Zero Room that Susan Triad had constructed to protect Poppy when the wish ended. When reality reasserted itself, she left the room with Poppy still in existence. She decided to continue her adventures, but quickly forgot about Poppy as she disappeared from space. The Doctor left her behind whilst he committed suicide to redirect the timelines. When completed, she met with the Doctor who she told that Poppy was a child from a previous relationship and that the reason she was constantly telling the Doctor to get her home on a specific date on time was so that she could pick Poppy up from her mother's after a set of late shifts. (TV: The Reality War [+]Loading...["The Reality War (TV story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
Belinda looked identical to Mundy Flynn, an ordained Anglican marine in the 51st century. The Fifteenth Doctor rationalised that she must be Belinda's descendant, but remained astounded at the extreme physical and genetic resemblance, wondering if there was something more to their connection which he viewed as a potential sign that it was Belinda's destiny to travel in time with him. (TV: The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Casting[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Appearances prior to The Robot Revolution[[edit] | [edit source]]
Although Belinda's "proper" debut was in the season 2 episode The Robot Revolution [+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"], she had appeared and been referenced twice in fiction released prior to this. First, on 27 March 2025, Star Certificate [+]Loading...["Star Certificate (feature)"] was a released as a free gift with Doctor Who Magazine #615, featuring a mention of Belinda's name, the gift itself being a recreation of the Star Certificate seen in The Robot Revolution. Later the same day, the first set of promotional videos later released under the collective name of The Doctor's TARDIS lands in iconic BBC shows [+]Loading...["The Doctor's TARDIS lands in iconic BBC shows (TV story)"] were released, featuring the first work of fiction to feature Belinda physically, partially using archival footage of Varada Sethu's performance as the character in The Robot Revolution, although with various additional scenes featuring the character also appearing.
Other matters[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Belinda is similar in a number of ways to Martha Jones. They are both the second longterm female companion to be introduced by Russell T Davies in his two respective eras as showrunner. Both characters also happen to be women of colour who work in medicine. Furthermore, both characters are portrayed by actors who previously appeared in the preceding series/season as different characters who would later be established as relatives of their subsequent characters (in Martha's case, Freema Agyeman previously appeared in Army of Ghosts as Adeola Oshodi, who would retroactively be established as Martha's cousin). The connections between Belinda and Martha were highlighted in the The Robot Revolution's accompanying Doctor Who: Unleashed episode.
- Belinda is the second main character introduced to the DWU by Russell T Davies to have the surname Chandra, after Rani Chandra. Coincidentally, the primary antagonist of Belinda's starring season was The Rani.