Alison Cheney

Name:

Alison Cheney

Species:

Human

Place of Origin:

Earth

First Seen In:

Scream of the Shalka

Appearances:

The Feast of the Stone

Main Voice Actor:

Sophie Okonedo

Alison Cheney was a barmaid who became a companion of the Ninth Doctor.

Alison was Joe Latham’s girlfriend. She once took up a degree in history, but had to drop it to live with Joe.

She met the Ninth Doctor in 2003 when she worked at the pub in the abandoned town of Lannet, Lancashire. The Doctor had just arrived in the TARDIS. Noticing the absence of people in Lannet, he came in for a drink. The Shalka had by this time caused a mass exodus of the townsfolk, who did not understand that an alien invasion had taken place but, nevertheless, fled in fear.

Alison was subsequently kidnapped by the Shalka, who modified her body to transmit the Shalka’s screams. At the end of the Shalka incident, Alison accepted The Doctor’s invitation to become his companion. Joe however shows concern on Alison travelling with The Doctor, in fear of her safety, The Doctor notes the TARDIS is a Time Machine and he has probably already dropped Alison at her grandmother’s House. When Joe phones up and ask if Alison is there, he gets a negative answer. (Scream of the Shalka)

At one point, she, The Doctor, and the Master ended up facing off against a vampire entity. (The Feast of Stone)

BEHIND THE SCENES

Sophie Okonedo, who voices Alison, would later play future queen Liz Ten in The Beast Below and The Pandorica Opens.

Whilst Alison mentions that she once did a degree in history, according to production notes her degree was also in ecology, but ecology was excised from the script.

According to the production information text on the Scream of the Shalka DVD, in original drafts of the script, Alison lived with her family who would play a part in the story. Other drafts mention that Joe (under Shalka control) attacked

Alison’s mother to get the keys to her car, and later sent her flowers to apologise. This factor was taken out and her Mother was reduced to a mention.