Name:
Belinda Chandra
Species:
Human
horse
Place of Origin:
Job:
Nurse
Affiliated With:
Born:
5 April
Mother:
Father:
Belinda Chandra’s father
First Mentioned In:
Star Certificate
First Appearance:
The Doctor’s TARDIS lands in iconic BBC shows
Other Appearances:
The Robot Revolution
Lux
The Well
Lucky Day
The Story & the Engine
The Interstellar Song Contest
Wish World
The Reality War
Main Actor:
Varada Sethu
click on images to enlarge
Belinda Chandra was a human nurse who became an unwilling companion of the Fifteenth Doctor.
EARLY LIFE
Belinda Chandra’s birthday was 5 April. (The Robot Revolution)
DATING ALAN BUDD
In 2008, she was dating Alan Budd. For her birthday, (The Robot Revolution) he got her a Star Certificate naming a star in the constellation Orion after her. (The Robot Revolution, Star Certificate) Belinda was weirded out by the certificate including the title “Miss”, and broke up with Alan not long after after he proposed to her and attempted to insist she wear looser clothing and not use the telephone after 8 PM. (The Robot Revolution)
AT ABLE FREE HOSPITAL
By 2025, Belinda was a nurse, working at the Able Free Hospital in London and living in a house with several flatmates, including Tombo and Kristine. In late May of that year, the Fifteenth Doctor came to the hospital in search of Belinda, having been told that she was going to be important. (The Robot Revolution) The Doctor had also previously encountered Belinda’s identical descendant, Mundy Flynn, on Kastarion III in the 51st century. (The Robot Revolution/Boom) The Doctor, however, just missed Belinda at the hospital as she was treating patients. Belinda was told by Stefan Haines that a doctor was looking for her, but she dismissed it as just part of the job on her way home.
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. (The Robot Revolution)
MEETING THE DOCTOR
HOME THE LONG, WAY ROUND
The Fifteenth Doctor and Belinda as a beaver and a horse. (The Doctor’s TARDIS lands in iconic BBC shows (episode 6)
Telling Belinda that they may travel the “long way around”, the Fifteenth Doctor piloted the TARDIS to six locations: 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”. (The Doctor’s TARDIS lands in iconic BBC shows)
After multiple attempts to get 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 an abandoned cinema. 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 dinner, 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 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. (Lux)
After another 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. (The Well)
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. (His Mad Pranks)
The Doctor and Belinda arrived in London in 2007 during New Year celebrations, briefly meeting Conrad Clark. (Lucky Day)
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. (The Story & the Engine)
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. (The Interstellar Song Contest)
ON WISH WORLD
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. (Wish World)
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. (The Reality War)
LEGACY
Belinda had an identical descendant, Mundy Flynn, in the 51st century. (The Robot Revolution)
BEHIND THE SCENES
CASTING
OTHER MATTERS
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 woman 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).