Name:
Olla
Species:
Dreilyn
First Seen In:
A Cold Day in Hell!
Appearances:
Redemption!
Olla was a female Dreilyn who briefly travelled with the Seventh Doctor as his companion.
As a Dreilyn, a species stereotyped as vampires, Olla grew up in nomadic poverty. (Redemption!)
Olla had been the consort of the Vachysian warlord Skaroux until she stole his money and went on the run to A-Lux. (Redemption!) She arrived on the planet when Ice Lord Arryx began to turn the planet into a snowy wasteland. Soon afterwards, she met The Doctor and Frobisher – initially attacking The Doctor in a desperate attempt to get the heat she needed to live. On the run with Frobisher, she helped the A-Lux rebels fight the Ice Warriors and used her heat powers to kill Ice Warriors in close quarters. In a key battle, she had to decide whether to abandon Frobisher to his potential death or let the Ice Warriors kill other rebels – While distraught, she chose to abandon Frobisher (who had luckily made it to safety). when she joined the battle.
When Frobisher decided to stop travelling with The Doctor and remain on A-Lux, Olla, seeing a chance to escape, asked The Doctor take her back to her people, becoming his newest companion. (A Cold Day in Hell!)
While Olla acted as the Doctor’s servant, a role he was not entirely comfortable with, The Doctor’s TARDIS was attacked by a Vachysian ship commanded by Skaroux, who demanded that he turn Olla over. At first Olla claimed that she had been Skaroux’s slave and he had been a cruel master, and the Doctor risked his life to let her escape. The truth came out when she planned to kill Skaroux in cold blood: when The Doctor told her she couldn’t murder him, Skaroux revealed her true history and Olla made it clear she’d kill the both of them to cover her tracks.
The disappointed Doctor disabled Olla and handed herover to Skaroux on the condition that she would be given fair trial. While he had been a fugitive himself, he could not condone cold-blooded murder. (Redemption!)
Behind the scenes
Simon Furman had hoped to use the character more, believing “I thought she had a nice brutal edge to her that would have inevitably put her at odds with The Doctor”. However, editor Richard Starkings wanted to “avoid was a lame duck companion slowing the strip down” and ordered her written out, instead asking creators to use one- off companions much like the show would in 2009.[1]