Favorite New Who Associate(s): Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton)

“Harriet Jones, MP, Flydale North.” She may have been from a “tiny little place” but Harriet Jones was a major force. From the moment she showed up in the ‘Aliens of London’ episode, where she ferreted out the Slitheen plot within the British government and showed no wavering when deciding to give the go ahead to have a missile directed at 10 Dowling Street while she was in it, I immediately fell in love with her. Even when she became Prime Minister and stood in open defiance to The Doctor by destroying the retreating Sycorax (a move that saw The Doctor pretty much ruin Harriet’s political career with just six little words: “Don’t you think she looks tired?”), I was on her side because she didn’t have the luxury of allowing invading alien hordes to just go home despite all assurances from The Doctor. And despite being on the outs with the Doctor, Harriet continued to work on the side of the angels which led to her being killed by the Daleks. Harriet Jones did what she knew was right regardless of the ill effects it would have on her life and I really think she could have fulfilled her destiny of being the architect of Britain’s Golden Age if she had been given the chance.