Romana: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.

She was a companion to the Fourth Doctor, and is herself a Time Lord or perhaps more accurately, a Time Lady. She had two incarnations, one played by Mary Tamm (who chose not to sign on for a second season, despite optimistic prodding on the part of the show’s producers) and the second played by Lalla Ward (who later became Tom Baker's wife, and is now married to the scientist Richard Dawkins).

She was originally assigned to assist the Doctor during the quest for the Key to Time (a story arc which spanned a whole season). The quest complete, she regenerated, emerging with a more light-hearted personality. The two versions of Romana are known by fans as Romana I and Romana II.

Romana first appeared in The Ribos Operation. Her final television appearance was in Warrior's Gate, where she left the Doctor to forge her own path in the parallel universe of E-space. She also appeared briefly in The Five Doctors through the reuse of footage from the uncompleted story Shada. Shada itself was remade as an audio play accompanied by Macromedia Flash animations and Romana was once again played by Lalla Ward.

The arbitrary regeneration that introduced Lalla Ward in the role was the idea of Douglas Adams, script editor of the series at the time. Adams was criticised by some fans for introducing too much of the sort of humorous content that served him well in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy into the season on which he served as the script editor. However, other fans consider some of Adams' scripts to be among the series' high points.

In particular, the regeneration scene (in Destiny of the Daleks, a script credited to Terry Nation, but with several additions and alterations by Adams, including this scene) has long been a source of controversy. The cause was its light-hearted approach to the subject: Romana instantly changing forms several times, rather like someone changing clothes, before taking the form of Lalla Ward (who had played Princess Astra in the final story of the previous season).

Outside of the television programme, the character has made appearances in spin-off novels published by Virgin Publishing and BBC Books, and in Big Finish audio Doctor Who adventures. In one of the novels, she becomes Lady President of Gallifrey, a situation reflected in the later novels and in her audio appearances (also voiced by Ward). In the novels, she also undergoes a third regeneration, and her new incarnation (Romana III) is far less sympathetic and far more ruthless than the other two. It should be noted that the canoncity of these spin-off stories is disputed.

• Travelled from: The Ribos Operation to Warrior's Gate