1978 is not only the year in which I was born, but it also produced one of my all time favourite eras of Doctor Who. Having left Leela behind on Gallifrey to indulge in her gratuitously discreet romance with the guard Andred (in one of the most derided leaving scenes of all time), the Doctor was happy to put his feet up, but the universe had other ideas.

The White Guardian, one half of the two greatest powers in the galaxy, has given him a quest, to assemble the crystalline, transformative segments of the Key to Time. He also provides the Doctor with a new ‘assistant,’ the glamorous and snooty Romana (Mary Tamm).

We’ve had intelligent companions before, and companions who are close to being the Doctor’s intellectual peer (Zoe and Liz being the main examples), but this is the first time that a companion was set up as being the Doctor’s superior in most things.

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Here we are at the end of another week. The sad news is that Mary Tamm, the original Romana of 1970′s Doctor Who, died of cancer yesterday at the age of 62. Another piece of my childhood crumbled away, and I have been very touched to see the many tributes on Twitter by Doctor Who cast, crew, podcasters and other personalities, many of whom knew her very well and are going to miss her heaps.

Romana I was one of my earliest heroes. Long before River Song, she was the woman who knew how to fly the TARDIS way better than the Doctor ever did, and got better marks at school too! Farewell, Mary Tamm.

Karen Healey writes about one of her own heroes, children’s author Margaret Mahy, who also died this week. Elizabeth Knox has also written a powerful and heartfelt tribute. I regret not having read any of Margaret Mahy’s amazing young adult fiction until very recently, though I have extremely fond childhood memories of many of her books for younger children. And I just realised my children don’t currently own a copy of the Pirate’s Mixed-Up Voyage. To the Fishpond! [update: WHAT THE HELL OUT OF PRINT YOU SAY????]

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