CHRISTEL DEE
Christel Dee dressed as Ace.
Ace is my favourite Doctor Who companion. When I first saw her debut episode – Part One of Dragonfire, originally broadcast on 23 November 1987 – I immediately identified with the character. Ace, played by Sophie Aldred, is a teenager from 1980s Perivale. She travelled with the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) – or “Professor” as she frequently called him – until the series’ original run ended in 1989. Her backstory’s a bit of a mystery but we do know that she’s very independent. Ace is quite tomboyish and physical. She runs around a lot and beats things up, like the time she single-handedly destroyed one Dalek with a rocket launcher and deactivated another by walloping it with a baseball bat in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988). I do martial arts, so can relate to that aspect of Ace; and it’s because I connect so well with the character that I love to cosplay her.