Which actress played the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace?

Sophie Aldred played the Seventh Doctor’s companion Ace in Doctor Who. Ace, whose given name is Dorothy, first appeared in the 1987 serial Dragonfire and travelled with Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor through the programme’s original run.

Ace was created during producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Andrew Cartmel’s tenure. The character was deliberately written as a forceful, athletic “fighter and not a screamer,” giving the Seventh Doctor a younger companion with a distinctive modern attitude. Her backstory included growing up in Perivale and being displaced through time by a temporal storm.

A common mix-up is confusing Ace with Bonnie Langford’s Mel Bush, who was the Sixth Doctor’s companion and briefly travelled with the Seventh Doctor before Ace joined the TARDIS. Carole Ann Ford played Susan, the First Doctor’s granddaughter, while Nicola Bryant played Peri Brown. Aldred later returned as Ace in the 2022 special The Power of the Doctor, alongside Tegan Jovanka.