She was the epitome of Eighties feminism thanks to her no-nonsense attitude, razor sharp intelligence and her trademark black leather jacket, but Doctor Who assistant Ace is now worlds away from her days in the TARDIS.

Actress Sophie Aldred, who played companion to Sylvester McCoy’s seventh incarnation of the Time Lord, looks very different to the feisty young girl from the cult science fiction show.

Ace, who is considered to be one of the most popular of the Doctor’s friends, was a 16-year-old from London in the 20th Century and travelled in the TARDIS between 1987 and 1989.

Among her many adventures, Ace fought the Daleks and the Cybermen, as well as the all-powerful Gods of Ragnorak with the help of the Doctor.

Compared to her predecessors, Ace was a fighter and she was always the first to run into the face of danger, tackling it head on.

She was something of a trailblazer for companions that came after her, who have retained a similarly independent spirit.

Sophie was part of the show until the BBC cancelled Doctor Who in 1989, leaving Ace and the Time Lord to walk into the sunset.

Sadly, it was only after the episode was filmed that the cast found out that the programme had been axed after close to three decades on television screens.

Doctor Who then made an unsuccessful attempt to return to the small screen in 1996 with Paul McGann as the time traveller but the “backdoor pilot” failed to become a fully-fledged TV show.

However, in 2005 the cult series was finally brought back with Christopher Eccleston helming the TARDIS and Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler at his side.

After Doctor Who, Sophie went on to have a varied career in television, particularly in children’s programmes with credits including Dennis & Gnasher, Bob the Builder and ZZZap! among many other shows.

Sophie was also a presenter in the Nineties on CITV’s weekend kids’ programme WOW!.

More recently, she and fellow Doctor Who star David Tennant voiced characters in the animated series Tree Fu Tom.

However, Sophie has not forgotten the Doctor Who family and is firmly a part of the franchise still, lending her voice to a number of audio adventures for Big Finish.