Harriet Jones was a supporting character in the British science fiction series Doctor Who. A lifelong backbench politician from Flydale North, Harriet would eventually become Prime Minister of Britain after helping the Doctor prevent the sinister Slitheen Family from starting a nuclear war that would destroy Earth. She was portrayed by Penelope Wilton.
History[]
Series 1[]
In the episodes "Aliens of London" and "World War Three", Harriet Jones was MP for the constituency of Flydale North. In 2006, she had gone to London to discuss plans for the Flydale Infirmary in Parliament. However, at that time, an alien spacecraft had crash-landed in the Thames River and the Prime Minister had gone missing. Acting PM Joseph Green (who was actually Jocrassa Slitheen in disguise) took no notice of Harriet, shrugging her off while he pretended to manage the alien crisis while actually preparing to drive the world towards an apocalyptic war.
Harriet learned the truth when she witnessed the Slitheen removing their skin-suits from behind an unlocked door. When the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler later arrived at 10 Downing Street, Harriet tried to inform Rose of what had happened, but was cornered by Blon Slitheen who "disrobed" and attacked the pair.
Eventually, Harriet, Rose and the Doctor were cornered in the Cabinet Room. As the only elected representative present, Jones gave the Doctor the order to launch a Harpoon missile at Downing Street, killing the Slitheen before they could trigger off a nuclear war. Jones, the Doctor and Rose survived thanks to hiding inside a sturdy cupboard within the Cabinet Room. The Doctor told Rose that Jones was destined to be Prime Minister, elected for three successive terms, and the architect of Britain's Golden Age.
The Christmas Invasion[]
Some time following the Slitheen incident, Harriet had been elected Prime Minister. During her tenure, she presided over the launch of the Guinevere One space probe. Her economic plan allowed people to be £18 a week better off, according to Jackie Tyler. It was the space programme that led to her facing an alien invasion by the Sycorax, who had captured Guinevere One which carried a vial of A+ blood in its onboard time capsule. The Sycorax had possessed a method of blood control, using the vial from the probe to control every human with the matching blood type and hold the Earth hostage. Although the invasion was averted by the Tenth Doctor, Jones ordered the covert Torchwood Institute to shoot down the retreating Sycorax ship.
Enraged by Jones' decision to destroy the retreating alien ship, the Doctor told Jones that he could bring down her government with six words. As he walked away, he whispered to the Prime Minister's aide "Don't you think she looks tired?". This simple sentence led to a series of rumours spreading among Parliament that Harriet was in ill-health, and the more Harriet protested against such rumours, the more the population questioned her ability to lead. This eventually culminated in Harriet being removed from office by a vote of no confidence.
Series 4[]
In the episode "The Stolen Earth", Earth had vanished from its place in the Sol system in 2009 when Davros and the New Dalek Empire were able to snatch twenty-seven planets out of time and space and bring them into the temporal rift within the Medusa Cascade. As the Daleks subjugated the planet, Harriet Jones used a subwave communications network to contact the Doctor's allies, linking them all together so that they could contact the TARDIS and hopefully summon him to Earth.
By opening the subwave network, Harriet alerted the Daleks who then forced their way into her home. Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Martha Jones, and Sarah Jane Smith all watched as Harriet was exterminated, their screens turning to static as the Daleks fired their weapons.