English actress Deborah Watling, best known for her 1960 role as a companion on Doctor Who, passed away on July 21, 2017, following a brief battle with lung cancer. She was 69 years old.

Deborah Watling was born on January 2, 1948 to actors Jack Watling and Patricia Hicks. At a young age, Watling began to follow in her parents’ footsteps and pursue a career in acting. Her first regular role was on the 1958 television series, The Invisible Man, as the niece of Peter Brady. She was later cast as the titular role in the 1965 play Alice, which recounted the history of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell. Watling also starred in the BBC production The Wednesday Play, That’ll Be the Day, Danger UXB, and Take Me High.

When she was 19 years old Watling joined the BBC series, Doctor Who, as the Second Doctor’s (Patrick Troughton) companion Victoria Waterfield. Unfortunately, due to BBC’s wiping policy of that time, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Enemy of the World are the only series she appeared in which still exist in their entirety. She also appeared in the non-canonical crossover, Dimensions in Time, between Doctor Who and EastEnders. As well as the direct to video Doctor Who spinoff, Downtime. Walting later appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama, Three’s a Crowd, and was a regular at Doctor Who conventions and events. More recently, she starred in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.

At the time of her death, Watling was living in England with her husband.