Tegan Jovanka is an air stewardess from Brisbane, Australia. On the way to her first flight out of Heathrow Airport in London, her car suffered a flat tire. When she went to call for help at a nearby police box, she found herself in the TARDIS instead, and was soon drawn into the Doctor's adventure on Logopolis.
Tegan is one of the most forthright companions the Doctor has ever had. She never hesitates to speak her mind, and usually finds it difficult to hold back her tongue. Tegan even recognizes this trait in herself, and calls herself a mouth on legs. Going along with this tendency, Tegan is extremely headstrong and stubborn. She will not be told what to do, nor will she go meekly along. She can actually be rather bossy. She has a suspicious nature, which often comes in handy when she and the Doctor are dealing with shady characters.
At the same time, Tegan is a very honest person. If she does not like someone, they probably know it. Once Tegan finds a reason to mistrust someone, they are not likely to win her trust without a great deal of effort. She does trust the Doctor with her life, and considers Nyssa to be an extremely close friend.
Personal relationships can be rocky with Tegan. She finds the Doctor occasionally infuriating, gets irritated with Adric, and believes Turlough is not to be trusted. Tegan is not one to shy away from arguments, nor is she loathe to yell. Shouting matches can often be heard within the TARDIS corridors - but also with people Tegan finds unreasonable, such as the megalomaniacs that she and the Doctor frequently come across.
But for all her temper, Tegan is very brave. She will do what needs to be done, sometimes without stopping to ponder the consequences. If her help is needed, Tegan will pitch in without a second thought. At times, when confronted with something particularly horrible, Tegan may falter; on such occasions, the fifth Doctor tries to buck her up with the reminder, "Brave heart, Tegan."
Tegan seems to have had a happy childhood on her father's farm in Australia; her parents let her have her own garden when she was six, and she often went there to hide because she felt safe there. She was never very good at sailing, but she is quite talented at pencil drawings, and she seems to think she can speak an ancient Aboriginal language (although most likely this is the Doctor's Time Lord language abilities helping her out!). She rather hates travelling by car, having preferred airplanes all her life. She has tried to pilot the TARDIS, but without aid (from the Doctor, Adric, the Master, or the TARDIS itself), she seems to be pretty useless at it. Tegan finds her family in mortal danger more often than most companions. Her aunt Vanessa was killed by the Master after Tegan disappeared into the TARDIS, her cousin Colin Frazer was briefly enslaved by Omega, and her grandfather Andrew Verney was caught up in the Malus' plans for Little Hodcombe.
Tegan has short (sometimes very short) auburn hair, brown eyes, and usually wears her lavender air hostess uniform with matching hat, scarf and heels. Eventually she gets sick of it and trades it in for a lacy underwear style, which soon also gives way to leather and splashes of bright color.
Initially, Tegan frequently demanded to be taken back to Heathrow, and was just as frequently infuriated by the Doctor's inability to do so. Once she finally got to Heathrow, she was disappointed to learn that the Doctor and Nyssa had left without her. This was compounded by the revelation that she had also lost her much-anticipated job, but this worked out to her advantage when she met up with the Doctor and Nyssa in Amsterdam, as she was now free to travel with them again. This she did for quite some time, until the battle with the Daleks in London. All of the death and destruction that Tegan had witnessed during her time with the Doctor finally took its toll, and Tegan was unable to put up with it for any longer. Although she knew she would miss him, Tegan finally walked out of the Doctor's life for good.
