Caroline John
John asLiz Shaw inDoctor Who in 1970
Born	Caroline Frances John (1940-09-19)19 September 1940 York, England
Died	5 June 2012(2012-06-05) (aged 71) London, England
Alma mater	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1954–2012
Television	Doctor Who A Perfect Spy
Spouse	Geoffrey Beevers ​ (m. 1970)​
Children	3

Caroline Frances John (19 September 1940 – 5 June 2012)^[1] was an English actress. She played classical roles on the stage as well as several television roles. She is best known for playingElizabeth "Liz" Shaw in theBBC science fiction television seriesDoctor Who

John was the third of eight children born to Vera (née Winckworth), an actress and singer, and Alexander John, a theatre director.^[2] She was educated at St. Joseph's Convent School, Crackley Hall inKenilworth.^[3]

After training at theCentral School of Speech and Drama, she worked in theatre and toured with theRoyal Shakespeare Company and theNational Theatre Company.^[4][5] She appeared inJuno and the Paycock in a 1966 production directed byLaurence Olivier,King Lear,Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, andThe Merchant of Venice.

John also appeared asHero inFranco Zeffirelli's 1965 National Theatre production ofMuch Ado About Nothing.^[6] This production was adapted for television and shown onBBC1 in February 1967.^[7] It was subsequently lost from the BBC archives, but in 2010 it was announced that a copy of it had been discovered in the USLibrary of Congress as part of a substantial tranche of missing British TV.^[8] An extract including John was released by the BBC in 2016,^[9] with the play due to be repeated in its entirety for the first time on 28 December 2024.^[10]

John played the role of the Doctor's companion in 1970 oppositeJon Pertwee'sThird Doctor. John was recommended to thenDoctor Who producerPeter Bryant by another BBC producer,James Cellan Jones, who sent Bryant and his associateDerrick Sherwin photographs of her.^{[citation needed]}

Unlike most of the preceding and subsequent female companions of the Doctor, Shaw was a brilliant scientist and understood much of the Doctor'stechnobabble. Shaw and the Doctor discussed things on a more equitable level of intelligence, and the Doctor respected and rarely patronised her.

During her final story,Inferno, John also played the part of Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw, an alter ego of her regular character that the Doctor encounters in an alternative time stream. John reprised the role of Shaw, albeit as a phantom, in the anniversary episode "The Five Doctors", and also appeared in the special episodeDimensions in Time (1993), part of theBBC's annualChildren in Need appeal. In the 1990s she appeared in a series of straight-to-video releases includingThe Stranger: Breach of the Peace, and as Liz Shaw in theP.R.O.B.E. stories written byMark Gatiss and featuring numerous actors from the history ofDoctor Who – includingJon Pertwee,Peter Davison,Colin Baker andSylvester McCoy. In these stories made by the production companyBBV, a pipe-smoking Shaw works as an investigator (for theP.R.O.B.E. organisation); John is seen oppositeLinda Lusardi in the former model's first acting role.

John later appeared in twoBig Finish Productions'audio dramas based onDoctor Who;Dust Breeding (2001), although playing a character other than Liz Shaw, andThe Blue Tooth (2007) where, as Liz, she recounts in narrative form an adventure she once had with the Doctor and UNIT. AfterThe Blue Tooth she played Liz in four more Companion Chronicle audio plays;Binary,The Sentinels of the New Dawn andShadow of the Past. Her final audio play,The Last Post, which she recorded on 26 January 2012, was released after her death.

After leavingDoctor Who and the birth of her first child, John appeared in the BBC drama seriesThe Doctors playing the recurring role of Marilyn Lane for four episodes in 1971.^[11] In 1972, she appeared in the one-off BBC1 drama for theOmnibus strand,Actor, I said starringBarry Foster andMartin Jarvis, just a few weeks before appearing in theZ-Cars episodeOperation Ascalon.^[12] For the next several years, John became a regular performer in BBC Radio dramas, which included appearances in Radio 4 seriesAfternoon Theatre,Five Morning Plays,The Monday Play,Saturday Night Theatre,Story Time and being a regular story teller onWoman's Hour. Various BBC radio productions covered in these strands wereThérèse withVivien Merchant,^[13]Jane Eyre withPatrick Allen,^[14]How To Get Away With Murder,^[15]The Concert,^[16]New Grub Street withRobert Powell,^[17]Observations on a Jesting Man,^[18]Mr. Campion's Falcon,^[19]An Infinity of Changes^[20] andJane Austen'sLady Susan^[21] amongst many others. John played the role of Laura Lyons in the BBC adaptation of theSherlock Holmes storyThe Hound of the Baskervilles, oppositeTom Baker. The four part adventure was produced byBarry Letts. She returned to radio for Radio 3'sLight in Distant Rooms.^[22]

In 1987, John appeared in theBBC2 drama seriesADorothy L. Sayers Mystery:Gaudy Night as Miss Burrows.^[23] She also appeared in the BBC's adaptation ofJohn le Carré'sA Perfect Spy as Dorothy Pym.^[24] Throughout January 1988, John and her husband Geoffrey Beevers appeared in BBC Radio 4'sPoetry Please.^[25] John and Beevers appeared together in an episode ofAgatha Christie's Poirot titled "Problem at Sea" as Mr and Mrs Tolliver. They both had roles in the audio playDust Breeding and the TV adaptation of the political thrillerA Very British Coup,^[1] although they did not appear on screen together. John appeared in several episodes ofCasualty as recurring character Edith Hewlett.^[26] In 1995, she appeared as Janet Young in the BBC drama adaptation ofJoanna Trollope'sThe Choir.^[27] Other minor TV appearances includedEastEnders,It Might Be You,Silent Witness andDangerfield. John also appeared in a non-speaking, background role in the filmLove Actually.

Her career in the theatre included appearances inHis Majesty (1992),Silas Marner (1998),The Master Builder (1999),Death of a Salesman (2001),Happy Birthday Dear Alice (2002), andDona Rosita (2004).^[1]

In June 1970, John married actorGeoffrey Beevers, who later appeared inDoctor Who asThe Master, inThe Keeper of Traken (1981). The couple had three children: a daughter, Daisy Ashford, and sons Ben and Tom.

Ashford, also an actor, has portrayed her mother's Doctor Who character, Liz Shaw, in audio dramas for Big Finish Production.^[28]

John died on 5 June 2012 from cancer.^[29]

• Caroline John atIMDb

• 1940 births
• 2012 deaths
• 20th-century English actresses
• 21st-century English actresses
• Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
• Deaths from cancer in England
• English Shakespearean actresses
• English stage actresses
• English television actresses
• Royal Shakespeare Company members
• 20th-century English businesspeople
• Actresses from York

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