Thursday 13 July 2017

C is for... Camilla


One of the "Three Who Rule" on an obscure planet in the E-Space universe. Camilla was queen to King Zargo. The planet was being held in a medieval state, with all technology banned. Peasants were taken from the village to serve the Three in the castle which dominated the area. The Doctor managed to reactivate an old computer belonging to an Earth spaceship named the Hydrax which had crashed on the planet hundreds of years ago. Amongst the crew was a navigator named Lauren MacMillan. The computer was in the hands of a rebel group, and they recognised a photo of MacMillan as their queen. The Doctor and Romana at first assumed that the Three were the descendants of the ship's crew, their names corrupted over time. Once they had visited the castle, however, they learned that they were the same people, as they had become vampires. Zargo, Camilla and Chancellor Aukon were preparing for the arising of the Great One, which slumbered beneath the castle - really the Hydrax - and which was being fed with the blood of the villagers.
The Doctor discovered that his people had once fought a race of giant vampires, which had all been slain. All except their leader. It had managed to capture the Hydrax and been carried into the E-Space universe.
Before Romana could be sacrificed, and Adric turned into a vampire, the Doctor fired one of the Hydrax's scout ships into the air. It fell back to earth and staked the Great One through the heart.
When the creature died, Camilla and her two fellow vampires were destroyed, aging rapidly and crumbling into dust.

Played by: Rachel Davies. Appearances: State of Decay (1980).

  • Camilla's name derives from the Sheridan Le Fanu story Carmilla. This vampire tale was serialised between 1871 - 2. It was the inspiration for Carl Dreyer's 1932 film Vampyr, as well as the trio of Hammer films known as the Karnstein Trilogy - The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil (both 1971). The trilogy features a vampire Countess named Mircalla - an anagram of Carmilla.

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