Ada Lovelace

Played by Sylvie Biggs

"The first to see the potential in things like that, to work out what could be. What they can really do. Computers start with you. Sweet dreams, Ada Lovelace."

First Regular Appearance

Spyfall Part 2

A brilliant mathematician and writer, Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer in history. Working with the polymath Charles Babbage in the 1830s and 1840s, Lovelace recognised the potential of the first general-purpose computer – the Analytical Engine – and employed a unique way of understanding technology which she called ‘poetical science’.

The Doctor and Lovelace first met in the Kasaavin’s dimension, which Ada accessed while experiencing strange bouts of paralysis. The two escaped together before travelling to Paris in 1943 on the trail of the Master. With the help of Noor Inayat Khan, they foiled the Master and the Kasaavin’s terrible plans and returned to 1834, where the Doctor sadly had no choice but to wipe Lovelace’s memories of their adventure. 

Though she passed away at just 36 years old in 1852, Lovelace is remembered as a ground-breaking contributor to modern science and as an unmatched ‘Enchantress of Numbers’. The Doctor would later meet Lovelace’s father, Lord Byron, on another adventure altogether.