Born: 7th December 1947 (as Wendy A Padbury)
Episodes Broadcast: 1968-1969, 1983

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, Wendy Padbury won a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School at age ten. When flat feet defeated her aspirations to be a ballerina, she instead took elocution and acting lessons. At just fifteen years old, Padbury won admission to the Aida Foster Stage School. She was soon appearing in commercials, and made her television debut in a 1963 edition of Monitor. In 1964, she placed second in the talent contest Search For A Star, while also appearing in the theatre. In 1966, Padbury was cast in a regular role as a fourteen-year-old on the soap opera Crossroads; this would be just one many instances in which her five-foot height and elfin features allowed her to play juvenile roles.

Later Sixties television included The Dickie Henderson Show, while Padbury could also be glimpsed in the 1968 movie Charlie Bubbles. The same year, she turned down a part in the classic film The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie in order to accept the role of Zoe Heriot in Doctor Who. Padbury debuted in The Wheel In Space and remained on Doctor Who for a year. She exited in The War Games, which was also Patrick Troughton's final story as the Second Doctor; Padbury had been invited to stay on to accompany Troughton's successor, but decided against it.

In a 1974 stage play, Padbury played companion Jenny to Trevor Martin's version of the Doctor

After leaving Doctor Who, Padbury co-starred in several seasons of Freewheelers between 1971 and 1973. She also appeared in programmes such as Z Cars, Crown Court and The Many Wives Of Patrick, and had a prominent role in the 1971 horror film The Blood On Satan's Claw. Her primary focus was the theatre, however, and in 1974 she appeared in the stage play Doctor Who And The Daleks in The Seven Keys To Doomsday, playing a new companion called Jenny to Trevor Martin's version of the Doctor. The same year, Padbury married Melvyn Hayes; they would have daughters Joanna and Charlotte. Wanting to concentrate on her family -- which also included Hayes' three children from a previous marriage -- she acted only rarely over the next decade. However, she did reprise the role of Zoe for the Doctor Who twentieth-anniversary special The Five Doctors in 1983.

Padbury finally decided to return to television in 1987, the same year that her marriage to Hayes ended. She appeared in several installments of Emmerdale Farm and a 1991 episode of The Bill, but was unhappy with the way programmes were now being made. She decided to retire from acting to become an agent, and quickly found success in her new profession; amongst her many clients was the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, while Padbury would later discover the future Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith. Padbury's last on-camera performance was in the video drama Soul's Ark in 1999, but she subsequently joined Big Finish Productions' stable of actors. She initially played Dr Baynes in 2003's Sixth Doctor adventure Davros, before returning to Zoe in Fear Of The Daleks, a 2007 release in The Companion Chronicles range. On several occasions, Padbury acted for Big Finish alongside her daughter, Charlie Hayes. She also appeared as Zoe in a 2023 episode of Tales Of The TARDIS on BBC iPlayer, which featured an abridged version of The Mind Robber.