Dodo was depicted as child-like, friendly, and upbeat, serving in a surrogate granddaughter role for the Doctor during her time in the series.

Dodo has appeared in several spin-off productions, including Big Finish audio dramas and novels.

Following her appearance in the series, Lane found herself typecast in Dodo-like roles, resulting in her leaving acting and moving onto other jobs.

[3] In the following serial, The Ark, Dodo inadvertently brings her common cold to a future generation ship, which infects the humans on board.

She appears in the novels Salvation and The Man in the Velvet Mask, set during her travels with the Doctor and Steven.

She also appears in the book Who Killed Kennedy, which depicts Dodo following the events of The War Machines, revealing she suffered a nervous breakdown following the serial, and was drifting in and out of psychiatric institutions.

A republishing of the novel later depicts Stevens requesting the Doctor's help to travel back in time and save her life.

[2] Lane was frequently cast in the role of child-like characters due to her youthful appearance and short height.

[7] Lane was originally planned to depict Anne Chaplet, but this was changed to Dodo following the failure of a previous companion who hailed from the past, Katarina.

[3] Dodo fulfilled Susan's earlier role in the series, acting as a surrogate granddaughter for the Doctor.

However, starting with the next story, The Ark, it was declared that Doctor Who regulars were required to speak in "BBC English", and so Dodo's accent was changed.