An inhabitant of ancient Troy, Katarina was very unused to modern concepts: she didn't even know what a key was. Katarina was conceived as a permanent companion but this was quickly re-evaluated by the writers, including producer John Wiles, as they realised the writing challenges that came with such an unworldly character. Unable to remove the character from upcoming scripts at short notice, they decided to write out Katarina by killing her early in "The Daleks' Master Plan", her second story, making her the first companion in the series to die. Katarina's death was the first scene Hill filmed for the series.