"There was persecution on Earth once. I remember reading about it in my history class." - Pavel Chekov in 'Let that be Your Last Battlefield'.

It was the original series episode 'Catspaw', originally broadcast on 27th October 1967 and intended as Star Trek's attempt at a Halloween special, that introduced the character of Pavel Chekov.

Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry had been pleased by the performance of the ensemble cast in Star Trek's first season, but wanted to introduce a character with something called 'youth appeal'. However, Chekov was not simply intended as a (somewhat unlikely) sop to a teenage audience. Roddenberry wanted Chekov to symbolise the momentous political progress that had been made by the 23rd century. Thus, at the peak of the Cold War, a Russian completed the multi-racial crew of the original Enterprise on American TV screens. Even the name was adventurous in its honouring of the celebrated Russian playwright Anton Pavlovitch Chekhov.

As navigator, Chekov befriended helm officer Hikaru Sulu and was viewed by Kirk as something of a protégé. Indeed, by the programme's third and last season Chekov was beginning to show some of Captain Kirk's traits: he was hot-headed, deeply principled and a hit with the soft-focus ladies. Despite the height shortage and the 'bowl cut' hair, Chekov managed to rekindle his relationship with former flame and Starfleet graduate-turned-misguided-space hippy Irina Galliulin in 'The Way to Eden', a low point in both the history of Star Trek and the young ensign's career.

Chekov had risen to the rank of commander by the time of the Star Trek films and was First Officer of the star ship Reliant in 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'. In this film the character was the subject of one of the most hotly debated continuity breaches in Trek history. At the start of the film, Khan says he remembers Chekov from the original series episode Space Seed, which was broadcast before the character of Chekov was even created. An unforgivable gaffe in the eyes of Star Trek's fans.

Walter Koenig played Chekov in the first seven Star Trek movies, and has appeared in many other TV roles, including Bester in the sci-fi series Babylon 5.

Key Chekov episodes: Catspaw, The Deadly Years, The Way to Eden, Day of the Dove, Spectre of the Gun.