DIANA KINGMAN

Diana Kingman, a meek young woman who struggled with low self-esteem, was traveling with her domineering, condescending, and verbally abusive mother, Eleanor, on a train to Rajmir, India, with fellow passengers that included Andrea Collins, a courier for the US State Department, Andy Ellis and Laura Dillion, Americans who had recently met and had begun a relationship, James Grant, a British surgeon who had recently lost his right arm in an accident, Peter Kramer, a mysterious European traveling alone, Paul Webster, an American, Lyman and Blade, who wore the uniform of a conductor, and MacGyver.

Hassan, a leader from a nearby village, hijacked the train by blowing up a trestle bridge and forcing it to stop. Hassan explained that he came from a poor village that had struggled to build a clinic but that when they had bought medicines from two Western businessmen, the medicine turned out to be poisoned, and 26 of his people had died. The businessmen had boarded the train, but because Hassan did not know their identities, he announced that all Westerners aboard the train would be held hostage without food or water until they themselves identified the two men and turned them over to face justice.

During the hijacking, Badur, one of Hassan's men, had accidentally shot Lyman, the conductor. Dr. Grant insisted that he be permitted to see to him, and Diana offered her help, despite having no medical training. Grant and Diana had only just met on the train, but in working together to keep Lyman alive, they found a mutual attraction. Since his accident, Dr. Grant had considered himself to be quite useless as a doctor, and Diana considered herself to be oversized, painfully shy, and longing for a purpose, but together they came to see value in each other that they hadn't seen in themselves.

Having secured Hassan's promise that the men responsible would be given a fair trial, MacGyver fashioned a makeshift lie detector using Dr. Grant's sphygmomanometer and an alarm clock in order to question each of the passengers. Once attached to the device, Paul Webster was unable to respond truthfully, and he set off the alarm, revealing as he did so that his partner was Blade and that they had been responsible for the tainted drugs. Webster attempted to escape by restarting the train engine, however MacGyver had previously booby-trapped the control panel circuits to overload, and despite MacGyver's warnings, Webster threw the switch and received a fatal electric shock. Blade, who was forced to return the gold coins that Hassan's people had paid for the medicines, was taken into custody to face trial in Rajmir.

As the passengers returned to the train and were allowed to continue their journey by another route, Hassan made an offer to Dr. Grant to remain and to use the gold and his medical expertise to help rebuild the clinic. At first, Dr. Grant insisted that it wasn't possible to take on such a responsibility "single handed," but when Diana offered to stay behind and help him, he cautiously agreed. At first, Diana's mother objected, but when Diana explained that for the first time in her life she was finding out what kind of person she was, her mother simply replied that it was about time. Dr. Grant and Diana made plans to remain and work together in India, and although Eleanor Kingman still thought their decision was crazy, she offered her support should they ever need anything.

Portrayed by: Pamela Roylance

Cross Reference: Badur, Batu Das, Blade, Andrea Collins, Laura Dillon, Andy Ellis, James Grant, Hassan, India, Eleanor Kingman, Peter Kramer, Lyman, Paul Webster

Episode Reference: Slow Death