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In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, or shares adventures with, the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as an audience surrogate by providing the lens through which the viewer is introduced to the story, and often, the series itself.
The companion character often furthers the story by asking questions (which helps the audience understand too) and getting into trouble; also by helping, rescuing, or challenging the Doctor. This designation is applied to a character by the show's producers and appears in the BBC's promotional material and off-screen fictional terminology. The Doctor also refers to the show's other leads as their "friends" or "assistants"; the British press have also used the latter term.
History
In the earliest episodes of Doctor Who, the dramatic structure of the programme's cast was rather different from the hero-and-sidekick pattern that emerged later. Initially, the character of the Doctor was unclear, with uncertain motives and abilities.[1] The protagonists were schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who provided the audience's point of view in stories set in Earth's history and on alien worlds. Ian in particular served the role of the action hero. The fourth character was the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan, who (though initially presented as an "unearthly child") was intended as an identification figure for younger viewers.[2]
Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan Foreman, became unhappy with the lack of development for her character[3] and chose to leave in the show's second series. The character of Susan was married off to a freedom fighter and left behind to rebuild a Dalek-ravaged Earth. Doctor Who's producers replaced Susan with another young female character, Vicki.[4] Similarly, when Ian and Barbara left, the "action hero" position was filled by astronaut Steven Taylor.[5] This grouping of the Doctor, a young heroic male, and an attractive young female became the programme's pattern throughout the 1960s.
When the programme changed to colour in 1970, its format changed: the Doctor was now Earth-bound and acquired a supporting cast by his affiliation with the paramilitary organisation United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT). The Third Doctor, more active and physical than his predecessors, made the role of the "action hero" male companion redundant. In the 1970 season, the Doctor was assisted by scientist Liz Shaw and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, along with other UNIT personnel. The intellectual Shaw was replaced by Jo Grant in the following season, and as the programme returned to occasional adventures in outer space, the format shifted once more: while UNIT continued to provide a regular "home base" for Earth-bound stories, in stories on other planets, the Doctor and Jo became a two-person team with a close, personal bond. This pattern, the Doctor with a single female companion, became a template from which subsequent eras of Doctor Who rarely diverged.
In 1974, the character of Harry Sullivan was created by the production team when it was expected that the Fourth Doctor would be played by an older actor who would have trouble with the activity expressed by his predecessor. The role went to 40-year-old Tom Baker, and the part of Harry, no longer required for the action role, was dropped after one season.[6]
In the Fourth Doctor's final season (1980-1981), he acquired three companions (Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa), and this situation continued under the Fifth Doctor for much of his first season. Adric was written out by the method, unusual within the series, of being "killed off" in the serial Earthshock. By the time of the Sixth Doctor in 1985, a single companion had become standard again.
When the series returned in 2005, a single female companion remained the standard format, though intermittent and short-term companions also featured. More consistent exceptions occurred between series 5 and 7, when the Eleventh Doctor travelled with Amy Pond and Rory Williams, and series 10, where the Twelfth Doctor appeared alongside Bill Potts and Nardole. In conjunction with the introduction of the first female Doctor in 2018, the Thirteenth Doctor's era features multiple companions (both male and female) throughout.
Definition
Although the term "companion" is designated to specific characters by the show's producers and appears in the BBC's promotional material and off-screen fictional terminology, there is no formal definition that constitutes such a designation. The definition of who is and is not a companion becomes less clear in the newer series.[7] During the Doctor's latest incarnations, his primary companions, such as Rose Tyler and Martha Jones, have fulfilled a distinct dramatic role, more significant than other, less prominent TARDIS travellers such as Adam, Jack, and Mickey. The British press referred to Martha as the "first ethnic minority companion in the 43-year television history of Doctor Who"[8] despite the presence of Mickey Smith in the previous series—including several episodes in which he travelled in the TARDIS with the Doctor.
The opening credits do little to clarify the situation. In the first two series of the renewed programme, the only supporting actor to receive a title credit is Billie Piper, although short-term companions Bruno Langley (Adam Mitchell), John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) and Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith) all appear. In the third series, Barrowman receives a title credit for his return to the show alongside permanent cast member Freema Agyeman, and in series four Agyeman is restored to the opening titles for her return arc as Martha Jones. Series four also gives Agyeman, Piper, Barrowman, and Elisabeth Sladen title billing for their reappearances in the final two-parter. Clarke also reprises his role in the series four finale; although listed as a companion alongside the other actors on the BBC Doctor Who website,[9] Clarke is not credited in this way. In "The End of Time", John Simm receives title billing for his antagonist role as the Master, ahead of Bernard Cribbins as companion Wilfred Mott. In subsequent years, Claire Skinner, Nick Frost and Mark Gatiss have received title credits in special episodes for roles that are not considered companions, as does Piper for her non-companion return in "The Day of the Doctor".
Companions in the new series also have a more flexible tenure than their classical predecessors. Several companion characters have returned to the series after leaving the Doctor's company, most notably in the Series Four finale "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" (2008), which features a record eight past, present and future companions: Donna is joined by a returning Rose, Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane, and Mickey, while past companion K9 and future companion Wilfred Mott make appearances. This tendency, plus the increase in "one-off" companions like Astrid Peth and Jackson Lake, has further obscured the matter of who is and is not a companion.[7]
Role
The Doctor's companions have assumed a variety of roles—involuntary passengers, assistants (particularly Liz Shaw), friends, and fellow adventurers; and, of course, he regularly gains new companions and loses old ones. Sometimes they return home, and sometimes they find new causes—or loves—on worlds they have visited. A few companions have died during their travels with the Doctor, such as the 12th Doctor's companion Bill Potts. Some have taken trips in the TARDIS by accident like Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler.
Most companions travel in the TARDIS with the Doctor for more than one adventure. Sometimes a guest character takes a role in the story similar to that of a companion, such as photographer Isobel Watkins, who plays a significant role in The Invasion (1968), or Lynda Moss in "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways" (2005). In the revived era, some guest characters have gained companion status such as Mickey Smith, River Song, Wilfred Mott, and Craig Owens.
Despite the fact that the majority of the Doctor's companions are young, attractive females, the production team for the 1963–89 series maintained a long-standing taboo against any overt romantic involvement in the TARDIS: for example, Peter Davison, as the Fifth Doctor, was not allowed to put his arm around either Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) or Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka).[10] The taboo was controversially[11] broken in the 1996 television movie when the Eighth Doctor was shown kissing companion Grace Holloway. The 2005 series played with this idea by having various characters think that the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler were a couple, which they vehemently denied. Since the series revival, the Doctor has kissed many of his companions, including Rose and Jack, although each instance was not necessarily in a romantic context (see also "The Doctor and romance"). In Series 2 of the revival, the Tenth Doctor and Rose develop a romantic connection.[5] Rose mentions sharing a mortgage with him if he were to ever be trapped with her in "The Satan Pit". At the end of Series 2, in "Doomsday", Rose and the Doctor are forcibly separated. The Doctor "burns up a sun to say goodbye" and Rose tells him "I love you". Rose and Martha each developed romantic feelings toward the Doctor. On the opposite side of the same coin, Amy reacted to the stress of her adventures by very aggressively trying to seduce the Doctor on the eve of her own wedding, despite being in love with her fiancé Rory; the Doctor forcibly pushed her off of himself, though she did not immediately cease her pursuit.[12] The Eleventh Doctor also formed a romantic connection with occasional companion River Song,[13] later marrying her.[14]
Previous companions have reappeared in the series. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart reunited with later incarnations of the Doctor in Mawdryn Undead and Battlefield. He and Sergeant Benton began as returning characters in the first place, having appeared with the Second Doctor in The Web of Fear and again in The Invasion, prior to starting their full-time association with the Third and Fourth Doctors. Tegan Jovanka was the first full-time companion to part from the Doctor and subsequently return to full-time companionship, although the break in her tenure had been pre-planned.
Most reappearances of companions in the original series, however, were for anniversary specials such as "The Five Doctors" and Dimensions in Time, both of which also featured multiple Doctors. One former companion, Sarah Jane Smith, together with the robotic dog K-9, appeared in four and two episodes, respectively, of the revived series[15] more than twenty years after their last appearances in the 20th anniversary story "The Five Doctors" (1983). The character of Sarah Jane also headed up a Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, with K-9 until Sladen's death. Another companion, Captain Jack Harkness, is the lead character in the spin-off BBC science fiction programme Torchwood. Not only have these former companions continued to make appearances on Doctor Who, they have sometimes been accompanied by some of their own companions from the spin-offs when doing so, including Jack's colleagues Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, and Sarah Jane's 'family' Mr Smith, Luke Smith and K-9 Mark IV. Other former companions from both the classic era and revived series have also returned as guest stars in the spin-offs, including Martha Jones on Torchwood, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Jo Grant on The Sarah Jane Adventures. K-9 Mark I has also been spun off into its own series, albeit with an independent continuity.
When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, the companion characters played a slightly different role, partly due to a strong focus on the character of Rose Tyler and characters connected to her. For example, although Adam Mitchell was a companion by the standard definition, he appeared in only two episodes and was arguably a less significant part of the 2005 series than Rose's sometime boyfriend Mickey Smith, who was not technically a companion but appeared in five episodes. Mickey later gained full-fledged companion status when he travelled in the TARDIS in the 2006 episode "School Reunion". In that episode, Sarah Jane Smith referred to Rose as the Doctor's "assistant", a term to which the latter took offence. This exchange might be regarded as indicating the new series' shift in approach to the companion role. Adam was also far less significant than Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler, who was a frequently recurring character who travelled in the TARDIS, yet is not considered a companion.
As of the fifteenth series, three classic era companions have travelled again with the Doctor in the revived series, four if considering the revived era. Sarah Jane Smith declined his invitation in "School Reunion", but subsequently met up with the Doctor aboard a Dalek ship in "Journey's End" and travelled with him, several other companions, and Jackie Tyler in the TARDIS as they towed the Earth back to the solar system. Sarah Jane, her predecessor Jo Jones (née Grant), and their own respective companions subsequently momentarily travelled in the TARDIS with the Eleventh Doctor in The Sarah Jane Adventures serial, Death of the Doctor. The Eleventh Doctor attempted to have Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart travel with him again only to learn of the Brigadier's death months earlier. In "The Power of the Doctor", returning companions Tegan Jovanka and Ace McShane travel in the TARDIS along with other companions in a scene reminiscent of "Journey's End".
Families and childhoods
In the classic era, companions' friends and families were rarely depicted, and almost all were kept unaware of the true nature of the Doctor and the TARDIS.
Conversely, families and friends of most companions in the revived era are extensively depicted, and their adventures with the Doctor are generally not kept secret. The revived era has also featured a number of companions related to other companions by blood or marriage (Donna Noble's grandfather Wilfred Mott; Amy Pond's fiancé (later husband) Rory Williams, and the couple's daughter River Song; former companions Mickey Smith and Martha Jones who married subsequent to their companionship; Graham O'Brien and step-grandson Ryan Sinclair).[16] No such relationships occurred among companions in the classic era, although original companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are reported in the revived era to have married subsequent to their companionship, and Ben Jackson and Polly are likewise reported to be together.[17] The families of some classic-era companions too have been depicted in the revived era, such as Jo Grant (now known as Jo Jones)'s grandson Santiago Jones;[18] and Sarah Jane Smith's parents,[19] adopted son Luke Smith, adopted daughter Sky Smith, and alternate timeline fiancé Peter Dalton;[20] and Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate Stewart.[21]
Another change in the revived era is the depiction of many companions' pre-Doctor lives, particularly their childhoods; no companion was so depicted in the classic era. Companions Rose Tyler,[22] Mickey Smith,[23] Adelaide Brooke,[24] Amy Pond,[25] Rory Williams,[26] River Song[27] and Clara Oswald[28] have all been portrayed in their youths by juvenile actors on Doctor Who; the pre-companionship lives of the Pond-Williams-Song family being particularly well-documented. Companions Jack Harkness[29] and Sarah Jane Smith[30] have also been depicted in their youths on their respective spin-off series.
Loss of a companion
In the original run of the show, companions were mostly written as leaving of their own accord, with only a few exceptions.[31] The first death of a regular companion was of Adric, in the 1982 serial Earthshock.[32] This is different in the revived era, with companions more often given tragic endings and the show exploring the theme of loss more.[31] Demaris Oxman makes further distinction of the way this theme is explored by different showrunners, arguing that companions in Steven Moffat's time as showrunner tended to have more tragic endings, while Russell T. Davies wrote departures closely tied to each companion's character.[32]
The impact of such losses has been explored within the show. For example, the loss of Amy and Rory Williams drives the Eleventh Doctor into solitude in Victorian London where he refuses to get involved in the world's affairs anymore.[33] Series 9 dealt with the Twelfth Doctor's growing fear over the potential of losing Clara Oswald.[nb 1] Her death in "Face the Raven" leads the Doctor to undertake extreme measures to undo her fate, as depicted in the Series 9 finale "Hell Bent". The impact of the death of his wife, River Song, is a subplot of both "The Husbands of River Song" and "The Return of Doctor Mysterio".
Steven Moffat, showrunner between 2010 and 2017, has stated that companion deaths are "wrong for Doctor Who", explaining that he does not believe the show should represent the "grittiness" of real life.[34]
Deaths
Several companions are shown to have died in the show's history:
- Katarina, killed in episode 4 of The Daleks' Master Plan when she opens the airlock of a spaceship after being taken hostage by a convict.
- Sara Kingdom is killed in episode 12 of The Daleks' Master Plan when she undergoes extreme ageing as a side effect of the First Doctor's activation of a Time Destructor device.[35]
- Adric dies at the end of Episode 4 of Earthshock while trying to prevent the explosion of a bomb-laden space freighter in Earth's atmosphere.
- Kamelion, an android companion, is destroyed by the Fifth Doctor in Episode 4 of Planet of Fire as an act of mercy after Kamelion is taken over by the Master and asks the Doctor to destroy him.
- K9 Mark III sacrifices himself in "School Reunion" to save the Doctor and his friends from a group of aliens. The subsequent K-9 Mark IV that the Doctor leaves with Sarah Jane tells her that the Mark III's files have been transferred to the new machine.
- Astrid Peth sacrifices herself to kill Max Capricorn by driving him into a reactor core at the end of "Voyage of the Damned". The Tenth Doctor partially resurrects her and sends her atoms into space.
- Adelaide Brooke kills herself in "The Waters of Mars" to preserve a fixed point in time.
Others are implied (or said) to have died years after parting company with the Doctor:
- The Eleventh Doctor learns of the death of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in "The Wedding of River Song" via phone call, coinciding with the death of actor Nicholas Courtney.
- Sarah Jane Smith is confirmed to be dead by 2023 in "The Giggle" by the Fifteenth Doctor when talking to the Fourteenth Doctor about what they had lost, adding that they "loved her".
Mitigations
Not all companion deaths have been permanent. Several companions have been resurrected at some point in the series, including Jack Harkness, Rory Williams, Clara Oswald, and Bill Potts. Other companions died in alternate timelines or alternate lives. In Inferno, evil counterparts of Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, Liz Shaw, and John Benton died in the destruction of their universe's Earth.[36]
- In The Trial of a Time Lord Peri Brown is killed by King Yrcanos in Mindwarp after her brain is replaced by that of Kiv, a member of the Mentor race. In The Ultimate Foe, however, it is revealed that Peri had not been killed and had become Yrcanos's consort.
- Grace Holloway is killed by the Master, but revived by the TARDIS's link to the Eye of Harmony during the 1996 television movie.
- Jack Harkness is killed by Daleks, but is brought back to life and given immortality by Rose Tyler in "The Parting of the Ways". He died several times in Doctor Who and Torchwood, always returning to life soon afterwards. In "Last of the Time Lords" it is hinted that Harkness might become the Face of Boe, who dies peacefully in "Gridlock" after living for billions of years.
- River Song sacrifices herself in "Forest of the Dead" to save the Doctor's life, but he uploads a digital copy of her consciousness to the data core. River continues to appear in the series at earlier points in her life, and her post-death consciousness reappears in "The Name of the Doctor"
- Rory Williams is killed several times thought his run. First by the Silurian Restac at the end of "Cold Blood", sacrificing himself to protect the Doctor. He is consumed by a crack in time, which wipes him from existence. Rory reappears in "The Pandorica Opens" as an Auton duplicate created from Amy Pond's memories, and is restored to his old life with the rest of the universe in "The Big Bang". He is shown dying of old age in "The Angels Take Manhattan", in front of himself, Amy Pond, the Eleventh Doctor and his daughter River Song. He and Amy negate the timeline by jumping off a roof, preventing him from being sent further back in time to die of old age downstairs. This kills them both, but they are resurrected when the timeline where they died is negated.[37]
- Amy and Rory are touched by a Weeping Angel and become stuck in Manhattan in "The Angels Take Manhattan". They then die of old age.[38]
- An older version of Amy is erased from existence in "The Girl Who Waited" after helping the Doctor and Rory rescue a younger Amy. When the Doctor admits that both Amys cannot exist in the same timeline, the older Amy chooses to stay behind.
- Clara is killed during "Face the Raven" but resurrected by the Doctor in "Hell Bent".[38]
- Bill Potts is shot and killed by the colony ship's last crew member to halt the advance of the Cybermen in "World Enough and Time". She is converted into an original Mondasian Cyberman and, during "The Doctor Falls", is restored to human form.[38]
Spin-off media
Several TV companions have died in spin-off media:
- Liz Shaw dies in the 1997 Virgin New Adventures novel Eternity Weeps by Jim Mortimore, the victim of an extraterrestrial terraforming virus contracted while part of a UNIT team investigating an alien artefact on the Moon. This is contradicted by The Sarah Jane Adventures episode Death of the Doctor, which indicates that Liz Shaw is alive and working on the Moon in 2010; the novel is set in 2003.
- Ace is killed by an explosion in the comic storyline Ground Zero while a companion of the Seventh Doctor. This is also contradicted by the Sarah Jane Adventures storyline Death of the Doctor which indicates she is still alive in 2010, no longer travelling with the Doctor, and running a charity called ACE. Ace then appeared in 2022's The Power of the Doctor.
- Jamie McCrimmon dies an elderly man in the comic storyline The World Shapers.
- Adam Mitchell is killed by an explosion in the comic storyline Prisoners of Time, sacrificing himself to thwart the Master's attempt to destroy reality and saving all eleven Doctors and their companions.
- Leela dies long after Gallifrey is destroyed (it is implied that she survived the Time War) in a trilogy of Big Finish's Companion Chronicles stories, where she is held prisoner by an alien race called the Z'nai.
- In the 2020 web story Farewell, Sarah Jane, Sarah Jane Smith is said to have died.
List of companions on television
The "last serial" column only includes the last serial in which they appeared in a companion role and excludes minor roles, cameos, flashbacks, and so forth. Also, the table refers solely to adventures with the respective Doctor. Some companions who appear with two or more Doctors appear in separate tables.
First Doctor
| Companion | Actor | Seasons | First serial | Last serial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Susan Foreman | Carole Ann Ford | 1, 2, 1983 special | An Unearthly Child[nb 2] | "The Five Doctors"[nb 3] |
| Barbara Wright | Jacqueline Hill | 1, 2 | An Unearthly Child | The Chase |
| Ian Chesterton | William Russell | 1, 2 | An Unearthly Child | The Chase[nb 4] |
| Vicki | Maureen O'Brien | 2, 3 | The Rescue | The Myth Makers |
| Steven Taylor | Peter Purves | 2, 3 | The Chase | The Savages |
| Katarina | Adrienne Hill | 3 | The Myth Makers | The Daleks' Master Plan |
| Sara Kingdom[a] | Jean Marsh | 3 | The Daleks' Master Plan | |
| Dodo Chaplet | Jackie Lane | 3 | The Massacre | The War Machines |
| Polly | Anneke Wills | 3, 4 | The War Machines | The Tenth Planet[nb 5] |
| Ben Jackson | Michael Craze | 3, 4 | The War Machines | The Tenth Planet[nb 5] |
Second Doctor
| Companion | Actor | Seasons | First serial | Last serial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polly | Anneke Wills | 4 | The Power of the Daleks | The Faceless Ones |
| Ben Jackson | Michael Craze | 4 | The Power of the Daleks | The Faceless Ones |
| Jamie McCrimmon | Frazer Hines[nb 6] | 4, 5, 6, 22 | The Highlanders | The Two Doctors[nb 7][nb 8] |
| Victoria Waterfield | Deborah Watling | 4, 5 | The Evil of the Daleks | Fury from the Deep |
| Zoe Heriot | Wendy Padbury | 5, 6 | The Wheel in Space | The War Games[nb 8] |
| Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart | Nicholas Courtney | 1983 special | "The Five Doctors"[nb 9] | |
Third Doctor
The final three listed characters, all associated with UNIT during the Third Doctor's exile to Earth, are sometimes considered his companions despite appearing irregularly during his tenure.[46][47]