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In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, a companion refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. The term is primarily used in Doctor Who fandom; these characters are often referred to in the press as "assistants". The term was rarely used in the classic series (1963–1989), while the revived series (2005–) makes more frequent use of the term. More often, however, the Doctor merely introduces his fellow leads as his "friends". In the 2005 series, the Ninth Doctor states that he "employed Rose Tyler as companion".
The Doctor usually travels with one to three companions. In most Doctor Who stories, the companion provides a surrogate with whom the audience can identify, and furthers the story by asking questions and getting into trouble, or by helping or rescuing the Doctor. Most of the Doctor's companions have been human, with some exceptions such as Kamelion, Nyssa, Adric, Turlough, Astrid and Romana. Of the non-human companions, all apart from K-9 are (or were) members of humanoid races. To date, Romana and Susan are the only members of the Doctor's own race to travel with him.
The lives of the companions after their travels with the Doctor are rarely explored within the series. Three companions had memories of their adventures erased: Jamie and Zoe, by the Time Lords, and Donna, by the Doctor himself. Jamie and Zoe's only remaining memories were their first encounters with the Doctor whilst Donna had all memory of the Doctor erased, being re-introduced to him later as only "John Smith" who was visiting her grandfather Wilfred Mott. Some characters, specifically Susan, Jamie, Harry and Sarah Jane (and K-9 Mark III), have guest-starred in later stories. Zoe, Liz, Adric, Tegan, Nyssa, Turlough and Kamelion have reappeared in cameo roles, played by the original actors rather than in stock footage or still photos (e.g. Romana's later appearance in The Five Doctors).
On occasion, characters have functioned as companions to series villain the Master, among them Chang Lee and the Master's wife, Lucy Saxon, whom he calls his "faithful companion".
History
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When Doctor Who was created, 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. 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.
Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan Foreman, became unhappy with the lack of development for her character, and chose to leave in its 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. Similarly, when Ian and Barbara left, the "action hero" position was filled by astronaut Steven Taylor. 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 organization 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 1971 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 episodes of Doctor Who rarely diverged. The "heroic male" type occasionally returned (for example, Harry Sullivan, Adric and Jack Harkness), but the single female companion was Doctor Who's staple.
Definition
There is no formal definition of what makes a companion. The Guardian muses in its OrganGrinder blog, "How do you qualify? Name in the opening credits, regular trips in the Tardis?" The definition of who is and is not a companion becomes less clear in the newer series. The Doctor's primary companion (first Rose Tyler, then Martha Jones, then Donna Noble) fulfilled a distinct dramatic role, more significant than other, less-present 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" and the "first black assistant", despite the presence of Mickey Smith in the previous season—including several episodes in which he was invited to travel in the TARDIS with the Doctor.
In the first two seasons of the renewed series, the only actor portraying a companion to be credited in the opening title sequence was Billie Piper. In subsequent seasons, Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate are credited in all episodes in which they appear, and in the third series, John Barrowman also appears in the title credits. Agyeman was also credited for her appearances in three episodes of series four. Piper, Agyeman, Barrowman and Elisabeth Sladen appeared in the sequence along with Tennant and Tate in the season finale of series four. The characters played by these actors are listed as companions on the BBC Website for Doctor Who (series 4). Noel Clarke, who acted as a companion in the last episode and is listed as such on the website was not credited in this way. John Simm was credited in the opening title sequence of "The End of Time", Parts One and Two despite portraying one of the episode's antagonists, The Master, and not a companion.
Companions in the new series 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", which featured the return of Rose, Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane and Mickey. This tendency, and the increase in "one-off" companions like Astrid Peth or Jackson Lake, has further obscured the matter of who is and is not a companion.
Role
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Companions have assumed a variety of roles in Doctor Who, as involuntary passengers, as assistants per se (particularly Liz Shaw), as disciples, as friends, and as fellow adventurers.
The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home, or find new causes—or loves—on worlds they have visited. Some companions (notably Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Adric and Kamelion) have died during the course of the series.
Most companions travel in the TARDIS with the Doctor for more than one adventure, although there are exceptions. Sometimes a guest character will take a role in the story similar to that of a companion, such as photographer Isobel Watkins who plays a significant role in "The Invasion" in the classic series, or Lynda in "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways" in the revived series.
Despite the fact that the majority of the Doctor's companions are young, attractive females, the production team for the 1963–1989 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). However, that has not prevented fans from speculating about possible romantic involvements, most notably between the Fourth Doctor and the Time Lady Romana (whose actors, Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, shared a romance and brief marriage). The taboo was controversially 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 companions Rose, Jack, Mickey (on the forehead), Martha, Astrid and Donna, although each instance not in a romantic context (see also "The Doctor and romance").
Previous companions have reappeared in the series, usually for anniversary specials. One former companion, Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen), together with the robotic dog K-9, appeared in one episode of the 2006 series more than twenty years after their last appearances in the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors (1983). The character of Sarah Jane also heads up a Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. Another companion, Captain Jack Harkness, appears in the spin-off programme Torchwood.
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 (or six, including a brief appearance as a child in "Father's Day"). 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.
Sarah Jane Smith is the only classic companion to have been asked to travel again by the Doctor, 30 years later.
List of television companions
First Doctor
- Susan travelled with the Doctor prior to the events of "An Unearthly Child".
- ^ The Doctor takes Barbara and Ian from their time against their will in "An Unearthly Child".
- Vicki joins the TARDIS crew at the end of her first story, The Rescue.
- Unbeknown to the Doctor and Vicki, Steven took refuge in the TARDIS during the events of "The Planet of Decision" and is not discovered by them until "The Watcher".
- Steven left the Doctor in "Bell of Doom", episode four of The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, but returned to him shortly afterwards in the same episode.
- Sara Kingdom is not included in all lists of companions - the BBC's list of companions at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/ excludes her.
Second Doctor
Companion | Actor/Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Second Doctor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Polly | Anneke Wills | 4 | The Power of the Daleks | The Faceless Ones | 6 |
Ben Jackson | Michael Craze | 4 | The Power of the Daleks | The Faceless Ones | 6 |
Jamie McCrimmon | Frazer Hines Hamish Wilson |
4–6 | The Highlanders | The War Games | 20 |
Victoria Waterfield | Deborah Watling | 4–5 | The Evil of the Daleks | Fury from the Deep | 7 |
Zoe Heriot | Wendy Padbury | 5–6 | The Wheel in Space | The War Games | 8 |
- Jamie was played by Hamish Wilson in The Mind Robber episodes 2 and 3.
- Jamie later appears in the Sixth Doctor-era story The Two Doctors, once more alongside the Second Doctor.
Third Doctor
Companion | Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Third Doctor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liz Shaw | Caroline John | 7 | Spearhead from Space | Inferno | 4 |
Jo Grant | Katy Manning | 8–10 | Terror of the Autons | The Green Death | 15 |
Sarah Jane Smith | Elisabeth Sladen | 11 | The Time Warrior | Planet of the Spiders | 5 |
- Sarah Jane Smith has had three subsequent appearances with the Tenth Doctor, as well as her own spin-off series K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Fourth Doctor
Companion | Actor/Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Fourth Doctor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sarah Jane Smith | Elisabeth Sladen | 12–14 | Robot | The Hand of Fear | 13 |
Harry Sullivan | Ian Marter | 12–13 | Robot | Terror of the Zygons | 7 (6 as companion) |
Leela | Louise Jameson | 14–15 | The Face of Evil | The Invasion of Time | 9 |
K-9 | voice of John Leeson | 15 | The Invisible Enemy | The Invasion of Time | 5 |
K-9 Mark II | voice of John Leeson voice of David Brierley |
15–18 | The Ribos Operation | Warriors' Gate | 17 |
Romana | Mary Tamm | 16 | The Ribos Operation | The Armageddon Factor | 6 |
Romana II | Lalla Ward | 17–18 | Destiny of the Daleks | Warriors' Gate | 11 |
Adric | Matthew Waterhouse | 18 | Full Circle | Logopolis | 5 |
Nyssa | Sarah Sutton | 18 | The Keeper of Traken | Logopolis | 2 |
Tegan Jovanka | Janet Fielding | 18 | Logopolis | Logopolis | 1 |
- Harry also appears in The Android Invasion.
- K-9 was voiced by Brierley in season 17, explained away as laryngitis within the programme.
- Subsequent models of K-9 have made appearances with Sarah Jane Smith in various episodes, due to the Doctor's giving Sarah Jane a version of K-9 in the aborted spin-off K-9 and Company. He has also appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures. K-9 is due to be the subject of his own spin-off, produced separate from the BBC, entitled simply K-9.
Fifth Doctor
Companion | Actor/Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Fifth Doctor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adric | Matthew Waterhouse | 19 | Castrovalva | Earthshock | 8 (6 as companion) |
Nyssa | Sarah Sutton | 19–20 | Castrovalva | Terminus | 12 (11 as companion) |
Tegan Jovanka | Janet Fielding | 19–21 | Castrovalva | Resurrection of the Daleks | 19 (18 as companion) |
Vislor Turlough | Mark Strickson | 20–21 | Mawdryn Undead | Planet of Fire | 11 (10 as companion) |
Kamelion | voice of Gerald Flood | 20–21 | The King's Demons | Planet of Fire | 3 (2 as companion) |
Peri Brown | Nicola Bryant | 21 | Planet of Fire | The Caves of Androzani | 2 |
- also appears in Time-Flight
- ^ also appears inThe Caves of Androzani
- Without explanation in the stories, Kamelion is not featured in the five serials between his first and last stories (although he does appear in deleted scenes from The Awakening).
Sixth Doctor
Companion | Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Sixth Doctor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peri Brown | Nicola Bryant | 21–23 | The Twin Dilemma | The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp | 9 |
Melanie "Mel" Bush | Bonnie Langford | 23 | The Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids | The Trial of a Timelord: The Ultimate Foe | 2 |
- The series never establishes how the Doctor first meets Mel; she just appears mid-way through The Trial of a Time Lord. The Doctor's first meeting with Mel is recounted in the Past Doctor Adventures novel Business Unusual.
Seventh Doctor
Companion | Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Seventh Doctor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Melanie "Mel" Bush | Bonnie Langford | 24 | Time and the Rani | Dragonfire | 4 |
Ace | Sophie Aldred | 24–26 | Dragonfire | Survival | 9 |
- Ace's fate is unknown past Survival and her appearance in Dimensions in Time, as she does not appear in the following story, the 1996 film.
Eighth Doctor
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Dr. Grace Holloway | Daphne Ashbrook | Television movie | 1996 | Doctor Who | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Marie McFarlen | Julie Wilson Nimmo | 8th Doctor Adventures: series 1 | 2010/2011 | The Virus - The great time war part 2 |
25 Ninth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
Animated serials
Eleventh Doctor
Future CompanionRiver Song from the Tenth Doctor episodes "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead" is an archaeologist who states that she has travelled with the Doctor in his relative future. Doctor Who Confidential referred to her as a "companion-to-come". DeathsDuring the course of the show's history, companions have, on rare occasion, been killed while serving with the Doctor.
Additional companions have died while serving with the Doctor in the various spin-off media (the canonicity of which is unclear); this has included Jamie McCrimmon and Ace, both of whom were killed off in the Doctor Who comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine. McCrimmon is killed in a Grant Morrison-written strip entitled The World Shapers, and Ace in Ground Zero. Additional spin-off works have also postulated the final fates of some former companions in the years following their travels with the Doctor, such as Dodo Chaplet, whose death is indicated in the novel Who Killed Kennedy and Liz Shaw in the novel Eternity Weeps. Presumed
In the Big Finish audio production The Gathering, Tegan Jovanka is described as having a terminal illness, though her actual death is not depicted. Mitigated
Miscellaneous notes
Vicki, Polly, Mel and Ace are never given surnames on-screen. Mel Bush is fully named in production notes and promotional material, while Vicki Pallister and Dorothy McShane (Ace) gained surnames in spinoff novels. Polly's intended surname of Wright was rejected for fear of confusion with previous companion Barbara Wright. The production team had intended that, if revealed in the course of a story, Ace would either have the last name Gale (an allusion to the movie version of The Wizard of Oz) or whatever would suit the story. Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 Mark III returned in the 2006 series episode "School Reunion". She later reappears and acts as a companion in The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. Sarah Jane has appeared in three television series, namely Doctor Who, K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures. K-9 Mark III has appeared in two, (K-9 and Company and Doctor Who), as have K-9 Mark IV (Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures), and Captain Jack and Martha (Doctor Who and Torchwood). Nine companions have been with the Doctor during his regeneration:
During the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration in "The Stolen Earth", Rose, Jack and Donna were present. However, The Doctor managed to avoid his regeneration using his spare hand. He forced the regeneration energy into the hand. Donna then touched it and became The 'DoctorDonna'. Spin-off materialMain article: List of companions in Doctor Who spin-offsSee alsoReferences
External links
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