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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 [his] 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. Not all the companions begin their travels by choice. Ian and Barbara are abducted by the Doctor in An Unearthly Child. When Donna Noble was first introduced, she turned down the Doctor's offer to become a full companion, but encouraged him to find someone to act as his moral compass. She later got a rare, second chance to travel with the Doctor and wholeheartedly accepted, regretting her initial refusal.

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".^[1]

History

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^{[citation needed]} as an identification figure for younger viewers.

Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan Foreman, became unhappy with the lack of development for her character,^{[citation needed]} 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?"^[2] The definition of who is and is not a companion becomes less clear in the newer series.^[2] 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"^[3] and the "first black assistant",^[4] 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).^[5] 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.^[2]

Role

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).^[6] 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^{[citation needed]} 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

1. ^ Susan travelled with the Doctor prior to the events of "An Unearthly Child".
2. ^ ^{a b} The Doctor takes Barbara and Ian from their time against their will in "An Unearthly Child".
3. ^ Vicki joins the TARDIS crew at the end of her first story, The Rescue.
4. ^ 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".
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ 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

1. ^ Jamie was played by Hamish Wilson in The Mind Robber episodes 2 and 3.
2. ^ Jamie later appears in the Sixth Doctor-era story The Two Doctors, once more alongside the Second Doctor.

Third Doctor

1. ^ Sarah Jane Smith has had two subsequent appearances with the Tenth Doctor, most recently in "Journey's End", as well as her own spin-off series K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Fourth Doctor

1. ^ Harry also appears in The Android Invasion.
2. ^ K-9 was voiced by Brierley in season 17, explained away as laryngitis within the programme.
3. ^ 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

1. ^ also appears in Time-Flight
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} also appears inThe Caves of Androzani
3. ^ 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

1. ^ 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

1. ^ 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

Ninth Doctor

1. ^ Jack Harkness was the first openly LGBT (in this case pansexual) companion.

Tenth Doctor

1. ^ Lead-in to "The Christmas Invasion"
2. ^ Rose departs in "Doomsday" and makes brief cameo appearances in "Partners in Crime", "The Poison Sky" and "Midnight" before returning as a companion in "Turn Left". She also appears in The End of Time.
3. ^ Including the 2005 Children in Need scene and the three cameo appearances in series 4.
4. ^ Also appears in "School Reunion" and The End of Time.
5. ^ Mickey is introduced in "Rose" as Rose's boyfriend and recurs regularly before becoming a companion.
6. ^ Mickey departs in "The Age of Steel" before returning as a companion in "Journey's End", and also re-appears in "Army of Ghosts" / "Doomsday" and The End of Time.
7. ^ Introduced in "Doomsday"
8. ^ After initially refusing to join the Doctor on his travels in "The Runaway Bride", Donna returns as a regular companion from "Partners in Crime". She also appears in The End of Time.
9. ^ Martha departs in "Last of the Time Lords", but returns from "The Sontaran Stratagem" to "The Doctor's Daughter" and again for "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End". She supsequently appeared in a cameo role in The End of Time.
10. ^ Jack rejoins the Doctor in "Utopia" before departing again in "Last of the Time Lords", but returns again for "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End". He also makes a cameo appearance in The End of Time.
11. ^ Jackson Lake is the first of a series of one-off companions featured in the aftermath of "Journey's End".
12. ^ Like Jackson Lake and Christina da Souza, Adelaide is a one-off companion.
13. ^ Wilf is introduced in "Voyage of the Damned", and recurs throughout series 4 as Donna's grandfather.

Animated serials

Eleventh Doctor

Future Companion

River 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.^[30][31] Doctor Who Confidential referred to her as a "companion-to-come".^[32]

Deaths

During the course of the show's history, companions have, on rare occasion, been killed while serving with the Doctor.

• Katarina dies in "The Traitors", the fourth episode of The Daleks' Master Plan, when she opens the airlock of a spaceship and is blown out into space while trying to protect her friends from the insane Kirkson.^[33]

• Sara Kingdom dies in "Destruction of Time", the twelfth and final episode of The Daleks' Master Plan, when she undergoes extreme aging as an unfortunate side-effect of the First Doctor's activation of a "Time Destructor" device in order to defeat the Daleks.^[34]

• Adric dies at the end of Episode 4 of Earthshock in the explosion of a bomb-laden space freighter in Earth's atmosphere.^[35]

• 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.^[36]

• K-9 Mark III sacrifices himself in "School Reunion" in order 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.^[37]

• In an alternative timeline in "Turn Left", Sarah Jane Smith dies from oxygen starvation when the Royal Hope hospital is transported to the moon. (Martha Jones also dies of asphyxiation on the moon, and Donna Noble is hit by a truck later in the episode, but neither had met the Doctor in the alternative timeline.)^[38]

• At the end of "The Waters of Mars", Adelaide Brooke kills herself to preserve a fixed point in time.^[39]

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,^[40] and Ace in Ground Zero.^[41]

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^[42] and Liz Shaw in the novel Eternity Weeps.^[43]

Presumed

• Peri Brown is depicted in episode 8 of The Trial of a Time Lord as having been killed by King Yrcanos, upon his discovery that her brain has been replaced by that of Kiv, a member of the Mentor race.^[44] However, episode 14 of The Trial of a Time Lord revealed that Peri had not been killed and had instead become Yrcanos' consort, although it is not explained how the brain transplant was undone or whether it had actually occurred, as several incidents depicted in the arc are revealed to have been fabricated by the Valeyard.^[45]

• Susan Foreman and Romana are implied to have died by the events of "Rose" in the Doctor's personal chronology as the Doctor is said to be the last of the Time Lords following the events of the Time War. Susan is left on 22nd century Earth by the First Doctor in The Dalek Invasion of Earth after she falls in love with David Campbell, whilst Romana chooses to remain in E-space to help the Tharils at the end of Warrior's Gate.

• Leela is implied to have died by the 9th Doctor's claim that his whole planet is gone, as Leela stayed behind with K-9 Mark I on Gallifrey when she decided to marry Andred (though this version of K-9 will appear in the new K-9 spin-off TV series).

• Rose Tyler is declared dead in her original universe, though she is trapped in a parallel universe in "Doomsday" while trying to save the world from a war between Daleks, Cybermen and humans.^[46] The Doctor later tells Donna Noble that Rose is "so alive".^[47]

In the Big Finish audio production The Gathering, Tegan Jovanka is described as having a terminal illness, though her actual death is not depicted.^[48]

Mitigated

• Grace Holloway and Chang Lee are killed by the Master in the 1996 television movie, however they are revived by the TARDIS' link to the Eye of Harmony.^[49]

• Jack Harkness is killed by Daleks in "The Parting of the Ways" but is brought back to life, and inadvertently given immortality, by Rose Tyler during her "Bad Wolf" manifestation.^[50]

• Astrid Peth sacrifices herself in order 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 flying into space.

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:

• Ben and Polly - First Doctor to Second Doctor (The Tenth Planet)
• Sarah Jane (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart also present) - Third Doctor to Fourth Doctor (Planet of the Spiders)
• Adric, Nyssa and Tegan - Fourth Doctor to Fifth Doctor (Logopolis)
• Peri - Fifth Doctor to Sixth Doctor (The Caves of Androzani)
• Mel - Sixth Doctor to Seventh Doctor (Time and the Rani)
• Rose - Ninth Doctor to Tenth Doctor ("The Parting of the Ways")

During the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration in "The Stolen Earth", Rose, Jack and Donna were present.

Spin-off material

See also

BBC portal

• List of Doctor Who supporting characters
• List of companions in Doctor Who spin-offs

References

External links

• Guide to classic series companions on the BBC's Doctor Who site