Companion (Doctor Who)

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 the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as an audience surrogate. He or she provides the lens through which the viewer is introduced to the series. The companion character often furthers the story by asking questions and getting into trouble, or 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. Until the modern revival of the series in 2005, the term was rarely used on-screen. The Doctor also refers to the show's other leads as his "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. 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 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 (such as Sergeant Benton). 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, Vislor Turlough, Jack Harkness, and Rory Williams), but the single female companion was Doctor Who's staple.

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. In the event, the Fourth Doctor part went to 40-year-old Tom Baker, and the part of Harry, no longer required for the action role, was reduced.

In the final season for the Fourth Doctor, he acquired three companions (Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa), and this situation continued under the Fifth Doctor for a while. Adric was written out by the unusual method within the series of being "killed off". By the Sixth Doctor, the Doctor was down to a single companion again.

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. For instance, Stephen Brook in The Guardian newspaper's Organgrinder blog discounted Michelle Ryan as a likely next companion but said that "what constitutes a Doctor Who companion is no longer clear" 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" and the "first black assistant", despite the presence of Mickey Smith in the previous season—including several episodes in which he travelled in the TARDIS with the Doctor. Similarly, some characters who appear to qualify as companions are never awarded the title, as in the case of Canton Delaware, who assisted the Doctor for several weeks, traveled in the TARDIS, and was even invited to witness the Eleventh Doctor's supposed death.

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. In subsequent series, Freema Agyeman, and Catherine Tate are credited in all episodes in which they appear. In the third series, John Barrowman receives a title credit for his return to the show. Series Four gave Agyeman, Piper, Barrowman, and Elisabeth Sladen title billing for each of their reappearances. Noel Clarke reprised his role in the Series Four finale; although listed as a companion alongside the other actors on the BBC Doctor Who website, 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.

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", which features the returns of Rose, Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane, and Mickey. 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, and when.

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.

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 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). 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 many of his companions, including Rose and Jack, although each instance was not necessarily in a romantic context (see also "The Doctor and romance"). Donna Noble vehemently denied a sexual interest in the Doctor when he invited her to join him and explained, "I just want a mate," which she misheard as "I just want to mate." 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. The Eleventh Doctor romantically kissed Amy and Rory's daughter, sporadic companion River Song, jokingly proposed marriage to her, and soon married her.

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 guest appearances of numerous companions in both "The Five Doctors", the non-canonical "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 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 (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. 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 end of the sixth series, Sarah Jane Smith is the only classic era companion to have travelled again with the Doctor in the revived series, and one of two to have done so in the revived era. She 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 Rose's mother 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 in "The Wedding of River Song" only to learn of the Brigadier's death months earlier.

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. Exceptions include the very brief portrayals of Susan's future husband David Campbell; Dodo Chaplet's ancestor Anne Chaplet; Victoria Waterfield's father Edward; Jo Grant's future husband Prof. Clifford Jones; the companions' various co-workers at UNIT; Leela's father Sole & future husband or lover Andred; Tegan Jovanka's aunt Vanessa, maternal grandfather Andrew Verney, & cousin Colin Frazer; Nyssa's father Tremas & step-mother Kassia; Vislor Turlough's maths teacher retired Brig. Lethbridge-Stewart; Peri Brown's step-father Prof. Howard Foster, & future husband King Yrcanos; Ace McShane's ex-lover Sabalom Glitz, maternal grandmother Kathleen Dudman, infant mother Audrey Dudman, & a photograph of her maternal grandfather Frank Dudman); and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's second wife Doris. Classic era spin-off media additionally introduced Sarah Jane Smith's aunt Lavina Smith (who had been an unseen character in the original series) & foster brother Brendan Richards, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate (who would later become a recurring guest in the revived series) and grandson Gordon.

Conversely, families and friends of most companions in the revived era are extensively and continually 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; and former companions Mickey Smith and Martha Jones who married subsequent to their companionship). 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. The families of some classic-era companions too have been depicted in the revived era, such as Jo Grant (n/k/a Jo Jones)'s grandson Santiago Jones; and Sarah Jane Smith's parents, adopted son Luke Smith, adopted daughter Sky Smith, and alternate timeline fiancé Peter Dalton; and Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate Stewart.

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, aside from John Benton being temporarily 'de-aged' by The Master). Companions Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Adelaide Brooke, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song and Clara Oswald 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 and Sarah Jane Smith have also been depicted in their youths on their respective spin-off series. In addition to having been de-aged once in the classic era, John Benton was the first companion whose childhood was chronicled.

A recurring theme of the new series is the toll the loss of companions takes on the Doctor. While he would more or less easily deal with his companions' departures in the classic series, the new series shows the Doctor having a harder time recovering when a companion leaves him, especially when they do so under tragic circumstances. After losing Donna Noble, the Tenth Doctor refused to travel with a companion until after his regeneration, unable to cope with them leaving anymore. Later, the losses of Amy and Rory Williams drive the Eleventh Doctor into a deep depression, with him retreating to Victorian London where he refuses to get involved in the world's affairs anymore. Additionally, "Let's Kill Hitler" shows the Doctor's continuing guilt in relation to several past companions.

List of companions

The 'last serial' column only includes the last serial in which he or she 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/Actress	Seasons	First serial	Last serial	Appearances with the First Doctor
Susan Foreman	Carole Ann Ford	1–2, 1983 Special	An Unearthly Child	The Five Doctors	11
Barbara Wright	Jacqueline Hill	1–2	An Unearthly Child	The Chase	16
Ian Chesterton	William Russell	1–2	An Unearthly Child	The Chase	16
Vicki	Maureen O'Brien	2–3	The Rescue	The Myth Makers	9
Steven Taylor	Peter Purves	2–3	The Chase	The Savages	10
Katarina	Adrienne Hill	3	The Myth Makers	The Daleks' Master Plan	2
Sara Kingdom	Jean Marsh	3	The Daleks' Master Plan	The Daleks' Master Plan	1
Dodo Chaplet	Jackie Lane	3	The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve	The War Machines	6
Polly	Anneke Wills	3–4	The War Machines	The Tenth Planet	3
Ben Jackson	Michael Craze	3–4	The War Machines	The Tenth Planet	3

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, 22	The Highlanders	The Two Doctors	21 (20 as companion)
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	9 (8 as companion)
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart	Nicholas Courtney	1983 Special	The Five Doctors	The Five Doctors	3 (1 as companion)

Third Doctor

Companion	Actress	Seasons	First serial	Last serial	Appearances with the Third Doctor
Liz Shaw	Caroline John	7	Spearhead from Space	Inferno	5 (4 as companion)
Jo Grant	Katy Manning	8–10	Terror of the Autons	The Green Death	15
Sarah Jane Smith	Elisabeth Sladen	11, 1983 Special	The Time Warrior	The Five Doctors	6

UNIT

The following three characters, all associated with UNIT during the Third Doctor's exile to Earth, are sometimes considered his companions despite appearing irregularly during his tenure.

Character	Actor	Seasons	First appearance	Last appearance	Appearances with the Third Doctor
Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart	Nicholas Courtney	7–11	Spearhead from Space	Planet of the Spiders	16
Sergeant John Benton	John Levene	7–11	The Ambassadors of Death	Planet of the Spiders	12
Captain Mike Yates	Richard Franklin	8–11	Terror of the Autons	Planet of the Spiders	9

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 Mark I	John Leeson (voice)	15	The Invisible Enemy	The Invasion of Time	4
K-9 Mark II	John Leeson David Brierley (voices)	16, 18 17	The Ribos Operation The Creature from the Pit	Warriors' Gate The Horns of Nimon	10 3
Romana	Mary Tamm Lalla Ward	16 17–18, 1983 Special	The Ribos Operation Destiny of the Daleks	The Armageddon Factor Warriors' Gate	6 12
Adric	Matthew Waterhouse	18	Full Circle	Logopolis	5
Tegan Jovanka	Janet Fielding	18	Logopolis	Logopolis	1
Nyssa	Sarah Sutton	18	Logopolis	Logopolis	2 (1 as companion)

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)
Tegan Jovanka	Janet Fielding	19–21	Castrovalva	Resurrection of the Daleks	19 (18 as companion)
Nyssa	Sarah Sutton	19–20	Castrovalva	Terminus	12 (11 as companion)
Vislor Turlough	Mark Strickson	20–21	Mawdryn Undead	Planet of Fire	11 (10 as companion)
Kamelion	Gerald Flood (voice)	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

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 Bush	Bonnie Langford	23	The Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids	The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe	2

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

Eighth Doctor

Companion	Actress	Story	Appearances with the Eighth Doctor
Grace Holloway	Daphne Ashbrook	Doctor Who	1

Ninth Doctor

Companion	Actor/Actress	Series	First episode	Last episode	Appearances with the Ninth Doctor
Rose Tyler	Billie Piper	1	"Rose"	"The Parting of the Ways"	13
Adam Mitchell	Bruno Langley	1	"Dalek"	"The Long Game"	2
Jack Harkness	John Barrowman	1	"The Empty Child"	"The Parting of the Ways"	5

Tenth Doctor

Companion	Actor/Actress	Series	First episode	Last episode	Appearances with the Tenth Doctor
Rose Tyler	Billie Piper	2, 4	"The Christmas Invasion"	"Journey's End"	21 (17 as companion)
Mickey Smith	Noel Clarke	2, 4	"School Reunion"	"Journey's End"	10 (5 as companion)
Donna Noble	Catherine Tate	2006 Special, 4	"The Runaway Bride"	"Journey's End"	16 (14 as companion)
Martha Jones	Freema Agyeman	3, 4	"Smith and Jones"	"Journey's End"	19 (18 as companion)
Captain Jack Harkness	John Barrowman	3, 4	"Utopia"	"Journey's End"	6 (5 as companion)
Astrid Peth	Kylie Minogue	2007 Special	"Voyage of the Damned"	"Voyage of the Damned"	1
Sarah Jane Smith	Elisabeth Sladen	4	"The Stolen Earth"	"Journey's End"	4 (2 as companion)
Jackson Lake	David Morrissey	2008–10 Specials	"The Next Doctor"	"The Next Doctor"	1
Lady Christina de Souza	Michelle Ryan	2008–10 Specials	"Planet of the Dead"	"Planet of the Dead"	1
Adelaide Brooke	Lindsay Duncan	2008–10 Specials	"The Waters of Mars"	"The Waters of Mars"	1
Wilfred Mott	Bernard Cribbins	2008–10 Specials	The End of Time	The End of Time	8 (1 as companion)

Eleventh Doctor

Companion	Actor/Actress	Series	First episode	Last episode	Appearances with the Eleventh Doctor
Amy Pond	Karen Gillan	5–7	"The Eleventh Hour"	"The Angels Take Manhattan"	33 (31 as companion)
Rory Williams	Arthur Darvill	5–7	"The Vampires of Venice"	"The Angels Take Manhattan"	27 (24 as companion)
River Song	Alex Kingston	6	"The Impossible Astronaut"	"The Wedding of River Song"	12 (5 as companion)
Craig Owens	James Corden	6	"Closing Time"	"Closing Time"	2 (1 as companion)
Clara Oswald	Jenna Coleman	7–2013 Specials	"The Snowmen"	"The Time of the Doctor"	12 (11 as companion)

Twelfth Doctor

Companion	Actor/Actress	Series	First episode	Last episode	Appearances with the Twelfth Doctor
Clara Oswald	Jenna Coleman	8–9	"Deep Breath"	"Hell Bent"	25 (24 as companion)

List of spin-off companions

Main article: List of companions in Doctor Who spin-offs

Deaths of companions

A few of the companions have died during the course of the series. Katarina sacrificed herself by opening her airlock in order to save the others from the mad fugitive Kirksen; she blew herself and Kirksen into the vacuum of space. In the same serial, Sara Kingdom was rapidly aged to dust by a Time Destructor. While Adric attempted to divert a spaceship from crashing into Earth, a Cyberman destroyed the controls, and they hurtled into the future site of Chicxulub on the Yucatán Peninsula circa 66 million BCE, thereby creating the K-Pg extinction event, fulfilling the Silurians' prophecy, and facilitating the evolution of mammals, ultimately including humanity. The android Kamelion, after coming under the Master's control, convinced the Doctor to destroy him, which the Doctor did with the Master's tissue compression eliminator, suddenly shrinking him to a small, irreparably broken toy. Astrid Peth saved the passengers of the interstellar space liner RMS Titanic, and the residents of greater London, by driving a forklift into the villain Max Capricorn and into the ship's engines. Before River Song's formal companionship began, she sacrificed herself in order to save those trapped in the Library's computer servers' simulations. After the Tenth Doctor saved Adelaide Brooke and her crew from an intelligent virus, Adelaide killed herself with her service pistol in order to restore the timeline such that her granddaughter will explore the galaxy as originally destined. Rory Williams, having previously died and returned from the dead several times in various ways, is touched by a Weeping Angel in 2012 and sent back in time. With the encouragement of her then-living daughter, River Song, and against the Doctor's pleas, Amy Pond allows herself to be touched by a Weeping Angel in 2012 in the hope of being reunited with her husband Rory Williams in the past. In fighting the Ice Governess in the final hour of Christmas Eve 1892, a Victorian era incarnation of Clara Oswald fell off of the cloud on which the TARDIS was parked, plummeting to the ground.

Not all companion deaths have been permanent however. K-9 Mark III returned as K-9 Mark IV when the Doctor transferred the contents of his memory into the new hardware. Jack Harkness invariably resurrects after each death, having been made immortal by Rose Tyler in "The Parting of the Ways"; Rory Williams suffered several deaths, each of which was negated by alternate timelines, paradoxes, resurrection by advanced alien medicine, or the rebooting of the universe; Clara Oswald was seen to have died in Face the Raven, but is revealed to have had her time stream frozen by the Time Lords a split-second before her death, in subsequent episode Hell Bent. Since her time stream has been frozen, she is not technically alive and does not age or have a pulse. After her departure as a companion from the Twelfth Doctor, she is seen travelling with Ashildr in a stolen TARDIS.

Other companions also died in alternate timelines or alternate lives. Brigade Leader Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, Section Leader Liz Shaw, and Platoon Leader John Benton all died in the destruction of their universe's Earth. Sarah Jane Smith, her son Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, & Clyde Langer perished whilst trying to stop the Plasmavore and Judoon in Royal Hope Hospital on the Moon in "Turn Left"'s alternative timeline of the events of "Smith and Jones". In the same story, Martha Jones suffocated after giving up her oxygen to classmate/co-worker Oliver Morgenstern while on the Moon. Donna Noble killed herself in order to cause a traffic jam and thus divert her younger self into turning left; she thereby restored the timeline and negated the deaths of Sarah Jane, Martha, and the children. Teenaged Sarah Jane Smith also died after falling from a pier in place of her friend, Andrea Yates; but Maria Jackson convinced adult Yates to correct the timeline, thus restoring Sarah Jane to life. After surviving decades in an alien hospice that was deadly to humans, Amy Pond compelled husband Rory Williams to lock her out of the TARDIS in order to protect her younger self and allow the latter to have the life with Rory that the former missed. Amy and Rory jointly jumped off of a high-rise in New York on a hunch that doing so would create a paradox and deliver themselves from that timeline.

Several other companions have died subsequent to their companionships. Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's death months earlier (coinciding with that of his actor, Nicholas Courtney) was revealed in "The Wedding of River Song", and he was later remembered fondly by his daughter and the Eleventh Doctor. Harry Sullivan's death was implied by Sarah Jane Smith when he was the only former companion of whom she spoke in the past-tense and she remarked that she loved him. Since the series was relaunched in 2005, the Doctor believes himself to be the only Time Lord to have survived the Last Great Time War, indicating that he at least believes that Susan Foreman and Romana were killed, alongside K-9 Mark II—who remained with Romana and presumably perished with her, assuming that it had not already predeceased her—and Leela, who settled on Gallifrey, which was also believed to have being destroyed in the Last Great Time War. However, the fiftieth anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor" reveals that the planet never burned and is still safe, albeit in a pocket universe. In 2050, Sarah Jane Smith is implied to be dead. Vicki left the First Doctor circa 1250 BCE and passed into legend as Cressida.

List of companion deaths

During the course of the show's history, there have been a few occasions when companions have died while on adventures with the Doctor. They are:

• 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 aging as a side-effect of the First Doctor's activation of a "Time Destructor" device.
• Adric dies at the end of Episode 4 of Earthshock in 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Adelaide Brooke kills herself in "The Waters of Mars" to preserve a fixed point in time.
• Clara Oswald is killed by a Quantum Shade in "Face the Raven", However in "Hell Bent", the Doctor "extracts" Clara from the moment before her death using Time Lord technology, although her death is still a fixed point and must still happen.

Others are implied or stated to have died years after parting company with the doctor.

• Sarah Jane Smith alludes to the death of Harry Sullivan in the epilogue of "Death of the Doctor", in which she speaks of several former companions in the present tense, and Harry in the past tense.
• The Eleventh Doctor learns of the death of the Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in "The Wedding of River Song" via phone call, coinciding with the death of his actor, Nicholas Courtney.
• In "The Angels Take Manhattan", Rory Williams and Amy Pond are displaced in time by a Weeping Angel; Amy allows the Angel to send her back so she can be with Rory. A gravestone reveals they died, Amy at the age of 87 and Rory age 82.

Mitigated

• In The Trial of a Time Lord, Peri Brown is killed by King Yrcanos in Mindwarp, after her brain has been replaced by that of Kiv, a member of the Mentor race. However, in The Ultimate Foe it is revealed that Peri had not been killed and had instead become Yrcanos' consort.
• Grace Holloway is killed by the Master but revived by the TARDIS' 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 has since died numerous times in both Doctor Who and Torchwood, always returning to life soon after. In "Last of the Time Lords", it is implied that Harkness becomes 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 is able to upload 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".
• The alternative timeline from "Turn Left" sees the off-screen deaths of Sarah Jane Smith and Martha Jones (as well as Sarah Jane's own companions Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, and Clyde Langer), but these events are undone by Donna Noble's own self-sacrifice at the episode's climax.
• Sarah Jane Smith also dies as a teenager in an alternate timeline in "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?".
• Rory Williams is killed by the Eknodine in one of the dream worlds of "Amy's Choice". Realising it is her only chance of seeing Rory again, Amy Pond subsequently kills both herself and the Doctor in the same reality.
• Rory is also killed by the Silurian Restac at the conclusion of "Cold Blood", sacrificing himself to protect the Doctor. He is subsequently consumed by a crack in time, which wipes him from existence. He reappears in "The Pandorica Opens" as an Auton duplicate, created from Amy Pond's memories, and is restored to his old life along with the rest of the universe in "The Big Bang".
• Rory is shown dying of old age in "The Angels Take Manhattan", in front of himself, Amy, the Eleventh Doctor and his daughter River Song. He and Amy negate the timeline by jumping off of roof, thereby preventing him from being sent further back in time to die of old age downstairs. This kills both him and Amy, but both are resurrected as the timeline where they died is negated.
• An older version of Amy Pond is killed by a handbot in "The Girl Who Waited" as it gives her medicine it doesn't know will kill her, but her existence is erased when The Doctor, Amy, and Rory leave that timeline.

Spin-off media

A number of TV companions have died in spin off media as well as several spin off exclusives companions have died but this list is only consernd with tv companions

• 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. However, in the 2010 The Sarah Jane Adventures episode, Death of the Doctor, it is mentioned that Liz is stationed on UNIT's moon base.
• Ace is killed by an explosion in the comic storyline Ground Zero
• Jamie McCrimmon dies an elderly man in comic storyline The World Shapers.
• Adam Mitchell is killed by an explosion in the comic storyline Prisoners of Time.

See also

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

References

Notes

Bibliography

• David J. Howe, Mark Stammers Doctor Who: Companions 1995 Virgin Publishing 1852275820

External links

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

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