Companion (Doctor Who)

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The term companion, in Doctor Who, describes a character who travels with the Doctor, usually over more than one serial, usually sharing in the Doctor's adventures. It's a term mostly used in fandom, to describe roles that are usually defined at the production level, by casting decisions. Although the actors who play companions share a similar status in relation to the series' lead, the characters themselves have varying relationships to the Doctor.

Notes on Doctor Who companions

The media, especially in Britain, often refers to the Doctor's companions as his assistants, which denotes a particular kind of relationship and hierarchy that is only occasionally correct within the story: during the Third Doctor's time working with U.N.I.T., the characters of Liz Shaw and Jo Grant were officially recruited as his assistants, and later, during the Fourth Doctor's run, Romana was initially assigned by the White Guardian to assist the Doctor for a particular task, but most of the Doctor's companions do not "sign up" as his assistants. They are travelling companions, most of whom he simply considers his friends. Sometimes they are stowaways, sometimes they are people he's trying to return to their homes, and sometimes they're people who have no other home than the Tardis. The subaltern position they may occupy in relation to the Doctor is a result of the show's narrative priorities or of the Doctor's greater competence at dealing with the situations they encounter.

These narrative priorities include the Doctor's role as hero or protagonist of the story (or, at least, as the title character), and the companion's role as the audience's stand-in, who usually ends up asking questions in order to introduce exposition.

The role of the Doctor's companion is gendered: although there have been several male companions, the majority of Doctor Who companions are female, and human, and the Time Lord/human hierarchy is reinscribed as a male/female hierarchy as well. (The Doctor is at times alternately patronising and egalitarian towards his companions, depending on the amount of patriarchal mores reflected in the show's writing, and/or on the political situation that he and his companions encounter.)

In the 2005 series, the Doctor-companion relationship has become tinged with romantic and/or sexual overtones that the original series mostly avoided, except in subtext.

Statistics

Of the 35 companions listed below (counting Romana as one character, and both K-9 models as one also):

Gender
  • 23 are female
  • 10 are male
  • 2 are robots (K-9, Kamelion), which may be counted as male.
Species
  • 7 are non-human (aliens or robots)
  • 28 are human (from various eras)
Sex and race (humans)

Of the human characters:

  • 20 are female
  • 8 are male

and

  • 26 are White
  • 2 are Black (one male, one female)
Non-humans...

The non-human characters are all played by White people.

  • 3 are female
  • 2 are male
  • 2 are (male) robots

List of companions to...

The First Doctor

Second Doctor

Third Doctor

Fourth Doctor

  • Sarah Jane Smith (Seasons 12–14)
  • Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) (Seasons 12–13)
  • Leela (Louise Jameson) (Seasons 14–15)
  • K-9 Mark I (voice of John Leeson) (Season 15)
  • K-9 Mark II (voice of John Leeson [Seasons 16 and 18]), voice of David Brierley [Season 17])
  • Romana (Mary Tamm [Season 16]; Lalla Ward [Seasons 17–18])
  • Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) (Season 18)
  • Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) (Season 18)
  • Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) (Season 18)

Fifth Doctor

  • Adric (Season 19)
  • Nyssa (Seasons 19–20)
  • Tegan Jovanka (Seasons 19–21)
  • Turlough (Mark Strickson) (Seasons 20–21)
  • Kamelion (voice of Gerald Flood) (Seasons 20, 21)
  • Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant) (Season 21)

Sixth Doctor

Seventh Doctor

  • Mel Bush (Season 24)
  • Ace (Sophie Aldred) (Seasons 24–26)

Eighth Doctor

Ninth Doctor

Tenth Doctor


Special mentions

Some other Doctor Who characters do not bear the "official" title of companions, but have had recurring roles on the series as the Doctor's friends, or travelled with the Doctor, or worked with him. The character of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stuart (played by Nicholas Courtney), in particular, is an interesting case: he has appeared in stories with five of the original seven Doctors, but as a military officer working for U.N.I.T., who actually employed the Doctor during his exile on Earth in his third incarnation.

Chang Lee (played by Yee Jee Tso), an Asian American human male character who appeared in the TV movie, is sometimes considered a companion, albeit, perhaps more accurately, of the Master.

Jackie Tyler (played by Camille Coduri), Rose Tyler's mother, is not usually considered a companion, but she stood in for Rose during one episode, wherein she also travelled briefly in the Tardis.

External Links

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