Tonight's post is named after a text feature in my first-ever Doctor Who annual. It introduced me to the idea of companions that I hadn't seen on tv. As promised, here is the Top Ten of my all-time favourite Tardis travellers and assistants. But first, the Companions Who Couldn't:
Cr'izz's waspish manner irritated me and his religious maniac/serial killer thing was just too dark to pay off well. There's nothing naturalistic or authentic about Mel: she's a set of quirks hung on a bit of stunt casting. Dodo is my least favourite: a patronising working-class sketch, charmless and inconsistent.
Other Formats Companions
10) Majenta Pryce : representing decades of comic strips, Majenta was pragmatic, self-centred and amoral. She demonstrated that a conflicted companion can be a great foil for the Doctor. Runner-up Izzy S.
9) Lucie Miller: In four series of audio plays, funny yet tragic, stroppy Lucie developed a great rapport with the Eighth Doctor, full of gentle mockery. Runner-up Evelyn Smythe.
8) Bernice Summerfield: the first continuing prose companion, witty, vulnerable Benny has prospered in a variety of formats for two decades but is best remembered for the New Adventures. There'd be no River Song without Benny. Runner-up Fitz Kreiner.
New Series Companions: sorry, Martha. No runners-up. Taxi for Pond.
7) Rose Tyler: the Ninth Doctor's story is told through Rose. From a council flat milieu of chips and X-Factor, she was the first "real world" companion since the mid-70s.
6) Donna Noble: the shallow, irritating Bridezilla who became the Doctor's friend and equal; funny, sympathetic and mature.
Classic Series Companions: runners-up Jo Grant, Steven Taylor, Ace, Ben and Polly.
5) Romana I: cool, clever but unworldly, know-all Romana was not only a great beauty but a brilliant reversal from her predecessor...
4)Leela: naivete, instinct and cunning; part Tarzan, part Eliza Doolittle. An enfant sauvage, all other alien companions are in her shadow.
3) Jamie: alternately a Romantic hero and a comedy stooge, Jamie has a steeliness that makes his loyalty less needy than Rory or Ace.
2) Ian and Barbara (counts as one!) the original companions who fell out of the world in 1963 and starred in a gentle, understated and very British love story. With added monsters and life-or-death.
1) Sarah Jane Smith: who else could it be? From tweedy feminist to Andy Pandy, from investigative journalist to adoptive mother, the glorious Sarah is the ultimate companion. The most physical and subtle actress to travel in the Tardis.
Coming soon: She was only a Brigadier's daughter.
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