Tsunami of the Daleks

 I was transported back to 1980 yesterday evening as a new series of Doctor Who began, in its oft-times traditional place in the autumn schedule. I remember commandeering the tv in Martin Southern's house- Chapelton Post Office- around 6.15 on the 30th August for the first episode of The Leisure Hive. I'd been in Sixth Year at Hamilton Grammar School  for exactly a week, if I have the dates right, while my school friends Andrew, Isabel, Alison, Margaret and Alistair were all at Larkhall Academy. 

"Ashes to Ashes" was Number One and the Jam's rip-off of "Taxman"-"Start!"- was number two. The Piranhas' laddish "Tom Hark", which had been on heavy rotation on radio during our second holiday in Morecambe four weeks earlier, was still in the Top Ten. Boys keep swinging, eh?

Just like that 1980 story, we had new -well, tweaked- titles and a more serious tone in last night's cinematic Asylum of the Daleks. The Ponds' marriage is on the rocks and this more mature sensibility was echoed by the ravaged world of Skaro, the walking dead and the quarantined Dalek survivors. And among them, we found sassy, brilliant Jenna Louise Coleman, four months earlier than expected.

I was at once relieved to find I enjoyed the episode (despite its plot holes)  and a little envious because I invented a companion called Oswin first. Yes, that's right: me. In a story fragment in 1983, called "The Snows of Fear", a shameless rip-off of The Trollenberg Terror but with Ice Warriors. The protagonist was a police cadet called Oswin Nichols. I would have liked it to be played a young actor called David Morrissey ( what happened to him, anyway)?

If the Doctor's next companion is somehow one of his archetypal arch-foes, it's a simple, yet thrilling and utterly bonkers idea. Moffat however doesn't tend to do simple, so I'm putting speculation to one side. 

 To celebrate the new series however, I'm introducing a new feature entitled The Companion Chronicle. Each post will, hopefully, include info on Dr. Who companions from tv and all spin-off media: Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly/Magazine, Virgin's New Adventures, BBC Books, Telos novellas and Big Finish Productions. The "canonicity" of some Companions is debatable but for me, everything is canon! 
Let's begin with alphabetical entries A-B: 

 Abby: Originally named Amy (first one on the list and it's already confusing!). An artificial being created  by  mysterious entities known as the Grace . The Fifth Doctor served as Abby's companion. A naive and childlike being who has an amoral sister called Zara. Appears in BF Key2Time arc and spin-off audio series Graceless.

Dorothy "Ace" McShane:  Possibly the longest-serving companion, the former waitress and delinquent joined the Seventh Doctor in his tv adventures and has stayed at his side for over twenty years, portrayed by the ageless Sophie Aldred.  Ace was killed off in the DWM strip and became "Time's Vigilante" in the Virgin novels but she's currently travelling with Hex or Raine in various BF audio plays.

Adam Mitchell: the Companion Who Couldn't, genius Adam had a crush on Rose Tyler but helped himself to some future technology and was subsequently kicked out by the Doctor. I wish he'd been Luke Rattigan, the Sontaran quisling.

 Adelaide Brooke: take-charge, no-nonsense commander of Bowie Base One in The Waters of Mars.  When a distraught Tenth Doctor endangered the Web of Time by changing history, Adelaide took her own life. Perhaps the Doctor's greatest failure and, in my opinion, a step too far.

Adric: E-Space refugee and greedy maths nerd who shocked a generation of children by dying on a crashing spaceship.The Fifth Doctor's defining failure.

Alex Campbell:  the son of Susan Foreman and the Eighth Doctor's great-grandson in the audios An Earthly Child and Relative Dimensions.  Rebellious teen Alex befriended Lucie Miller but was killed by the Daleks.

Alison Cheney: student -turned- barmaid from the Northern English town of Lannet. Dumped her boyfriend to travel with the damaged REG Doctor after the Shalka Invasion in the webcast Scream of the Shalka .

Amy Pond Williams: fiery, towering Scottish redhead with issues. Bonded with the Eleventh Doctor as a young child, married Rory Williams and gave birth to "Time-head" baby Melody (who grew up to be vampy River Song.) Due to exit imminently under tragic circumstances, allegedly. I find her rather unsympathetic and domineering.

Anji Kapoor: First Asian companion. A stockbroker who travelled with the Eighth Doctor- for 23 novels - after her sci-fi nerd boyfriend was killed.  Grounded the BBC novels in reality but a bit dull, TBH.

Antimony: a naive, sweet-natured android. The Seventh Doctor had a paternal relationship with "Ant", calling him "laddie". Antimony sadly ceased to function during the webcast Death Comes to Time.

Astrid Peth: spunky but tragic space waitress on the Titanic who sacrificed herself to stop Max Capricorn. Played of course by diminutive pop colossus, Kylie Minogue.

Barbara Wright: luminously beautiful Babs with her big bouffant was Who's first damsel in distress: a cipher for Verity Lambert, cool, clever Barbara was the emotional core of the first two seasons. The first Companion to return to the series playing a different character (in 1980's woeful Meglos.)

Ben Jackson: wiry, pugnacious sailor who was Dr. Who's answer to Terence Stamp. A Cockney chap who travelled with groovy It Girl Polly. The pair had charming role reversals as Ben was often the "peril monkey" while Polly took the initiative. 

Bernice "Benny" Summerfield: the puckish archaeologist with the penchant for booze debuted in the Virgin novels in the 90s and went on to have a prolific career in books and audio. Think Emma Thompson in Space.
 

Bret Vyon: Space Security Service agent Vyon escaped from the deadly planet Kembel with the First Doctor in The Daleks' Master Plan. Possibly a distant descendant of the Brig,  he was betrayed on Earth and killed by his own sister.Why do Sara Kingdom and her brother David have a different surname from Bret?  Obviously in 4000 AD husbands can take on their wife's surname. Maybe the Ponds started it.

Ace, Barbara, Ben and Benny would certainly feature in a Top Twenty of Tardis travellers- but who will feature in the Top Ten?

Next: Companions C-D
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