The Companions
The Doctor’s ‘companions’ – or ‘assistants’ – are a vital part of the Doctor Who story, and are frequently found at the heart of the biggest plot twists. The Doctor is centuries old, and usually prefers to have company as he travels through time and space. It brings The Doctor great joy to have the opportunity to broaden the horizons of others, by introducing them to the universe beyond Earth.
The original ‘companion of The Doctor was a young woman who used the name Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) and was, in fact, the granddaughter of The First Doctor. In the first ever episode, she draws the attention of her teachers at Coal Hill School, because she has unprecedented knowledge of mathematics and science. When those teachers – Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Ian Chesterton (William Russell) – follow her home, they find that she lives in a junkyard, where her grandfather is tinkering with an old police box. Assuming that her grandfather is where her extraordinary knowledge comes from, and that he would share the same name, the teachers address him as “Doctor Foreman,” to which he replies, “Doctor who?”
Ian and Barbara learn that Susan and her grandfather are exiles from another planet, and that the old police box is a machine that can travel through time and space – and since they’ve uncovered their secret, The Doctor essentially kidnaps them and sets off away from Earth with an entirely new set of companions. Susan, Ian and Barbara became the first of 46 ‘companions’, or assistants, to travel with The Doctor over the next 54 years. While some have had little impact beyond the episodes they appeared in, a small number have left a much bigger impression.
Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) is by far the most prolific companion – first appearing with the Third Doctor in 1973 as an investigative journalist, and remaining with the TARDIS until 1976 – making her companion to both the Third and Fourth Doctors. She appeared again in a spinoff pilot titled K-9 And Company, featuring Sarah Jane and the iconic robot dog that once accompanied The Doctor. That pilot was unsuccessful, but she returned in 1983 to appear alongside the Fifth Doctor and again for two episodes with the Tenth Doctor. The character then starred in her own spinoff series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which ran for five seasons and led to crossover appearances with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors.