And another thing: Anneke Wills’ first husband, Michael Gough, played the Celestial Toymaker against William Hartnell’s First Doctor.
JAMIE MACRIMMON
played by FRAZER HINES
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Highlanders Episode 1 (1966)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The War Games Episode 10 (1969)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: The Two Doctors Episode 3 (1985)
A familiar face on British television before joining Doctor Who, Frazer Hines appeared in such programmes as The Silver Sword, Smuggler’s Bay, Emergency Ward 10 and Coronation Street. In 1972, three years after leaving the TARDIS, Hines joined Yorkshire TV’s Emmerdale Farm as Joe Sugden, a role he would play until 1994. He now breeds racehorses at his stud farm in Nottingham.
Born in the early 18th century, James Robert Macrimmon (or McCrimmon, as some sources have it) was constantly bamboozled by technology but enthusiastically threw himself into adventure and became one of the Doctor’s most loyal friends. Practical and resourceful, Jamie often put himself in great peril to keep the Time Lord safe and sound.
And another thing: The Doctor only let Jamie come on board the TARDIS if the highlander agreed to teach him how to play the bagpipes.
VICTORIA WATERFIELD
played by DEBORAH WATLING
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Evil of the Daleks Episode 2 (1967)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: Fury from the Deep Episode 6 (1968)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: Dimensions in Time Part 2 (1993)
Born into an acting family, Deborah originally wanted to be a dentist before failing her O Levels. Walking out of drama school after just three weeks, she secured an agent and soon scored roles in ITC’s William Tell and The Invisible Man. A 1965 Radio Times cover photograph of Watling as Alice drew her to the attention of Doctor Who producer Innes Lloyd. Considered too inexperienced for the role of Polly, she was recalled to audition for Victoria. Watling went on to appear in numerous TV shows including Danger UXB, Rising Damp and Doctor in Charge as well as countless theatre roles.
When her father Edward Waterfield accidentally created a link between 1866 London and the planet Skaro, Victoria was taken prisoner by the Daleks. When Waterfield was killed, the Doctor promised to take care of her. Never a natural adventurer, Victoria didn’t react well to the dangers life with the Doctor brought.
And another thing: Deborah’s father, Jack Watling, appeared as Professor Edward Travers in The Abominable Snowman and The Web of Fear.
ZOE HERIOT
played by WENDY PADBURY
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Wheel in Space Episode 2 (1968)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The War Games Episode 10 (1969)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: The Five Doctors (1983)
After a flurry of early TV appearances, Wendy Padbury won a regular role on the ATV soap Crossroads. On leaving Doctor Who, Padbury appeared in Z-Cars, Freewheelers, Emmerdale and the 1971 horror film The Blood on Satan’s Claw. Before retiring and moving to France, she worked as a theatrical agent, representing Nicholas Courtney, Colin Baker, Mark Strickson and, more recently, Matt Smith.
An astrophysicist, astrometricist (first class) and librarian on board the space station known as the Wheel, Zoe Heriot stowed away on board the TARDIS following the Doctor’s victory over the Cybermen. Highly intelligent, and gift ed with almost total recall, Zoe often seemed to out-think the Doctor himself – although her inexperience and a distinct stubborn streak often got her into trouble.
And another thing: While on Doctor Who, Troughton, Hines and Padbury were known by the nicknames Fluff, Cough and Fart respectively.
WELCOME ONBOARD
Companions join the Doctor for all kind of reasons, but which is the most popular?
HELLO, GOODBYE
The first and last things the Doctor ever said to his companions.
HAVEN’T I SEEN YOU SOMEWHERE BEFORE?
The role of the Doctor’s new companion is one of the most hotly contested parts on British television – but sometimes it’s a case of being in the right place at the right time… and just sometimes it’s enough to have already appeared in Doctor Who…
PETER PURVES
First: Morton Dill
Later: Steven Taylor
Blue Peter may have been a few years in the future for Peter Purves in 1965, but it was a matter of just weeks between the actor’s first Doctor Who appearance and his second. He was cast as American tourist Morton Dill in the third episode of The Chase, encountering the Daleks at the top of the Empire State Building. The young actor got on well with William Hartnell and Maureen O’Brien and was offered the part of new companion, space pilot Steven Taylor, appearing just three weeks after his original debut.
NICHOLAS COURTNEY
First: Bret Vyon
Later: The Brigadier
Nicholas Courtney’s first appearance in Doctor Who was as dashing Space Security Agent Bret Vyon in The Daleks’ Master Plan, opposite William Hartnell. He very nearly missed out on being cast as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart in 1967 when the role went to future Upstairs Downstairs star David Langton, with Courtney booked to play Captain Knight. Langton was forced to pull out at the last minute due to other work commitments, leading to Courtney’s subsequent promotion to Colonel. One false moustache later and Doctor Who history was made!
JOHN LEVENE
First: Monsters
Later: Sergeant Benton
John Levene played uncredited roles in two Patrick Troughton stories – as a Cyberman in The Moonbase and a Yeti in The Web of Fear. He was scheduled to once again don a cyber-suit for The Invasion, but the tardiness of another actor saw him cast as Corporal Benton. The rest is history.
IAN MARTER
First: Lieutenant John Andrews
Later: Harry Sullivan
Ian Marter had narrowly missed out on playing the role of Captain Mike Yates in 1971, but producer Barry Letts later cast him as Andrews in Carnival of Monsters. In 1974, he became the Fourth Doctor’s first male companion.
LALLA WARD
First: Princess Astra
Later: Romana
Having decided to leave Doctor Who, Mary Tamm suggested Lalla Ward, who had appeared as Princess Astra in The Armageddon Factor, as her replacement. Two months later, Ward was cast as the new Romana.
FREEMA AGYEMAN
First: Adeola Ashodi
Later: Martha Jones
Freema Agyeman so impressed the Doctor Who production team when she played Adeola in 2006’s Doomsday that she was invited back to audition for the role of Martha Jones – under the pretence she was testing for a role in Torchwood to maintain secrecy. When Martha appeared in 2007, her resemblance to Adeola was explained by revealing the two girls were cousins.
First: Soothsayer
Later: Amy Pond
Former model Karen Gillan had a small supporting role as a Soothsayer in 2008’s The Fires of Pompeii. Two years later, she was making her debut as the Doctor’s future mother-in-law.
And one more…
COLIN BAKER
First: Commander Maxil
Later: The Sixth Doctor
Colin Baker feared that his guest appearance as Maxil in Arc of Infinity would prevent him from playing the Doctor. Thankfully this was not the case, and the Sixth Doctor stepped into the TARDIS on a full-time basis the following year.
RETURN PERFORMANCES
Sometimes former companions even come back as someone new!
JACQUELINE HILL
First: Barbara Wright
Later: Lexa
Fifteen years after Barbara Wright, her first Doctor Who role, left the TARDIS, Jacqueline Hill returned to the series as high priestess Lexa in Meglos. To date she is the only companion who’s returned as a completely different character, although John Leeson also played Dugeen in The Power of Kroll while he was lending his vocal
talents to K-9.
BERNARD CRIBBINS
First: Tom Campbell
Later: Wilfred Mott
Veteran actor Bernard Cribbins was elevated to guest companion as Wilfred Mott for the Tenth Doctor’s final adventure, The End of Time after several semi-regular appearances. Bernard’s time playing Donna’s ‘gramps’ was his second brush with Who fame – although his first wasn’t a role in the BBC series. In the 1966 film Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. he played PC Tom Campbell, companion to Peter Cushing’s Dr Who. Forty-one years later, he appeared as a newspaper vendor in Voyage of the Damned – a role that was later expanded to become Wilfred Mott.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WHO
A month-by-month guide to the companions’ birthdays.
JANUARY
Deborah Watling
2 January 1948
Richard Franklin
15 January 1936
Daphne Ashbrook
30 January 1963
FEBRUARY
Peter Purves
10 February 1939
MARCH
Freema Agyeman
20 March 1979
Bruno Langley
21 March 1983
Mary Tamm
22 March 1950
John Leeson
March 1943
APRIL
Mark Strickson
6 April 1959
Elisabeth Sladen
19 April 1946
Louise Jameson
20 April 1951
Gerald Flood
21 April 1927
Michelle Ryan
22 April 1984
Jenna-Louise Coleman
27 April 1986
MAY
Catherine Tate
12 May 1968
Kylie Minogue
28 May 1968
JUNE
Carole Ann Ford
8 June 1940
Arthur Darvill
17 June 1982
David Morrissey
21 June 1964
Lalla Ward
28 June 1951
Maureen O’Brien
29 June 1943
JULY
Jean Marsh
1 July 1934
Jackie Lane
10 July 1947
Adrienne Hill
22 July 1937
Bonnie Langford
22 July 1964
AUGUST
Sophie Aldred
20 August 1962
SEPTEMBER
Janet Fielding
9 September 1953
Frazer Hines
22 September 1944
Billie Piper
22 September 1982
OCTOBER
Caroline John
11 October 1940
Nicola Bryant
11 October 1960
Katy Manning
14 October 1949
Anneke Wills
20 October 1941
Ian Marter
28 October 1944
NOVEMBER
Lindsay Duncan
7 November 1950
William Russell
19 November 1924
Karen Gillan
28 November 1987
Michael Craze
29 November 1942
DECEMBER
Noel Clarke
6 December 1975
Wendy Padbury
7 December 1947
Sarah Sutton
12 December 1961
Nicholas Courtney
16 December 1929
Jacqueline Hill
17 December 1929
Matthew Waterhouse
19 December 1961
John Levene
24 December 1941
Bernard Cribbins
29 December 1928
COMPANION ROLL CALL: THE 1970s
LIZ SHAW
played by CAROLINE JOHN
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Spearhead from Space Episode 1 (1970)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: Inferno Episode 7 (1970)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: Dimensions in Time Part 2 (1993)
Following her time at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Caroline John toured with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, where she was directed by Sir Laurence Olivier. In 1970 she was cast as the Doctor’s new companion, only staying with Doctor Who for one series. She continued to work solidly, appearing in many TV series, including The Hound of the Baskervilles with Tom Baker and in the film Love, Actually. She passed away in 2012.
Dr Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Shaw was a brilliant Cambridge academic, co-opted into UNIT as a scientific adviser. Highly intelligent and not afraid of action, Liz eventually headed back to Cambridge, claiming that all the Doctor needed was somebody to pass him test tubes and tell him how brilliant he was!
And another thing: Caroline John was married to actor Geoffrey Beevers, who played a UNIT private in The Ambassadors of Death and the Master in The Keeper of Traken.
JO GRANT
played by KATY MANNING
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Terror of the Autons Episode 1 (1971)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Green Death Episode 6 (1973)
Katy Manning was beginning to earn a name for herself on British television with appearances in Softly, Softly: Taskforce and Man at the Top, before being cast as Jo Grant in Doctor Who. Manning left the series after two years and moved with her two children to Australia where she hosted her own chat show. She returned to the United Kingdom in 2009, and reprised the role of Jo Grant in The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2010.
Josephine Grant was a feisty, loyal and capable UNIT operative assigned to the Doctor as his new assistant. Caring and resourceful, Jo would never hesitate to put herself danger to help others – including offering her own life for the Doctor’s on more than one occasion. She left UNIT to marry environmentalist Professor Clifford Jones.
And another thing: While living down under, Katy toured the Australian outback with her one-woman show about Bette Davis, Me and Jezebel.
SARAH JANE SMITH
played by ELISABETH SLADEN
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Time Warrior Part 1 (1973)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Hand of Fear Part 4 (1976)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: The End of Time, Part Two (2010)
Z-Cars, Doomwatch and a six-episode stint in Coronation Street were all on Elisabeth Sladen’s CV by the time she was cast as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who. Appearing alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, Elisabeth became the most popular and recognisable Doctor Who companion in the history of the programme. Largely stepping back from acting in the late 1980s to bring up her daughter, Elisabeth returned to Doctor Who in 2006 and went on to star in The Sarah Jane Adventures until her death in 2010.
Journalist Sarah Jane Smith first met the Third Doctor under an assumed identity, posing as her virologist aunt, Lavinia Smith. Investigative instincts made her the ideal companion for the Doctor, capable of getting into as much trouble as the Time Lord. The bond between the two friends strengthened after the Doctor regenerated, but Sarah was heartbroken when he practically kicked her out of the TARDIS. However, the Doctor was true to his word – he never forgot Sarah Jane Smith.
And another thing: Elisabeth presented the ITV children’s programmes My World and Stepping Stone in the late 1970s.
HARRY SULLIVAN
played by IAN MARTER
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Robot Part 1 (1974)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: Terror of the Zygons Part 4 (1975)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: The Android Invasion Part 4 (1975)
After leaving University in 1969, 25-year-old Ian Marter secured a job as Acting Stage Manager at the Bristol Old Vic. One of his first television auditions was for UNIT’s Captain Yates, a role he won but couldn’t play due to prior commitments. After Doctor Who, Marter appeared in such se
ries as The Brothers, Crown Court, Shine on Harvey Moon and Bergerac before his untimely death in 1986.
Poor old Harry. You have to pity the physician put in charge of the newly regenerated Fourth Doctor. The rather befuddled Surgeon Lieutenant later found himself on board the TARDIS as it took off for the Nerva Beacon. Brave, if not a little clumsy at times, Harry was charming and polite but infuriated Sarah by often calling her ‘old girl’ or ‘old thing’. Despite the Doctor’s assertion in Revenge of the Cybermen that ‘Harry Sullivan is an imbecile’, the Time Lord owed his life to the Naval officer on more than one occasion.
And another thing: In the 1970s and 1980s, Ian Marter novelised nine Doctor Who stories for Target Books.
LEELA
played by LOUISE JAMESON
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Face of Evil Part 1 (1977)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Invasion of Time Part 6 (1978)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: Dimensions in Time Part 2 (1993)