Doctor Who has had a lot of companions and assistants over the years, and when we say a lot, we mean A LOT.
How many Doctor Who companions have there been?
It's hard to says exactly how many companions there have been: some left, then came back. Some have appeared in various incarnations, and some are heavily debated as to whether they actually count as a companion. Plus, there's still more characters from the movies, books and comics, which could technically be taken into account.
However, there's thought to be 54 companions as of 2014. Thirty-four in classic Doctor Who and 18 for New Who, ending with Clara Oswald.
Doctor Who companion timeline
You can see quite a good Doctor Who companion timeline in the 50th anniversary section of the Doctor Who website.
heat's favourite Doctor Who companions
Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald
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"Bubbly personality-masking bossy control freak"
Clara Oswald has a very tricky background. She appears three times, through three slightly different characters with the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, and later the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. First as Oswin Oswald, then as Clara Oswin Oswald. However, both characters die during their respective episodes, but the third incarnation becomes the Doctor's latest companion.
The Doctor tries to uncover the mystery of her multiple lives, and it's FINALLY solved in the episode called The Name of the Doctor.
heat's resident TV expert Boyd Hilton has this to say about Clara:
"Those big eyes, that hard stare when the Doctor is keeping her in the dark and her mysterious origins made Clara a wonderfully enigmatic figure from the start."
There you have it.
Katy Manning as Jo Grant
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"One minute you're condemning the Doctor to death, and the next minute you're proposing to me"
Jo Grant first came to the small screen in the eighth series with the third Doctor (Jon Pertwee), she was part of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), which is basically a bit like S.H.I.E.L.D in the Marvel Universe, defending Earth from alien threats. She hopped into the Doctor's Tardis for intergalactic japes until her exit in 1973, in the classic episode The Green Door.
She then came back into the show in 2010, which split opinion among Whovians, who wanted the man in charge of the reboot, Russell T Davis, to stay true to the original plot that saw her happily married to Nobel Prize-winning environmentalist Professor Clifford Jones.
heat's Boyd Hilton says:
"Jo Grant as Katy Manning is one of the most purely likeable and relatable companions ever. She bounced off Jon Pertwee's splendidly eccentric Doctor perfectly and her exit was legendary."
Karen Gillan as Amelia "Amy" Pond
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"There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope"
In 1996, seven-year-old Amy Pond first meets the Doctor, or "the raggedy man" as she calls him, after she finds a weird crack in her wall. Turns out it was a crack in the universe. No biggie. After telling her he'll be back in five mins, the Doctor comes back to a very sceptical Amy 12 YEARS LATER, where she meets him just before her wedding.
Eventually her hubby (Rory Williams) joins Amy and the Doctor on their space romp before finally making a baby who turns out to be Melody Pond, who is actually a recurring character, River Song. Whhhhhaaat? Mind. Blown.
Boyd Hilton's verdict:
"A great foil to Matt Smith and as fresh, funny and feisty as a companion can be. Her relationship with husband Rory was sweet and moving, too."
Catherine Tate as Donna Noble
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"Oi! Watch it, spaceman!"
What's that? The foul mouthed nan from The Catherine Tate Show accompanied the Doctor around the universe? Yes, yes she did and to quote Nan, she was "f**king" brilliant.
She had a huge gob, but really grew with the Doctor in the tenth series, so her final exit (which saw her memories of her time with the Doctor wiped) was tragic and requires an emoji sad face is ever one was needed. :(
Boydo says: "An unusual and bold bit of casting, but it paid off because Tate felt every bit the acting equal to David Tennant. And she got even better as she went along."
Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
"Call me old girl again and I'll spit in your eye."
Sarah Jane Smith is considered to be one of the greatest Doctor Who assistants, she was a feisty journalist who stowed away in the Doctor's TARDIS and faced off with everything from Daleks to a T-Rex. She came back to modern-day Doctor Who in 2006, where Sarah (who still had K-9) helped David Tennant investigate mysterious goings-on in a school. This eventually launched her own spinoff, *The Sarah Jane Adventures, which ended in 2011 after Elisabeth Sladen sadly died. The episode finished with a montage of her journey and the caption: "Her story goes on forever". *
Boyd says:
"Sarah Jane Smith was the iconic companion. Smart, loyal, but always questioning. We saw everything weird that went on through her eyes and we loved her."
Billie Piper as Rose Tyler
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"The first nineteen years of my life, nothing happened. And then I met a man called the Doctor."
For a long time all anyone knew Billie Piper for was a fleeting pop career - remember Because We Want To? - and a whirlwind marriage to everyone's favourite ginger radio maestro, Chris Evans. But when Billie Piper the singer-turned-actress was cast as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who's 2005 reboot alongside the ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), she lasted even longer than him!
Eccleston's Doctor didn't stick around for long - just one series - and soon regenerated into David Tennant's own version of Dr. Who. But Rose Tyler was incredibly feisty and able to deal with the mind-bending challenges that come with traversing both space and time with a Timelord. The only thing more mind-bending was the fact that Billie could act VERY WELL.
Boyd Hilton explains that she had a "classic mix of being a normal young woman, who then becomes very special when she joins up with The Doctor. Her chemistry with David Tennant was perfect".
It certainly was, which is why she topped our list of the best Doctor Who companions of all time.