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Not every Doctor Who companion gets the red carpet treatment.
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00:00As the old saying goes, not every story has a happy ending, and that's certainly true for several of Doctor Who's companions.
00:07Whether they were victims of error on the Doctor's part, in the wrong place at the wrong time, or a casualty of the BBC's decision to shake up the format of the show,
00:16there have been quite a few companions in Doctor Who's history who have departed in the worst and most unsatisfying ways possible.
00:23So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with Who Culture, here with 10 Doctor Who companions who deserved better.
00:3010. Sarah Kingdom
00:31Although she was only with First Doctor William Hartnell for his legendary 12-part serial The Daleks' Master Plan,
00:38Sarah Kingdom is instrumental in the defeat of the Daleks, and their plan to destroy the universe in this story.
00:44Much of the serial is built around the weapon, the Time Destructor, which accelerates time to an extreme degree and rapidly ages everyone and everything around it.
00:53As part of his plan to destroy the Daleks, the Doctor plans to detonate the Time Destructor,
00:57and send his companions back to the TARDIS so they do not get caught in its field.
01:02However, Sarah follows the Doctor before he sets off the Time Destructor,
01:05and she begins to age rapidly before becoming so old she turns to dust and dies.
01:10Yeah, that's grim.
01:11Sadly, Sarah's death scene is missing, like most of the serial, but the audio still survives.
01:17She would have been a great long-term companion, and she definitely deserved better than brutally dying in her very first appearance.
01:249. Martha Jones
01:27Across her run with the Doctor, it's fair to say that Martha Jones was something of a rebound for the Time Lord,
01:33who was still mourning the loss of Rose Tyler.
01:35Martha joins the TARDIS at the start of Series 3 after saving the Doctor's life in the first episode,
01:40and quickly falls for her dashing new friend, only to be repeatedly rejected by him throughout the series.
01:46Things come to a head in the three-part finale involving the return of the Master,
01:50where Martha's entire family is tortured by him.
01:53During this time, Martha spends an entire year travelling the world and telling everyone about the Doctor,
01:59only for time to be reversed and that entire year erased from history.
02:02Martha then, only then, realises that the Doctor will never reciprocate the feelings she has for him.
02:08I mean, it was a bit obvious, Martha, come on, read the room.
02:12And she decides to leave the TARDIS to be with her family.
02:15Upon her departure, she gives the Doctor her mobile number, and then receives a hilariously awkward friend-zone hug from him.
02:21I mean, you've just got to feel a bit sorry for her, really, haven't you?
02:24And in true Doctor and Martha fashion, he never once actually called her.
02:28After Jamie accompanies the second Doctor for three full seasons, along with Zoe for his final season,
02:36they both suffer a rather unfortunate fate at the manipulative hands of the Time Lords.
02:41At the end of Patrick Troughton's epic final story, the Doctor is placed on trial for interfering with history,
02:47and the Time Lords decide to take drastic action on account of his frequent meddling.
02:51As a result, Jamie and Zoe's memories of the Doctor are completely erased,
02:55in a deliberately unsatisfying ending to Patrick Troughton's tenure.
02:59This was particularly frustrating for fans of Jamie McCrimmon,
03:02who had appeared alongside Patrick Troughton in over 100 episodes of the show.
03:06After the erasure, they are placed back in their timelines at the exact moment before they met the Doctor,
03:11with Jamie being placed back in medieval Scotland,
03:13and Zoe back aboard the space station she was a crew member of.
03:16The pair were briefly seen together again for a very short scene in The Five Doctors,
03:21which wasn't exactly the greatest final appearance for this iconic duo.
03:25Number 7. Donna Noble
03:27After suffering through the most regrettable wedding day in history,
03:31Donna Noble accompanied the Tenth Doctor in his Final Falls series,
03:34and just like Ten's companions before her, her ending was rather unfortunate.
03:39Russell T Davies' series finales are well known for their high stakes,
03:42with The Stolen Earth and Journey's End being the most ambitious produced during his tenure.
03:48In a plot involving the creation of a Tenth Doctor clone,
03:51Donna accidentally absorbs so much Time Lord knowledge that,
03:54after she helps save the day of course, her memories must be wiped.
03:57The Doctor then does just that, erasing her memories involving him, the TARDIS, and any of her adventures.
04:03Even worse, the effects of this are so bad that if she ever remembers anything,
04:07her brain will burn up and she will die.
04:10Despite this, Donna does reappear in Ten's final story,
04:13with the Doctor secretly giving her a winning lottery ticket,
04:16thank you very much, yes please,
04:18before slipping away and never getting the chance to see her ever again.
04:21Or so we thought.
04:23Ring on 2023!
04:25Number 6. Liz Shaw
04:27Sometimes, due to various reasons,
04:30an actor or character suddenly departs from a show without getting a proper exit.
04:33And sadly, this was the case for Liz Shaw,
04:36who was given one of the least satisfying companion endings in Doctor Who history.
04:41Appearing alongside John Pertwee in his first season as the Doctor,
04:44Liz Shaw, played by Caroline John, was a total change of pace for the show,
04:48as she was a scientist nearly as intelligent as the Doctor.
04:52As a result, however,
04:53the producers weren't keen on the dynamic between Liz and the Doctor,
04:56and instead wanted a more traditional female companion,
05:00whose role was to be more human and relatable.
05:02Despite being popular with fans,
05:04Liz left the show after the production of the serial Inferno,
05:07in a mutual decision between John and the producers.
05:10In the next story, Terror of the Autons,
05:12her departure is explained with only two sentences from the Brigadier,
05:15making for an appallingly unsatisfying exit for such a terrific character.
05:20Number 5. Mickey Smith
05:22Mickey Smith appeared alongside the Doctor and Rose sporadically
05:25across the first four series of the revived show.
05:28Initially, he is apprehensive of the Doctor and Rose,
05:31and after Rose disappears with the Doctor,
05:33he is even questioned by the police and made a suspect regarding Rose's disappearance.
05:37Mickey is constantly belittled and made fun of by both the Ninth and Tenth Doctors,
05:42and against his will becomes involved in death-defying plots surrounding the Autons and the Slitheen.
05:47He's even dragged into a plot involving his alternate self,
05:50after the TARDIS accidentally ends up in a parallel universe.
05:53After two years of constantly being sidelined,
05:56Mickey decides enough is enough,
05:57and opts to stay in the parallel universe to fight against the Cybermen and be with his family.
06:02At points, the Doctor's treatment of Mickey goes from innocent to hateful in seconds,
06:07and it does seem a bit out of place with the Doctor's character when re-watching this era of the show.
06:13Number 4. Perry Brown
06:14In her two seasons in the TARDIS,
06:17Nicola Bryant's Perry is unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a sixth Doctor who is totally out of control,
06:23and witnesses a regeneration after knowing the Doctor for just over one full story.
06:28Beginning in the Twin Dilemma,
06:29the Doctor is so damaged by his regeneration that he strangles Perry and mistakes her for an alien spy.
06:35Across Six's first season, Perry is constantly annoyed by an angry Doctor,
06:39and the two spend so much time bickering in the TARDIS that it's hard to even fathom why she stayed with him for so long.
06:45This all culminates in the story Mind Warp,
06:47where the Doctor knowingly betrays Perry and she's seemingly killed off,
06:51she wasn't, thankfully,
06:52before the Time Lords intervene and pull the Doctor out of time.
06:55After suffering with the Doctor for two full seasons,
06:58Perry never even got a satisfactory goodbye,
07:01nor had the Doctor wish her well.
07:02Her final moments with the Doctor,
07:04after a frankly horrendous experience in the TARDIS,
07:06were him betraying her after all they'd been through.
07:103. Rose Tyler
07:11For avid fans of Doctor Who,
07:14this one comes as no surprise,
07:15as this was and still is one of the grimmest companion departures in the show.
07:19After spending two full series travelling with the Doctor,
07:22even saving his life several times and helping him through a difficult regeneration,
07:27Rose Tyler faced an extremely cruel fate.
07:30After completely falling in love with the Doctor and vowing never to stop travelling with him,
07:34Rose found herself in a difficult situation.
07:36She was accidentally trapped in a parallel universe.
07:39Bummer.
07:39To make things worse,
07:40she was then declared dead in her own universe and had no knowledge of what happened to the Doctor.
07:45The Doctor is eventually able to say goodbye,
07:47burning up a son to do so in one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the show.
07:51Although, a more positive end for Rose did come in Series 4,
07:55when the Doctor left her with the Metacrisis Doctor from Journey's End.
07:59And this clone has all the same memories and experiences of the Doctor,
08:02but has a human body and will age with Rose.
08:05So, actually, it did end quite well for her.
08:08Number 2.
08:09Adric.
08:10Despite being one of the least popular companions in the classic series,
08:14Adric's fate still felt a little bit unfair.
08:17In a plot involving the Cybermen trying to crash a large space freighter into an Earth peace conference,
08:22the end of Earthshock sees the fifth Doctor and his companions left on a ship hurtling towards Earth.
08:27After attempting to steer away the ship,
08:29Adric accidentally sends it 65 million years into the past before seemingly exiting in an escape pod.
08:35At the last second, Adric jumps out of the escape pod to try one last time to steer the ship away from Earth.
08:40Just as he is about to input the final command to save the ship,
08:43a lone Cyberman shoots the control panel, leaving Adric speeding towards Earth with no way of escape.
08:49The Doctor and his companions watch from the TARDIS as the ship hurtles towards the Earth,
08:53and we see it explode on impact, wiping out both Adric and the dinosaurs in the process.
08:58We're then treated to a totally silent credit sequence,
09:01a solemn goodbye for one of the few Doctor Who companions to actually die.
09:06Number 1.
09:06Bill Potts.
09:07Starting out as a normal university student,
09:10Bill went on to travel with Peter Capaldi's Doctor across his final season,
09:14and her refreshingly down-to-earth personality proved a huge hit with viewers.
09:19After her short but sweet time with the Doctor,
09:21Bill Potts' tenure came to an end as she and the Doctor faced off against the Cybermen.
09:25After being shot and then taken to a cyber hospital,
09:28Bill is saved by being grimly converted into one of the metallic, emotionless foes.
09:33This is worsened by the fact that Bill retains all of her emotions and memories as a Cyberman,
09:37and is particularly distressed by looking in the mirror and seeing her now converted self.
09:42In the end, Bill's life is spared, and she is able to escape thanks to her partner Heather converting her into another creature,
09:48this time capable of showing a human form.
09:50Despite this bittersweet ending, Bill had to endure an entire decade of being a Cyberman,
09:55and going through the trauma of a cyber conversion,
09:57and she did it all alone without the Doctor.
10:01And that concludes our list.
10:02If you think we missed someone, then do let us know in the comments below,
10:05and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell,
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10:15and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
10:18I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself,
10:22goodbye, sweeties.
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