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The Definitive Ranking Of "Doctor Who" Companions

The Doctor says his friends have always been the best of him. But who was the best out of them?

This is going to be fun! But before we start, a note on pedantry. We're counting as a companion somebody who travelled full-time with the Doctor over multiple stories. Which rules out Sara Kingdom, Katarina, the UNIT boys and Astrid Peth. River Song and the Paternoster Crew therefore count as recurring characters. And yes, we realise that that should also disqualify Liz Shaw and Grace Holloway, but they were the female leads in their stories. And anyway, we are Doctor Who fans so THERE IS NOW WAY WE WILL EVER ALL BE HAPPY.

34. Adric.

Nobody likes a boy genius at the best of times. But Matthew Waterhouse's brattish boffin from E-Space, who travelled with the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, was so hateful that producers broke one of the show's cardinal rules and killed him off, in Earthshock.

33. Kamelion.

32. Vicki.

31. Ben Jackson.

30. Zoe Heriot.

29. Dodo Chaplet.

28. Melanie Bush.

27. Clara Oswald.

26. Liz Shaw.

25. Mickey Smith.

24. Harry Sullivan.

23. Steven Taylor.

22. Martha Jones.

21. Ian Chesterton.

20. Nyssa of Traken.

Nyssa was genteel aristocrat from the planet of Traken, a place where everybody was interminably nice to each other. When the Master ruined everything at home and stole her father's body, she travelled with the Fourth and then Fifth Doctors. But next to the iconic Tegan Jovanka, Nyssa was always the wallflower.

19. Polly.

18. Grace Holloway.

17. Romana I.

Romanadvoratrelundar was something new; a Timelady assigned to the Fourth Doctor by the White Guardian to find the pieces of the Key To Time. At first, they were resentful of each other, and her first incarnation, seeing herself as his intellectual superior, was an icy and acerbic piece of work.

16. Vislor Turlough.

15. Barbara Wright.

14. Romana II.

13. Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.

Peri was a companion from a completely alien race - she was an American! But the plucky and adventurous botany student proved a spirited and loyal friend to the Doctor. Which is quite something considering that he once, in a post-regenerative fit of mania, almost strangled her. At one point feared dead, it was eventually revealed that she was living as a Warrior Queen and married to Brian Blessed.

12. Victoria Waterfield.

11. Tegan Jovanka.

Tegan was brilliant, a mouthy air hostess who went on the most round-the-houses journey back to Heathrow Airport in history of the world. And then when she did get back, she was back on board the Tardis the following season anyway. While most of the time outright argumentative, she landed up as one of the longest-serving of all.

10. Jamie McCrimmon.

9. Leela of the Sevateem.

Leela was a warrior in a tribe of savages from the far future. For a savage, she had impeccable vowels. While primitive and violent, she was also fiercely intelligent, and her adventures with the Fourth Doctor had flavours of Eliza Doolittle. Eventually, she fell in love and stayed on Gallifrey, the planet of the Timelords. She was also basically naked for most of the time.

8. Rory Williams.

7. Dorothy Gale "Ace" McShane.

Ace might have started out as a Wizard Of Oz gag in the shape of a girl (she was blown to Iceworld in a freak timestorm, you see) but she ended up as the definitive companion of the whole 80s. This baseball bat-wielding tomboy who would brew homemade explosives in her bedroom (good luck getting that through these days) went on the most complete journey of anyone, confronting her childhood demons and laying down the template for Rose Tyler in the process.

6. Jo Grant.

Jo was a civilian UNIT operative who worked faithfully with the Third Doctor and put up with a lot, particularly the amount of times he would just send her off to make cups and tea and sandwiches. But she was fiercely loyal and would save him from himself. When she left in The Green Death, he was clearly and famously heartbroken.

5. Rose Tyler.

4. Susan Foreman.

3. Amelia "Amy" Pond.

2. Donna Noble.

1. Sarah-Jane Smith.

What to say about Sarah-Jane, the Doctor Who companion against which all shall be measured forever? The investigative journalist who travelled with the Third and Fourth Doctors is rightly beloved among all fandom. We may have our own personal favourites, but everyone agrees that nobody was better than Sarah-Jane; smart, brave, but also human and vulnerable. She was so popular that she earned two spin-off shows, and returned to the Doctor Who world and family when the show was revived. When Elisabeth Sladen died in 2011, she was mourned like the national treasure that she was.