As most any of you who know me are aware, I’m a big Doctor Who fan. I grew up watching the series on PBS. I’ve been totally loving the new resurgence of the show. Well, I was reading the newest issue of SFX magazine while eating dinner tonight and they featured the results of a poll they conducted for fans’ favorite companions from the show. So, I thought I’d take a shot at list my favorites. My final placement of Donna (and perhaps Rose, for that matter) may shift in a month or two once the current season has finished airing. If so, I’ll update the list at that point. Unlike the SFX poll, I’m limiting my companion selections to ones that appeared in the series (and leaving off ones from the novels, audio productions, etc). I also just picked a top 15 for myself, leaving off the number of others that also had companion roles on the show. Any of them not listed are particularly ones I didn’t like, just that they didn’t crack this set of my particular favorites.

1. Ace (Sophie Aldred)
   It’s tempting to promote a relaunch series companion to my top spot, particularly because I think the new incarnation does a better job writing for companion characters, but I just don’t have the heart to remove Sophie Aldred from the top spot. She very quickly shot to the top of my list back in 1987 when she joined Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor #7 (who was my favorite Doctor until David Tennant came along). She’s also the only companion I’ve met in real life (at a convention a few years ago). I was happy to see her come in at #4 on SFX’s list (behind Sarah Jane Smith, Rose Tyler & Martha Jones).
2. Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman)
   Captain Jack is a less traditional companion (coming in and out of the show and not quite fitting the traditional mold of a Who companion). Still, he meets the qualifications to be considered a canonized companion (quite easily, actually). With that said, it’s impossible for me to not put him right up there near the top. Having taken on the starring role on spin-off series Torchwood, he’s got a pretty prominent role in the Who cannon. While I thought that the first season of Torchwood was only marginally acceptable, I must admit that I really liked the latest second season a lot. Captain Jack’s initially mysterious character has been rather well defined and dimensionalized during said second season of Torchwood, and he just keeps getting better. It’s odd to partially judge him for this list for material from a spin-off series, but I think he’d still be right up near the top even if evaluating on only Who episodes. He’s been a great character since his first scenes in The Empty Child, one of the episodes from the first series of the relaunched series.
3. Donna Noble (Catherine Tate)
   While the character of Donna was a bit rough around the edges, in more ways than one, when first appearing in “The Runaway Bride” Christmas Special, I knew that I would like her as a regular character when they announced she’d be joining the series a year later. I could see the potential in both the character and Catherine Tate’s performance. Not only was I not disappointed, I’ve been overly happy with the end result. Donna has been fantastic this season so far, and I have high hopes for her in the remaining final half of the season.
4. Rose Tyler (Billie Piper)
   I’m related to three people who’ll hold it against me for having Rose anywhere near the top of a list like this. So be it. While Rose may have had her faults (intentionally so, in many cases), I really enjoyed her on the series a lot. It’s funny that one of the write-in comments that SFX listed simply stated, “She does that thing with her tongue.” I hadn’t given that specific trait a whole lot of thought, but after reading that, I realized how much I agree with it. It’s in moments where she (consciously? subconsciously?) does that little physical mannerism where her character really sparks to life. For all her wonderfully agressive mannerisms, it’s when she’s playful that her character really shines. And Billie Piper really knows how to sink into an emotionally charged performance at other times. Rose is a far more emotional companion than probably any other to appear on the series (well, at least in range of emotions - there were others that were more abbrasive or aggressive, etc). It’s perhaps for her faults as a character as much as her brilliant moments that I like her as much as I do (again, the relaunched series writers going to new depths with the companion role than the classic series would typically do).
5. Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman)
   The show didn’t falter in picking the always chipper Freema Agyeman (who had a brief guest appearance as another character shortly before being cast as this starring role) to follow up for Rose. A bit more mature than Rose, Martha still had a youthful optomism and outlook. She also had a romantic fixation on the Doctor, but this time unrequited. It was perhaps the aspect of her character that I don’t quite think they ever quite nailed correctly. Still, Agyeman did a fantastic job with the role, and has taken it beyond her initial season appearance to a few episodes this season, and a few episodes of Torchwood, ultimately establishing the character into a position where it can easily exist outside the events of the show to appear at will in the future of the series. One things I will say for Martha’s character is that the writers did a far worse job dealing with her family life than they did for Rose, but thankfully they didn’t feature the Jones’ nearly as much as the Tylers.
6. Jo Grant (Katy Manning)
   I place Jo Grant a bit higher on my list than most fans would. While not the smartest of companions that has traveled with The Doctor, her unbreakable enthusiasm for being with The Doctor for his adventures made her a positive joy to feature in the stories. Her chemistry playing against Jon Pertwee’s third Doctor is flawless, easily feeding into the particularly large ego of Pertwee’s incarnation of the role (one of my favored incarnations). Unlike some of the modern companions on the series, Jo didn’t feature a wide range of emotion, but for her character, it was just that fact that made her so charming and fun. Her reaction would be so predictable, it was funny as a result. I’d dare say that she was the most “trusty” of companions over the years. You could count on her unrestrained support of whatever The Doctor was doing - which is actually rather atypical of a companion, who are typically designed to counterpoint The Doctor. I’d almost go so far as to describe her as a favorite pet for The Doctor.
7. Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen)
   The most venerable of companions over the history of the show, and a long time fan favorite, Sladen’s resurgence in the role in the relaunched series, and now her very own spin-off which is still going strong, is impossible to deny. As a companion during the peak of the series, she was a bit of a touchstone for the evolution of the companion characters in general, as a more level playing field against The Doctor. It’s easy to see the influence of Sarah Jane in the modern companions like Rose. It’s no surprise that they ultimately hit it off when they met each other on screen in Rose’s second season on the show. And Liz Sladen just plain clicked in the role. And she still does. Amazingly well, actually.
8. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)
   Perhaps the single most “British” of supporting characters for the series. Not only that, but he had 20 year run of appearances from back in 1969 until the final year of the classic series in 1989. Getting a guest appearance from Nicholas Courtney on the new series is my #1 wish for things I’d love to see from the classic series on the new series. He still participates in the Who community, doing DVD commentaries and Big Finish audio performances and such. Anyway, the Brigadier was, kinda like Jo Grant (whom he appeared with in a number of episodes), a character you could always rely on to react exactly as you would expect. And that was a particularly fun thing about him, his perfectly British unflappability. He is also one of those very loosely defined “companions” - he doesn’t really fit the framework to be referred to as a “companion,” but he’s certainly a prevalent enough supporting character to The Doctor, that’s it’s not too far out of place to think of him as one.
9. K-9 (voice of John Leeson, and briefly David Brierly)
   Ah, the lovable K-9. On paper, K-9 should be one of the most annoying characters on the show. But through some almost impossible to define combination of charming lameness and constant bravery, topped off by the strangely wonderful vocal performance of John Leeson, K-9 just shines. The proof of that is in K-9’s reappearance to the series along with Sarah Jane in the episode School Reunion. It’s just impossible to not love K-9.
10. Romana II (Lalla Ward)
    The regenerated second incarnation of Romana to be featured on the series, Romana has the distinction of being the only companion to travel with The Doctor of his own Time Lord race. This second incarnation is particularly fun, thanks primarily to the delicious dialog she often got. She was definitely not the typical companion, and was a refreshing change as a result. Lalla Ward’s almost effortless performance helps make the character really shine.
11. Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding)
    While similar to Jo Grant in the fact that she’s not the world’s most intelligent of companions, her dynamic playing against The Doctor and actually not particularly wanting to be traveling with him plays her as a very different character. Ultimately, it’s her very basic approach to things, and her Aussie attitude and directness, that makes her character work as well as it does. While Jo may have functioned as a loved pet of sorts, Tegan is a counterpoint to The Doctor in many ways. Now that I think about it, Donna Noble kinda combines these two traits, as someone who’s positively thrilled to be traveling with The Doctor, but isn’t afraid to play the counterpoint against him.
12. Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant)
    Ah, an American companion (the first). Nicola Bryant, however, is British (and had a varying degree of success in her performance pulling off the American dialog). Peri was a bold, youthful character, which the series producers admitted was designed to bring a modern, “sexy” appearance to the show, which was constantly teetering on the brink of cancellation. They certainly didn’t shy away from featuring her youthful appearance on the show, infamously in many instances. Still, Nicola Bryant made the California girl role work quite well.
13. Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke)
    During the first year of the relaunched series, I never would have dreamed I would ever include him in a list of top companions for the series. My first reaction to the character in the first couple episode was of instant dislike. I thought, at the time, that Noel Clarke’s performance was one of the worst I’d seen. But over time, I came to realize that perhaps his performance was a bit too GOOD. Over time, his character went through quite an arc, ultimately as a funny and heroic addition to the series. I was actually sad to see him leaving the series, which would have been impossible to believe had somebody told me I’d feel that way by the end of the second series. Mickey’s realization of being “the tin dog” is a hilarious enough notion for me to forgive whatever misgivings I may have ever had in the earlier episodes.
14. Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines)
    There’s one primary reason that Jamie made it onto this list - Frazer Hines’ chemistry playing dialog against Patrick Troughton’s second Doctor. The two of them had flawless timing in performing on screen together. It’s that thing that’s impossible to manufacture. It’s just the magic of casting, capturing lightning in a bottle. Either actor could manage to make even the clunkiest of lines from the other character somehow work.
15. Romana I (Mary Tamm)
    The first incarnation of Romana was fairly different before the regeneration (when Mary Tamm became pregnant and opted to not return), as a more refined and proper Time Lord. Even in the stiffer initial variation, she was still a very interesting alternative to The Doctor’s freestyle personality.

And since the magazine poll allowed fans to pick a single pick for their least favorite, I’ll do the same (though they only allowed fans a list of top 3 while voting, so I’m not following that rule):

• Kamelion (Gerald Flood)
  Not content to pick fans’ perennial least favorite companions Mel or Adric (who admittedly weren’t particularly good), my vote goes to Kamelion. He was a “shapeshifting robot” and was every bit as lame and embarrassingly bad as it sounds. Traveling with Peter Davidson’s fifth doctor incarnation, the writers simply had zero idea how to utilize him to any degree, and pretty nearly forgot about him, writing him off as a near afterthought. After the unanticipated success of K-9, this robot (of sorts) companion was an abysmal failure on the part of the writers/producers.

The poll results included a couple folks who technically shouldn’t count as companions, but I feel like I should mention them as well:

1. Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan)
   Showing up on SFX’s list simply because people wrote in with her as a pick even though she not only had never traveled with The Doctor, but had barely even met him. I would have to agree with this sentiment. Carey Mulligan was spectacular. Her wonderful performance is one of the numerous brilliant aspects of the episode Blink (her one appearance in the series). I don’t hesitate declaring Blink as my all-time favorite episode of Who. I’ve watched it dozens of times, and the episode is only a year old at this point. Sally Sparrow is designed as “the companion who chooses to not travel with The Doctor.” She could instantly work as a companion. She fits the bill perfectly. But she simply makes the choice to live her life as is. It’s the “what could have been” case when studying what makes a character worthy of being a companion. Carey Mulligan flawlessly nailed every last detail of the character in her performance, and I’d positively LOVE to see her make another appearance on the show. Just typing this, I feel like tossing on Blink to watch again…
2. Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue)
   Since Astrid didn’t truly travel with The Doctor, her companion qualifications are dubious (though there are so many grey areas in who counts as a companion, it’s an arbitrary distinction). The famous music superstar Kylie Minogue was a surprise announcement to co-star in the most recent Christmas special episode as Astrid. Like all Who fans, I was happy to see that she did an excellent job in her role. Much like Sally Sparrow, Astrid is “the companion that could have been.” She actually fit the role more than Sally did, because she directly interacted with The Doctor, helping save the day side-by-side. Rather than somebody who goes about her life rather than join up with The Doctor, Astrid gives her life to save the day. She had that fun adventurous quality that one gets in Jo and the modern companions like Rose & Martha, starry eyed and in awe of The Doctor.