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…

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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…

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!

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.

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