10 Doctor Who Characters Who Rejected The Doctor

The Doctor's relationship with Joan Redfern is pretty darn complicated, because on one level, the two characters know each other really quite well.

But on another level... they don't know each other at all.

When the Tenth Doctor turns himself into a human in order to hide from a dangerous family of aliens, he starts to live an ordinary mortal life. He takes on an ordinary human name - John Smith - he gets a job, and soon enough, he falls in love with Joan, and even has a vision of the future where they're married and have kids.

But in reality, all of this is a lie. John Smith doesn't really exist - he's just a disguise to mask the Doctor - so when the Doctor finally emerges at the end of the story, Joan feels like John Smith has died, and as a result, she finds it hard to even look at the Doctor, this stranger who looks identical to her dead lover.

And this is precisely why she rejects his offer to become a companion. If she were to accept, Joan would constantly be reminded of John, of the life she could've had with him, and she just doesn't want to put herself through that emotional torture.