10 Doctor Who Companions Who Just Couldn't Stay Away
6. Clara Oswald
Played by Jenna Coleman First appearance: Asylum of the Daleks (2012) While it seems odd to accuse a companion of not being able to stay away when she hasn't even left yet, the statement holds true for Clara Oswald whose tenure in the TARDIS has proven to been somewhat of a timey-wimey rollercoaster. Although the Clara we know and love first chanced upon the Doctor on present day Earth in The Bells of Saint John, he - and us - had already met her twice before, with both brief encounters ultimately resulting in her untimely death. Potentially problematic for any new companion, right? The Time Lord subsequently embarked on a personal mission to discover the truth behind this impossible girl who remained nothing more than a mystery wrapped in an enigma for the most part of Series 7, with any signs of character development being washed out in favour of her overriding story arc. They have well and truly made up for that in Series 8 though, and Clara has become a fully formed and multiply layered character - that is, when she isn't making soufflés, waiting on, looking after children or being an English teacher - in her own right after it was eventually revealed that her various personas were the result of her jumping into the Doctor's time stream on Trenzalore and imprinting herself on various points of his life. She was born to save the Doctor and save the Doctors she did, making her the only companion to date to have met each of his incarnations. Well, sort of. It's no surprise, then, that Clara has grown to hold a special place in the Doctor's hearts and, as far as companion checklists go, she has pretty much done it all. She's witnessed a regeneration, met all of her beloved Time Lord's predecessors, including a secret war-tarnished incarnation nobody knew anything about, accompanied him to his gravestone, discovered - then ultimately forgot - his real name, met River Song, and, as of the latest series, fallen in love with someone who wasn't the Doctor - hurrah! - who she ultimately lost at the hands of the Cybermen. Oh, and she's just added the Master to her list of iconic defeated adversaries, too! So, whatever next? It's safe to say that Clara's future in the TARDIS is well and truly in doubt. She parted ways with the Twelfth Doctor at the end of the last series but she'll be back later this month to star in her third Christmas Special, Last Christmas. Beyond that? Who knows. Jenna Coleman has added fuel to the fire by suggesting that Clara's ultimate fate will be an unprecedented one. "She can't just go back to having a normal life again," the actress teased in a recent interview. "I think shes too addicted to him and the life and the TARDIS. There isn't really a way back for her now." Whatever the future has in store for Clara, let's just hope it's a good one. Hasn't she been through enough?
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
It's safe to say that Clara's future in the TARDIS is well and truly in doubt. She parted ways with the Twelfth Doctor at the end of the last series but she'll be back later this month to star in her third Christmas Special, Last Christmas. Beyond that? Who knows. Jenna Coleman has added fuel to the fire by suggesting that Clara's ultimate fate will be an unprecedented one. "She can't just go back to having a normal life again," the actress teased in a recent interview. "I think shes too addicted to him and the life and the TARDIS. There isn't really a way back for her now." Whatever the future has in store for Clara, let's just hope it's a good one. Hasn't she been through enough?