10 Doctor Who Companions Who Were Better Than Their Doctors

7. Dorothy 'Ace' McShane (Sophie Aldred)

Another apt placement at number seven. While the Seventh Doctor evolved from a ham-fisted attempt at comedy (Sylvester Mccoy still holds the record for stuffing ferrets down his trousers) into a cunning conspirator, Ace was fully formed from her second scene. The first had her serving strawberry milkshakes and then pleasantly smiling but she was still just as violently tough as she was whenever she was faced with an alien adversary. It helps that she was the focus of the last three episodes of the Classic Series. It allowed her to evolve into one of the most complex and layered companions that the show has ever produced but she has to stay here on the list since it was only due to the - by this point - frighteningly Machiavellian Seventh Doctor that this could ever have come to fruition. While she was such a strong character, she essentially modelled the new series companion, The Seventh Doctor reigns over her as the cunning manipulator that keeps her in the dark which is ironic, really, since she spent their whole tenure together completely outshining him in every possible way. Ace, indeed!