10 Saddest Doctor Who Companion Exits
3. Donna Noble in Journey's End
Donna Noble's exit is dreadfully sad. She achieves her full potential, defeats the Daleks, saves the universe and grows a whole new Doctor. Only for it all to be cruelly erased from her memory, to save her life. It's devastating because she has no real say in the matter. The Doctor takes it upon himself to wipe her brain without her consent. He feels terrible about it, obviously, look how devastated he is standing in the rain.
The tonal shift from the celebratory towing of the Earth by the TARDIS to Donna's mindwipe is enough to give you whiplash. It's a real downer of an ending to a series that had the most likeable Doctor and companion pairing of the modern series.
In the closing moments of The End of Time, however, the Doctor returns to put things right. On the day of Donna's wedding to a much nicer man than Racnoss agent Lance, he presents Wilf and Sylvia with a winning lottery ticket that will ensure she can afford to do all the travelling that she once dreamed of. It still doesn't take away from the gut-punch of Journey's End, though.