Life as the Doctor's coveted companion is hard enough at the best of times but it proved to be a particularly turbulent affair for Martha Jones who spent most of her initial TARDIS tenure desperately trying to escape the shadow of her persistent predecessor. Taking over from Rose Tyler was never going to be easy but if anyone was going to do it, let's just be thankful that it was Martha. She first encountered the Tenth Doctor back in Series 3 when the hospital she was working at was transported to the Moon and "just one trip" in the TARDIS soon escalated into many more as she wasted no time in establishing herself as one of the most popular and faithful companions in Doctor Who history. It's just a real shame the Doctor didn't notice her, then. He was far too hung up on losing Rose to acknowledge Martha's presence and it wasn't until she single handedly walked the entire Earth and defeated the Master that he started to realise she might actually be a human being in her own right. It was too little, too late by then, though, and, after calling it a day on her extra terrestrial escapades, becoming UNIT's senior medical officer and abandoning the confines of alien busting organisations to fight the good fight alongside her husband, Mickey Smith, as a freelance Earth Defender (she even managed to squeeze a short but sweet stint Torchwood stint in along the way!), Martha has become a stronger person who is now defined by her achievements rather than by her ill-fated story of unrequited love. She's Dr Martha Jones. Who the hell are you? Exactly.
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.
