8. An Ensemble Cast?
For this humble writer, one of the greatest things about Doctor Who are the minor characters. As the Doctor so aptly described those people, those who make the show what it is.
"Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space I've never met anybody who wasn't important before."
And there is the magic of Doctor Who. The companions who follow him on his travels, the random adventurers and unlucky victims the Doctor meets on his travels: they humanise a show about an alien. Take Wilfred Mott, one of the best 'new Who' characters and you'll see that despite his importance his time on the show was understated. It's a show about the companions as much as the Doctor, as much about the ordinary people who he meets - even if they are not chosen to travel through time and space. That is a lesson that could be learnt from TV shows as contrasting as Vampire Diaries. Always remember the little people, follow up their story to the end and some of the show's mistakes could be righted. Without the little people, the ordinary men and women and children scared for their lives, this is a show about a hundreds year old alien traveling to far off planets. Far too distant from our own existences to be imaginable, without the human touch. Other shows make use of aliens who are all but human in attitudes and actions, Doctor Who relies on the companions. Perhaps better use could be made of them, is all.