Doctor Who: 10 More Characters We Want To See Return
With John Simm set to make his Doctor Who come-back, who else is long overdue a return?
Series 10 is proving to be the year of the comeback kids, with Steven Moffat revisiting some of the most popular characters and aliens from Doctor Who’s back catalogue before he bows out. Apart from those already announced there will almost certainly be one or two other surprises along the way.
Nobody would bet against a Karen Gillan-like cameo from Jenna Coleman in the Christmas special, though it’s unlikely we’ll ever see the Candyman from The Happiness Patrol again. Mind you… Macra? Who’d have thought it?
Speculation has already started as to whether Moffat’s successor Chris Chibnall will continue the trend and if so which characters he might bring back, and fans are quick to offer some suggestions.
There are those characters who were such instant hits that there will always be calls for their return, others who were short changed and deserve another go, and still more whose fate was left on a cliffhanger or whose stories remain frustratingly incomplete.
These are the prime candidates for a welcome comeback to Doctor Who. To borrow a phrase from the Curator in The Day of the Doctor, there’s no harm revisiting a few faces from the past, so long as it’s “just the old favourites, eh?”
10. Shona McCullough
Shona McCullough, as played by Faye Marsay, is remembered as one of the great companions who never were. The character was held in such fond regard that after Jenna Coleman announced she was leaving, Faye Marsay was hotly tipped to take her place. Steven Moffat eventually poured cold water on the rumours, and indeed bringing back a familiar character as the Doctor’s companion would be a misstep given his plans to make series 10 something of a relaunch.
Marsay’s sole appearance in Last Christmas looked to all intents and purposes like an audition for a longer term role, especially since Coleman had initially planned to leave after the Christmas Special, but a change of heart by the ex-Emmerdale actress meant that Clara’s story was not quite done.
After her heroic exploits in overcoming the dream crabs, Shona deserved a better ending than to return to her humdrum life as a shop worker with no memory of her extraordinary adventure. She was funny, brave and more than a match for Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor. It would be lovely to see the Doctor dropping in on her for one more time at least. Perhaps she could even share a dance with him.