Doctor Who: 10 More Characters We Want To See Return

Thanks to her continuing adventures in print during the so-called wilderness years after the show’s cancellation, Ace is quite possibly the most fully realised companion of them all. But even for those who didn’t follow her post Survival adventures, she was a firm favourite. Immediately recognisable with her badge laden bomber jacket and her stock of nitro-nine, Sophie Aldred’s streetwise teen made a huge impact during a time when the show had lost favour with the public and the powers that be.

The character was fleshed out with a rich backstory and some complex layers, making her the perfect prototype for the companions of the new series. She would be a natural fit for today’s Doctor Who and it’s a wonder her story hasn’t yet been revisited in the vein of Sarah Jane Smith and Jo Grant. There was a brief reference in the Sarah Jane Adventures, where we learnt that following her travels with the Doctor she returned to Earth and raised billions running the ACE charity, an acronym of A Charitable Earth. A tantalising clue as to what an older, wiser Ace might bring to the table.

These days Sophie Aldred is busy providing voices to some of Britain’s best loved children’s characters, but a regular on the Doctor Who convention circuit, she said in 2012 that she would drop everything to pick up the old Dalek bashing baseball bat again.