Doctor Who: 10 Most Embarrassing Classic Series Companions
4. Steven Taylor
When Peter Purves joined the crew of the TARDIS alongside the First Doctor and Vicki in The Chase (a story that also saw the exit of long-time series regulars Ian and Barbara), the space pilot of the future brought with him HiFi the stuffed panda toy. It was a mascot, because that's what all space pilots need. A panda toy. Because that's not embarrassing at all. But what really makes the character of Steven Taylor hard to watch is how aggressive he is to the Doctor. Like, all the blooming time. There's hardly a scene that goes by where Steven isn't yelling at the elderly Time Lord or arguing the toss over every last decision. That's not to say that Steven wasn't right a great deal of the time, but good grief, how did the Doctor ever put up with him? There's more to life than being right. Turf the ungrateful space pilot off the TARDIS already, Doctor!
Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year.
You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike
