6. Ace
Ace, what happened to you? For me, she was the best companion of the 1980's (after Romana II, who technically made her debut in 1979). After the dregs that were Peri (sorry, I hate her, all she did was whine!) and Mel (no explanation needed) Ace was a breath of fresh air, coming into Doctor Who just as the Seventh Doctor changed from bubbling buffoon to master manipulator. Essentially, she was the prototype for many modern companions she had an intriguing back story (her anger at her mother that led to her rebellious nature, a history with the 'haunted' house (Ghostlight) and even friends and a 'suburban' life she left behind (Survival). Even a kind of mini-arc; just why she was flung from her home town of Perivale to the icy planet of Svartos was revealed to be part of the machinations of the evil Fenric, luring the Doctor into a deadly trap. (On a side note - 'The Curse of Fenric' happens to be one of the finest
Doctor Who stories ever made!) Tragically, with the show's cancellation, we never found out what happened to Ace. By the time the Seventh Doctor returned in
Doctor Who: The Movie, he was alone and at the end of his life. Anyone who read my recent article
10 new things they can do with Clara, will know that Ace's departure was already planned for series 27, with the companion following in the 'Professor's' footsteps to join the academy at Gallifrey and become a Timelady herself. It is something I touted as a route for Clara to take when she finally leaves the Twelfth Doctor. As this never happened on screen, we're left without the answers to Ace's ultimate fate. She was lined up to make that eventual return in series five of The Sarah Jane Adventures after the success of Jo Grant the year before. Unfortunately, the tragic death of Elizabeth Sladen put an end to the series and Ace's return. So why not now? Russell T Davies obviously had ideas for what Ace did next. Why doesn't he make a one-off return to
Doctor Who with a cracking Ace storyline that sees her meet the Twelfth Doctor and Clara? If RTD feels he doesn't want to return, Sophie Aldred herself seems eager to reprise Ace. Given her popularity with audiences, it's up to Steven Moffat or his even successor to make that decision. But with Sarah Jane no longer able to make any further returns to the show, why not use Ace instead? A more mature Ace...but perhaps still with her explosive Nitro 9?