Doctor Who: 10 Reasons Big Finish Is Better Than The TV Series
5. Companion Development
There'ss a tendency in both the Classic and revived series of Doctor Who for the companions to become carbon clones of each other. Martha Jones, for example, despite Freema Agyemans brilliant performance, always felt like she was nothing more than a last minute replacement for Billie Piper's Rose Tyler in terms of the way she was introduced and her consequent character development. Subsequently, viewers were never given a true sense of who she really was, other than a love sick puppy who was seemingly jealous of a girl she'd never met. In the audio adventures, though, the companions are brilliantly fleshed out with mini-arcs of their own that only serve to develop and ultimately test them. Lucie Miller, played by Sheridan Smith before she moved on to bigger and better things, is one of the best examples of this, going from brash Northern lass to someone who could truly stand up to the Doctor and make him see the consequences of his actions. Molly from Dark Eyes, meanwhile, started out like something of an Irish stereotype with her constant talk of "the Doctor and his Tardy-box. Once again, though, she broke free of that to become a dynamic and unique character in her own right. And who would ever have thought that Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstien, was influenced so much by her travels with the Time Lord...?
