Doctor Who: 6 Reasons The Sixth Doctor Is Usually Hated

2. Saddled With Weak Companions

Many Doctor Who fans will state the show is actually about the companions and there have been many notable ones in both Classic and NuWho, such as the Brigadier, Rose Tyler, Amy Pond, Tegan Jovanka and, of course, the late great Elisabeth Sladen. Each Doctor can be linked to at least one notable companion, with the exception of the Sixth Doctor. During his TV run, the Sixth Doctor had two notable companions, Peri Brown and Melanie Bush. Neither of these two females were particularly notable as the show was all about the Sixth Doctor and his companions were only seemingly there to be put in danger or get in the way. While Mel did become better during the Seventh Doctor's run, that could be due to the stories becoming better while Sylvester McCoy was at the helm of the TARDIS, as well as better natural synergy between the two actors. Perhaps with a stronger companion, or one that Colin Baker worked better with in the studio, the stories wouldn't have seemed to focus solely around the Doctor. This would have been a great time for the Brigadier to have become a part-time TARDIS companion, as Nicholas Courtney worked well with each previous version of the Doctor, including the First Doctor stand-in Richard Hurndall in the episode The Five Doctors.