Doctor Who: 7 Times The Doctor Was Betrayed By Their Companions

2. Turlough Tries To Kill The Doctor

Doctor Who Mawdryn Undead Turlough tries to kill Fifth Doctor
BBC

We're first introduced to the carrot-topped Turlough in the 1983 serial Mawdryn Undead, where, interestingly, he's seen as both a companion, and a villain.

Turlough is brought into the fold after striking a deal with the Black Guardian, a god-like being who offers Turlough the opportunity to leave Earth... in exchange for murdering a so-called "evil creature" known as the Doctor.

Agreeing to this dodgy deal, Turlough proceeds to integrate himself into the TARDIS crew, joining the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa on their travels, pretending to be on their side.

He tries to kill the Doctor several times - whacking him over the head with a rock, sabotaging the TARDIS - but none of his attempts are successful, and eventually, Turlough abandons his murderous quest, and becomes a proper companion for the rest of his tenure.

With that head-bashing attempt in particular though, Turlough came surprisingly close to ending the Doctor's life, and if things had gone his way a bit more, he might've actually succeeded. He wasn't a true companion in his first few serials, sure, but attempted murder is still a betrayal of the highest order.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!