Doctor Who: Every Character Who Can Fly The TARDIS

2. Clara Oswald

Doctor Who Clara Hell Bent
BBC

The main thrust of Clara's arc with the Twelfth Doctor was her desire to become more "Doctor-like". In Flatline, she took the Doctor's place when he was unavailable to lead the adventure, and by the end of her story, she had started taking big, highly dangerous risks - risks that she thought the Doctor would also take.

While this particular aspect of her development was completely misguided (the Doctor does take risks, sure, but rarely stupid ones), Clara was indeed a lot like the Doctor in many ways: she was brave, and genuinely wanted to help other people; she was curious, and found great joy in exploring the universe; and, most relevant to this list, she was a skilled TARDIS pilot.

While she didn't get along with the Doctor's TARDIS at first, she ultimately earned its respect - to the extent that she was able to close its doors with a snap of her fingers, an ability that very few people possess.

With the Eleventh Doctor, Clara also started taking lessons on how to fly the TARDIS correctly, and with the Twelfth, she began using advanced TARDIS functions - like its telepathic circuits - more regularly.

By the end of her arc in Hell Bent, Clara had grown into a confident TARDIS operator, able to fly the vessel without the Doctor's input. She even had her own funky TARDIS - which resembled an American diner - and set off to explore the universe without any hesitation, like an excited teenager who just bought their first car.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.