Doctor Who: Remembering The First Doctor's Companions

6. Ian Chesterton And Barbara Wright (1963-1965)

If Susan was, by default, the first actual companion, then these two were the first proper ones. That is to say that they weren't personally connected with the Doctor in any way until the day they stumbled onto his TARDIS and wound up, quite unintentionally on their parts, travelling with him through time and space. Ian was a science teacher. He was young and vibrant and expected to be something of an action oriented character, especially once the original plans to cast a younger man as the Doctor were shelved. Meanwhile, Barbara was a history teacher. When the TARDIS crew travelled around to various places, like China or the Aztec Empire, for example, she was able to explain to Susan, and thereby the audience, exactly where they were and what was happening. Best of all, the two had this wonderful chemistry together. There was real love and affection that showed through pretty much from the start and it's no surprise that in all the later spin offs and such, everyone assumes that the two got married upon returning home. There is really no other acceptable end to their stories. The two left the TARDIS at the conclusion of The Chase, returning to London about a year after they'd departed. Timey-wimey and that. One can only imagine that the authorities had all sorts of interesting questions for them, given that they disappeared on the same night as one of their students...