Doctor Who: Remembering The First Doctor's Companions

5. Vicki Pallister (1965)

After Susan left, it was decided that a new companion needed to be added. The producers decided to make her a teenage girl from the future, because, hey, it had worked before, right? She was an orphan, introduced in a rather bizarre set of circumstances, and, despite initially seeming very similar to Susan, she wound up being quite a bit different indeed. Vicki heralded from the 25th century and had a good solid grounding in medicine, chemistry and other such sciences. Her mother had died when she was young and she'd gone with her father to a new colony world. Sadly, the ship carrying them crashed and her father was among those killed. Fortunately, though, the Doctor and company turned up to save the day which was good, considering the really weird places her story might have gone after that had they not showed up to rescue her. Vicki subsequently travelled with the Doctor for quite a little while, visiting places like ancient Rome and the Middle East during the Crusades, as well as various alien planets. She encountered the Daleks in The Chase (the story where Ian and Barbara left the TARDIS, remember?) and, while on a visit to the Trojan Wars in roughly the year 1,200 BC, she was given the name Cressida by King Priam and fell in love with his son, Troilus. She decided to remain behind with him when the TARDIS left so, as you can see, the idea of someone leaving for love was already becoming well established within the series. And people say it's only NuWho that relies too heavy on romance!