Doctor Who: What Happened To Every Companion?

Doctor Who, the sci fi television sensation, has been running for 56 years. Half a century, and 13 incarnations of the eponymous Doctor throughout, is obviously a lot of content to get through and keep track of. Fortunately nerds LIVE for this kind of thing, so the internet has an archive of everything from beginning to now.

Which is definitely good for us, considering the task we've undertaken.

The Doctor has traveled with companions literally since the beginning. The character - no matter how the actor playing them portrays them - is not all that interesting on their own, and thus needs someone to bounce off of. There have been almost as many companions as there are years that this show has been around. So, for reasons that escape me, we're going to look through what ultimately happened to The Doctor's companions. All of them.

To ensure that this list doesn't stray too far into double digits, we'll separate each entry into each era of The Doctor, detailing the departure of each companion that left during that era. Obviously 13 isn't on here, since her era isn't over yet, but besides that, here is what became of the people The Doctor brought along on his quest to see the stars.

To call the very first season of Doctor Who from way back in the mid 60's experimental would be an understatement. Half the writing team thought they were making an edutainment show, the other half wanted to make a hard sci fi show, and you can feel that tug of war in every pore of the season.

The first companion The Doctor ever had was his granddaughter Susan. Yes The Doctor had a granddaughter on Earth, no we do not have the time to explain how that works. Susan traveled with The Doctor for a while, before meeting and falling in love with a man. When The Doctor found out, he convinced Susan to stay on Earth to have the one thing The Doctor can never have: a normal life.

The other two companions were a pair of teachers named Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. As much as they enjoyed traveling with The Doctor, Ian and Barbara had a life to get back to, and hopped a Dalek time ship the moment The Doctor had his back turned.

Susan returned to her normal life, while Ian and Barbara got married. They would make future appearances, but this was the end of their regular adventures.

Next up was Vicki, a brainy 16 year old who replaced Susan for a while. At least before doing what she did and falling in love, this time with a Trojan prince.

Alongside Vicki was Steven Taylor, who stowed away on the Tardis, and due to circumstances, could not return home, so he traveled with The Doctor and Vicki. His travels with The Doctor came to an end when he was offered a chance to help rebuild a civilization, which he accepted.

The companion with the shortest time with Hartnell's Doctor was Katarina, a Trojan spy sent to spy on him but ended up befriending him. But during an adventure where they had to cure Steven of a disease, Katarina sacrificed herself to save her new friends, by launching herself and the monster of the week into deep space.

The last companion to leave in the 1st era was Dodo Chaplet, a teenage girl who traveled a short time with the 1st Doctor. After a war machine conditioned her to betray The Doctor, he had her sent to the country to recuperate. Tired of adventuring with The Doctor and traumatized from tyhe experience, she never bothered coming back.