10 Things The Doctor Who Reboot MUST Do

Doctor Who may have started off with a four-strong cast in 1963, but it’s become far more common for the Doctor to travel with just one or two companions.

We’ve occasionally had three companions in the years since, but there’s never enough space to do them all justice, and the weakest TARDIS teams in the show tend to be the ones that are more crowded.

Having just one or two companions who we can really get to know and care about is undoubtedly the best approach going forward, particularly if we’re now dealing with shorter seasons. There’s simply not enough space to develop loads of companions and do everything else Doctor Who needs to do when you're pressed for time.

As we saw with Ruby and Belinda, even eight 45-minute episodes to develop one companion is pushing it, although the writing was also at fault in those cases.

A small TARDIS crew is also the best option for a revival or a refresh. Look at Series 1 and Series 5: the Doctor, one companion, and an emotional, engaging story that both of them share. The last thing we need for the next era is to be bombarded with three companions who all have nothing to do while the Doctor – and by extent, the audience – never really develops a connection with any of them.

The proof is in the pudding. The best TARDIS dynamics in NuWho (including Series 1, Series 4, Series 5, and Series 9) all have one thing in common: a richly-developed relationship between the Doctor and their travel buddy!