When your time travelling adventures with the Doctor are over there are variety of ways to make an exit, some grand and some not so.
While some go out with a bang (Adric), others leave with more of a whimper (Tegan). Some go home to face the past they ran from (Turlough), while others are bundled out of the TARDIS with barely a proper goodbye (Sarah Jane) or choose to take care of the family at home (Martha).
There are a few, however, whose love for travel with the Time Lord has been trumped by love of the old-fashioned romantic kind. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here is our rundown of companions who left for love…
Susan in ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth: Flashpoint’ (1964)
The Doctor’s granddaughter Susan was the first to leave the TARDIS crew with actress Carole Ann Ford later expressing her disappointment at the lack of character development. In the fiction of the show though, Susan left for the love of David Campbell, a freedom fighter against the Dalek occupation of Earth in the 22nd Century.
Although she has feeling for David, it was actually the Doctor who made the choice for her, locking her out of the TARDIS for her own good and affording William Hartnell one of his most famous speeches: “One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.”
Vicki in ‘The Myth Makers’ (1965)
Joining the show as a surrogate Susan, Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) travelled with the First Doctor. A futuristic orphan, she enjoyed a warm relationship with the Doctor, but only stayed for nine stories.
Falling for the Trojan warrior Troilus, she left the Doctor and Stephen to their travels and opted to remain in the past, taking the name Cressida. The two then would go on to be quite well known…
Jo Grant in ‘The Green Death’ (1973)
Across her three years on the show, Jo (Katy Manning) enjoyed the attentions of various potential suitors. She went out on the town with Capt. Mike Yates, and turned down offers from Latep (‘Planet of the Daleks’) and even a Prince (‘The Curse of Peladon’).
In her final tale, Jo’s burgeoning interest in matters ecological took her to the Welsh village of Llanfairfach and ultimately into the arms of Professor Clifford Jones, a Nobel-winning environmentalist. Taken with his alternative lifestyle, she accepted his marriage proposal and they headed to off explore the Amazon.
Despite suggestions in other spin-off media, Jo and Cliff’s marriage was still going strong when she returned in The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2010 with tales of a happy life of ecological activism and grandson Santiago (Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones) in tow.
Leela in ‘The Invasion of Time’ (1978)
Despite barely exchanging a word during the events of the story, noble Warrior Leela chose Andred of Gallifrey’s Chancellery Guard over further travels with the Doctor. In truth, the production team were hoping that actress Louise Jameson would change her mind and sign for further adventures.
For followers of the audio spin-off series ‘Gallifrey’, Leela and Andred’s story continued as they both worked for Lady President Romana through regenerations, faked deaths and murders. Who said Gallifrey was stuffy?
Amy Pond/Williams in ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ (2012)
As exits go, Amy’s decision to leave her travels has to top our list. With Rory taken from her by a Weeping Angel, Amy chose to follow him and be zapped back in time to 1930’s New York so they could be together. She did this knowing that the Doctor could never come back for them, due to the level of temporal disturbance surrounding the city (or something).
Right back to her introduction in 2010, a central theme of Amy’s story was her having to choose between her ‘raggedy man’ childhood friend and her real and present fiancé/husband Rory. Holding off that decision for her, Rory even came travelling aboard the TARDIS and embraced life with the Doctor but in the end, Amy’s love for her husband won out.
Honourable mention: Rose Tyler in ‘Journey’s End’ (2008)
Despite clearly being in love with the Doctor, it wasn’t until her second exit from the show that Rose Tyler (Biller Piper) finally got her happy ever after (sort of).
With the events of ‘Journey’s End’ creating a half-human meta-crisis Doctor, the Doctor saw an opportunity to give Rose the relationship he couldn’t offer and left his doppelganger in her care.
Another honourable mention: Peri in ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ (1986)
Although we saw Peri die, the victim of a brain transplant experiment, it seems that her ultimate fate might been happier and much less dramatic.
If the Inquisitor at the Doctor’s trial is to be believed, she ended up as a warrior Queen alongside Brian Blessed’s King Yrcanos. While he was certainly keen, there were little in the way of such feelings on her part!
What’s the most romantic Doctor Who exit? Let us know below…