There have been some terrific TARDIS teams in Doctor Who, so here is a rundown of the Doctor’s best gangs, as voted by our readers…
7. The First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara
The original TARDIS team was made up of mysterious travellers and a pair of school teachers who trailed one of the students, the rather odd Susan Foreman, home to a junkyard on Totters Lane.
Abducted by the Doctor, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton provided the contemporary viewpoint on the adventures in space and time; he was the science teacher and sometime action hero, she was the heart of the show and often its moral compass.
6. The Third Doctor, Jo Grant, The Brigadier, Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton
Arguably the core of the UNIT family, this team surrounded the Third Doctor to ably defend the Home Counties from alien invasion during his exile to Earth.
While not strictly all TARDIS travellers, the Brigadier and his staff of Yates and Benton, plus the Doctor’s assistant Jo Grant, were as much of a team as any on the show.
5. The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe
Together for Patrick Troughton’s final season, this line-up saw the Doctor with one companion from the Earth’s past and one from the future.
Arguably cleverer than the Doctor, well she thought so at least, Zoe Heriot hailed from the late 21st century and encountered the Doctor and Jamie on Space Station W3 where she worked as an astrophysicist. This made her the ideal foil for Jamie’s raw, 17th Century charm.
4. The Eleventh Doctor, Clara, Vastra, Jenny and Strax
The Paternoster Gang – the Silurian Madame Vastra, her human wife Jenny Flint and their Sontaran butler Strax – were a great touchstone for the Eleventh Doctor, and to whom he retreated after the loss of Amy and Rory.
They appear to have accepted Clara now, after a little back and forth, but have not been seen since the Twelfth’s debut story, making us wonder if their time on the show is over.
Continued on next page…