Everyone has a few throw away or minor characters that have appeared once or twice on DOCTOR WHO that we all grew attached to and wanted to see them become a fixture on the deck of the TARDIS. So I put together my own little list of modern Who guest stars that would have been perfect as full-time Companions.

Dr. Nasreen Chaudhry (Meera Syal)

Having never warmed to the adult version of Amy Pond (8 year old Amelia Pond was all manner of awesome however), I immediately latched onto Dr. Chaudry when she was introduced in THE HUNGER EARTH/COLD BLOOD two-parter. She was a scientist, she was witty, not easily flustered and was a capable “woman of a certain age”. I would have been fine with the Silurians killing Amy and Rory and Nasreen moving her gear into one of the TARDIS’ spare rooms. But alas love kept her from joining The Doctor on his travels.

Rita (Amara Karan)

Poor Rita. I knew she was doomed after about 5 minutes of seeing her in action in the THE GOD COMPLEX episode but that didn’t stop me from hoping against hope that The Doctor was serious when he “fired” Amy and offered her spot on the TARDIS to Rita. Rita was all the things I liked about Martha Jones when she was first introduced. She was smart (she was a med student) and quick with her observations. She was also a devout Muslim which provided a nice dichotomy to the situation she found herself in. She also had one of the sadder deaths of a minor character in modern Who history.

Madame Vastra and Jenny

While I would rather have these two (and their partner Strax) in their own spin-off show, barring that i think that having them become The Doctor’s companions could have (and would have) been really fun. it also would have been interesting to have a non-humanoid on the show instead of all of these regular human looking folks. plus Vastra and Jenny being lovers would remove the (what seems to be inevitable) romantic nonsense that comes up between the modern Doctor and his female Companions (except for the lovely Donna Noble who wasn’t interested in the least) which I have grown really tired of.

Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles)

By the time THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE aired I had already grown weary of Rose and was more than happy when Reinette/Madame de Pompadour. Sure having Reinette travel with The Doctor as his companion would have been inviting yet another blonde with romantic interests in The Doctor onto the TARDIS but Sophia Myles was so good in the role and the character was very interesting. The idea of a historic figure becoming a Companion just struck me as being infinitely interesting.

Canton Delaware (Mark Sheppard)

Why wouldn’t every Who fan want Canton Delaware back as a Companion for The Doctor? He is an awesome, complicated character that is pretty much tailor made to fill the role in modern Who that The Brigadier filled in classic Who. Plus he is portrayed by Mark Sheppard and Sheppard makes everything he is in better.

Liz 10 (Sophie Okonedo)

The Doctor needs a Companion that has a little fire to her and Liz 10 (or Elizabeth X if you prefer) is about as close as modern Who has gotten to a Leela-like character that would still be accepted by The Doctor as a Companion. Sure she has a kingdom to rule but seeing as how she is nearly immortal and The Doctor is a Time Lord, why not pluck Liz 10 out of a certain point in her timeline and let her have some fun kicking butt with the Doctor before she has to go back to the throne. Plus I enjoy Sophie Okonedo immensely.