Doctor Who - Friends and Companions - BBC Website

Friends and Companions

Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), William Russell (Ian) and William Hartnell (The Doctor) explore the mysterious tower in The Keys of Marinus (1963)

Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), William Russell (Ian) and William Hartnell (The Doctor) explore the mysterious tower in The Keys of Marinus (1963)

The Doctor’s friends bring a unique dynamic to his journey through space and time. Their support and advice have helped transform him from a crotchety old man to the ever-curious adventurer we know and love today.

To honour the 60th anniversary of television's most famous time-traveller, BBC Archives has curated this intergalactic photo album…

"You act like such a lonely man. But look at you! You’ve got the biggest family on Earth" Sarah Jane Smith (2008)

David Tennant (The Doctor) and Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) on the day Vesuvius erupts in The Fires of Pompeii (2008)

Don't blink! Matt Smith (The Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) in Flesh and Stone (2010)

The first time they met. Louise Jameson (Leela) and Tom Baker (The Doctor) in The Face of Evil (1977)

Do you want to play a game? Carmen Silvera (Clara), Peter Purves (Steven) and Campbell Singer (Joey the Clown) in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)

William Hartnell (The Doctor), Michael Craze (Ben) and Anneke Wills (Polly) inside the TARDIS in The Smugglers (1966)

Sophie Aldred (Ace) and Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor) in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988)

Peter Capaldi (The Doctor) and Pearl Mackie (Bill) head to a future Earth colony to discover if the people there are happy in Smile (2017)

Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Peter Davison (The Doctor). The newly regenerated Doctor needs some rest and relaxation aboard his TARDIS in Castrovalva (1981)

Bonnie Langford (Melanie) about to be trapped in a giant bubble in Time and the Rani, Sylvester McCoy’s debut episode as The Doctor (1987)

Paul McGann (The Doctor) and Daphne Ashbrook (Dr Grace Holloway) aboard the TARDIS in Doctor Who: The Movie (1996)

Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Wendy Padbury (Zoe) the companion with a computer mind in The Wheel in Space (1968)

Georgia Tennant (Jenny) on the planet Messaline in The Doctor's Daughter (2008)

Tom Baker (The Doctor) and Lalla Ward (Romana) on the planet Skaro in Destiny of the Daleks (1979)

Who's for tea? Deborah Watling (Victoria) and Patrick Troughton (The Doctor) on the set of The Abominable Snowman (1967)

Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan) investigating the whereabouts of The Doctor in Revolution of the Daleks (2021)

Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Matt Smith (The Doctor) and Alex Kingston (River Song) in The Time of Angels (2010)

Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) in The Five Doctors (1983)

David Tennant (The Doctor) and Catherine Tate (Donna) in Partners in Crime (2008)

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