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Doctor Who: How Rose Tyler Made Fans Reconsider The Role of Companions

Rose is still the most popular modern Doctor Who companion, an updated and evolved version of the companion archetypes that came before her.

It's interesting that the modern era of Doctor Who sets Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) as the main template for companions in the series. Every companion ever since has been compared to her even when it's not always an apt comparison. It's not hard to understand. Rose is an ordinary teenager with a normal life in London whose life changes when she meets the Doctor and discovers adventures in Space and Time, and realises life offers so much more than a boring job in a shop and hanging out with a boyfriend. She was the audience's point of view character and entry point into the universe of Doctor Who. Russell T. Davies designed her as a post-Buffy heroine for a young audience, particularly a female audience hungry for more genre television that included them. Throughout the 90s, the BBC and British TV networks had been trying to come up with "the British Buffy" but never pulled the trigger on pitches because the executives were still too inherently snobbish and contemptuous towards genre television, particularly fantasy and Science Fiction. Ironically, Doctor Who became "the British Buffy". Rose's popularity was instrumental to the show becoming a hit because it made the series appeal to more than just boys.

Doctor Who Companion Archetypes

Doctor Who companions come in four categories: the Teenage Girl, the Adult Female Professional, the Bolshy Lady and, sometimes, the (Dumb) Guy Who Does the Running and Punching if the Doctor is Too Old. All of these companion archetypes have been there since the series premiered in 1963. The Doctor's granddaughter was the first Teenage Girl Companion. Her school teachers, Barbara and Ian, were original Adult Female Professional and Guy companions. The series has kept those varieties ever since. In the 1960s, it became Polly and Steven, and then the Second Doctor had Victoria and Jamie and maintained a buddy comedy dynamic with Jamie.

In 1970, Dr. Liz Shaw was the Third Doctor's first companion and the first new Professional Female Companion. She was nixed after one season because of rumours that she was too smart and on equal footing with The Doctor. Jo Grant replaced her and was closer to the Young Female Companion who hung on the Doctor's every word. Sarah Jane became the next Professional Female companion, and Dr. Harry Sullivan joined her and the Fourth Doctor as the first Dumb Guy Companion for years. Leela was a combination of the Teenage Girl and Professional Companion (she was a hunter and hardcore killer after all, so far the only companion who was unashamedly a killer and even relished it).

The Fifth Doctor had a whole "roommates" situation in the TARDIS with both Lyssa and Adric as the Teenage Girl and Dumb Teenage Guy Companions, with Turlough as the other Dumb Guy companion and Tegan as the first Bolshy Female Companion. In case you were wondering, or not American, "bolshy" is British slang for "bossy" or "opinionated". Bolshy companions were treated badly by the writers at the time because of the gender bias of male writers at the time.

Updating the Companion Archetypes in the Modern Era

Rose is an updated version of the Teenage Girl Companion. Davies retooled Doctor Who so that characters and emotions were as important as the plot, whereas the dynamic of the series – and virtually all genre television series scripts from the 1960s to the mid-1990s – was to put plot first and emotions as secondary or even optional. Mickey was a variation of the Dumb Guy and Captain Jack became the Muscle for a short time. Martha became the first updated version of the Adult Professional Companion, and Donna was the first Bolshy Companion since Tegan, but this time with great lines and great comedy, considering she was played by Catherine Tate. Amy was a grown-up version of the Girl Companion who stood up for herself instead of hanging on the Doctor's every word, and Rory was the first Guy Companion who wasn't dumb, just hapless. River wasn't really a companion but more the femme fatale irregular recurring companion who was a Mostly the Professional. You can pretty much work out how the next Doctors' companions fit.

Companions in the Disney+ Era

The reason Rose was and is still so popular is because she was instantly likable and relatable. She was deeply empathetic and kind though she wasn't without flaws. She could be bitchy, judgmental, and possessive at times, but her heart was always in the right place, and she always did the right thing. She redeemed a grief-stricken and traumatised Doctor and brought him back from PTSD and self-hatred. Ruby (Millie Gibson) is another Teenage Girl Companion, and inevitably compared to Rose, and that might be intentional since she would be the first companion to kids discovering Doctor Who for the first time since it's now twenty years since the 2005 revival.

It's early days in this Disney+ era, but it looks like Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) is a new version of the Adult Professional Companion like Martha was, and it seems to be a conscious decision by Davies to make her a medical practitioner like Martha was, with a bit of Bolshy thrown in. She doesn't totally trust the Doctor and didn't ask to be there with him, and just wants to go home to her life. That gives the relationship a bit more drama because there's conflict with the Doctor, so not everything is plain sailing and agreements – which always makes for more interesting stories.

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