Travelling in Time and Space is all fun and games until it has to end.
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00:00 Over the years, the Doctor has had a lot of companions, but not all of them have had the
00:04 happiest of endings.
00:06 While some have been able to walk away on their own terms and live happily ever after,
00:10 others have suffered the consequences of being associated with the Time Lord, and some have
00:14 even died.
00:16 What is it about a companion exit that makes it so sad?
00:19 We spend our time with these people, and they see the universe through our eyes.
00:22 So when the time comes for them to go, we feel like we're losing a friend, and perhaps
00:26 even a part of ourselves, because we can imagine ourselves in that situation and how we'd
00:31 feel if it were us.
00:32 With companions Ace and Tegan recently revealed to be returning for the Centenary Special,
00:37 and Yaz and Dan now both set to leave the show, it seems like a great time to look back
00:41 on some of the saddest and most emotional companion exits in Doctor Who history.
00:46 So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with the 10 Saddest Doctor Who Companion
00:51 Departures.
00:52 10.
00:53 Clara Oswald Clara Oswald is the companion with the most
00:57 departures.
00:58 Her original ending came at the end of Season 8, when she finally decided to leave the Doctor
01:03 after the super sad "never trust a hug" scene, where both are hiding their emotions.
01:08 Clara returned for the Christmas Special last Christmas, which was set to wrap up her character
01:12 arc, with the final reveal that through all the dream sequences, when the Doctor finally
01:16 escapes and uncovers the truth, Clara is actually an old woman.
01:20 This was changed again when Jenna decided to stay another series, and another layer
01:24 of dreams was added so that Clara could actually be fine.
01:27 Season 9 saw Clara become more and more like the Doctor, and played on the dangers of her
01:31 becoming too much like her hero.
01:33 It ultimately led to her death after she selflessly sacrificed herself to save a friend's life.
01:38 Clara's death scene in Face the Raven ended up hurting a lot, because it proved how much
01:42 the Doctor messed her up.
01:44 Still in two episodes time, the Doctor would bring her back from the moment of death, which
01:48 she would have to return to when she was ready, and allow her to live as an immortal.
01:52 She even got her own TARDIS, but the Doctor lost all memory of her.
01:55 The real tragedy was how a fitting final sacrifice was cheapened and completely undone in one
02:01 of New Who's most controversial moments that still divides fans to this day.
02:06 9.
02:07 Susan
02:08 Susan's departure isn't too sad.
02:09 She leaves of her own choice after falling in love, but it's the Doctor's goodbye monologue
02:14 to her that is most poignant.
02:16 Susan knows that "one day I shall come back" line, but what makes it even more sad is that
02:21 if we just count the main show as the official canon, he never did.
02:25 William Hartnell often struggled on set, but he and Caroline Ford, who played Susan, were
02:30 very close.
02:31 They even remained close friends after she left the show, so he was obviously sad when
02:35 she left, and that can be felt in his goodbye speech.
02:38 Even more sad is that it shouldn't have come down to this, but Caroline Ford explains
02:43 that she had been promised a cool character with telepathic powers, and she was meant
02:47 to be like an Avengers girl with a great wardrobe.
02:50 When none of that came to fruition, Ford felt cheated and decided to leave.
02:53 I mean, who can blame her?
02:55 Still, we'd have loved to have seen more of Susan, and the fact that the Doctor just
02:58 abandons her to a normal life is very tragic.
03:01 8.
03:02 Jamie and Zoe
03:04 Classic Doctor Who didn't really have too much in the way of big, dramatic, and sad
03:08 departures, but the end of Jamie and Zoe's adventures with the Time Lord was relatively
03:12 harsh.
03:13 The two companions had travelled with the Doctor for some time, and had loved their
03:17 time with him, but as always, it has to end.
03:19 In their case, the final departure came at the end of the War Games serial, which saw
03:23 Patrick Troughton's Doctor forced to regenerate at the end.
03:27 His companions are taken from him and placed back into their lives after their first meeting
03:31 with the Doctor.
03:32 Their memories are also wiped of all but their first encounter with him.
03:36 To make their punishment even more sadistic, the Time Lords show the Doctor a video of
03:40 each companion going back to their lives.
03:42 It seems quite innocent at first, until Jamie is almost shot and then we realise he's
03:46 been dumped back into the middle of a war on the losing side, which means his future
03:51 doesn't look too bright.
03:52 It's a horrible end to one of the Doctor's favourite and most trusted friends.
03:57 7.
03:58 Ace
03:59 Ace's departure from the show was sad, not because of how it happened, but because of
04:03 how it didn't happen.
04:04 Ace was a great companion played by Sophie Aldred throughout the McCoy era.
04:09 In fact, it can be argued that Ace became the blueprint for the modern companion.
04:13 Instead of just being a pretty girl who screamed her way through the adventures, Ace would
04:16 get involved, fight back, and even had a large story arc, which put her front and centre
04:21 and made her an important person in the Doctor's life.
04:24 She was also the first obviously LGBTQ+ companion, which for the time was amazing representation,
04:30 considering laws like Section 28, which made it illegal to teach LGBTQ+ issues in school,
04:36 had recently been passed.
04:38 Ace had a bright future ahead of her, which only hurt even more when Doctor Who was cancelled
04:42 by the BBC in 1989.
04:45 The last we saw of Ace, she wandered off with the Doctor in an open-ended finale.
04:49 And we never saw another televised adventure with Ace.
04:52 That is, until this year's centenary special.
04:56 6.
04:57 Tegan Javanka
04:58 Tegan was one of Doctor Who's most popular companions of all time.
05:02 The self-proclaimed mouth-on-legs of the team was always there to offer an opinion and call
05:06 the Doctor out when she thought he was wrong.
05:08 She was strong, reliable, and brave, so when her time came to leave, it was a gut punch
05:13 for fans who had loved her for so long.
05:15 Her exit was one that felt very real and was written beautifully.
05:19 After a brutal battle with the Daleks in which she witnessed a lot of death, Tegan decides
05:23 that she's had enough.
05:24 The scene where she decides to leave is an example of some of the best writing in classic
05:28 Who, and also some of the best acting.
05:31 It's a quiet, intimate scene with an atmospheric score, where Tegan tells the Doctor that she's
05:36 tired and it's stopped being fun.
05:38 It's clear the traumatic consequences travelling with the Doctor has affected her.
05:42 It only hurts more when she runs back to see the TARDIS dematerialise and mutter "Braveheart,
05:47 Tegan."
05:48 It's a perfect example of how a companion exit doesn't have to involve death or something
05:52 horrible happening to be painful viewing.
05:54 It can be as simple as having enough and still hurt more than killing the character off.
05:58 5.
05:59 Adric
06:00 Adric was probably one of Doctor Who's more annoying companions.
06:04 He wasn't very popular, and his attitude was patronising, condescending, and he was
06:08 basically a brat.
06:09 However, the thing that really hits hard about his time on the show is that it ends with
06:13 a massive tragedy, one like Doctor Who had never seen before.
06:17 As he tried to stop a ship crashing into the Earth, of course, it all goes wrong when the
06:22 dying Cyber Leader shoots the console and Adric is unable to fix the ship.
06:26 His simple "Now I'll never know if I was right" line is so sad because had he been
06:31 given the opportunity to be uninterrupted, he might have been able to succeed.
06:35 The episode ends with Adric accepting his fate as the Earth comes in closer on screen.
06:40 It cuts to the TARDIS, where the gang see the ship explode.
06:43 Nyssa and Tegan scream out and embrace each other, and the Doctor can't process what
06:47 just happened.
06:48 What made it even more shocking was that the final credits rolled in silence over a picture
06:52 of Adric's signature star shattered into pieces.
06:55 4.
06:56 Amy and Rory
06:58 Amy and Rory became huge parts of the Eleventh Doctor's life.
07:01 Initially friends and companions, they found themselves to be his in-laws after some shocking
07:06 twists and revelations.
07:08 They were a close-knit group and had a wonderful dynamic together, so their eventual departure
07:12 was guaranteed to hurt.
07:14 When the Weeping Angels sent Rory back in time, the Doctor and Amy went back to find
07:18 him, which leads to a massive emotional climax where the couple jump off a building so that
07:22 their deaths will create a paradox to destroy the Angels.
07:26 When that works, they find themselves back in a graveyard, and Rory spots his name on
07:30 a grave.
07:31 As he calls Amy to look, he is caught by an Angel and sent back again.
07:34 In the following moments, Amy decides to get sent back too, so she can be with Rory.
07:39 The Doctor is crying, Amy is crying, River encourages her, and as Amy says raggedy man
07:44 goodbye, she turns around and the Angel touches her.
07:47 The Doctor breaks down and River is there to comfort him, as Amy's name appears on
07:51 the gravestone with Rory's.
07:52 It's so painful on so many levels, but it's a strange one.
07:56 It's sad for us to say goodbye, but at least they got to have their lives together.
08:00 3.
08:01 Bill Potts Poor Bill.
08:03 She was one of the fan favourite companions of New Who, and it's criminal that we never
08:08 got more time with her.
08:09 Bill deserved to be with Peter Capaldi's Doctor for at least another season.
08:13 Bill and Twelve were up there with Ken and Donna in terms of popularity.
08:17 When Bill is injured, and by injured that means a huge hole shot through her, she's
08:20 taken away to be fixed, but only ends up being converted into a Cyberman.
08:24 It's a heartbreaking story which sees Bill genuinely think she might get better, and
08:28 spend a long time in the presence of John Simms' master, who is manipulating her.
08:33 What makes it even worse is that the Doctor misses her conversion by moments.
08:38 Still in typical Moffat fashion, Bill was brought back by Heather, her space puddle
08:42 girlfriend - tch, it's Doctor Who, don't question it - and turned into a magic space
08:46 travelling spirit and allowed to live on.
08:49 According to the Twice Upon a Time novel, Bill and Heather ended up taking on a human
08:52 life together, and upon her deathbed as an old woman, Bill sent Heather back off into
08:57 the universe.
08:58 Her story is one of tragedy and pain, which took us on a rollercoaster of emotion, and
09:03 then got kind of confusing with the return and explaining away her magic survival.
09:07 2.
09:08 Rose Tyler
09:09 New Who had proven that it could be cruel in its first two seasons.
09:13 Episodes like Father's Day and Parting of the Ways had shown fans that RTD was not playing
09:18 around, and was willing to rip our hearts out and stamp all over them.
09:22 Fans endured an emotional rollercoaster at the hands of the brilliantly devious showrunner,
09:26 who took us down a path where Rose Tyler and the Doctor fell in love.
09:30 It could have been a perfect happy ending, but it never is with the Doctor.
09:34 In Doomsday, Rose was pulled into an alternate dimension while helping the Doctor save the
09:39 world at the Battle of Canary Wharf.
09:41 As good as dead, she managed to make a life in this alternate world work, but not before
09:45 the Doctor burned up a son to say goodbye.
09:47 It was heart-wrenchingly romantic, but he never got to say the words "I love you".
09:52 Instead, he just managed "Rose Tyler".
09:55 Even when Rose returned later, it only got sadder when Ten gave her a version of himself
09:59 that could age and have a life with her, knowing it's all he wanted but could never have.
10:03 When Rose asked what he was going to say at the beach that day, he confirms he simply
10:07 said "Rose Tyler", but ads, does it need saying?
10:11 It truly proved that RTD could make this second goodbye even more painful than the first.
10:17 1.
10:18 Donna Noble
10:19 Tennant and Tate were the dream team, and the absolute pinnacle of New Who popularity.
10:24 There's no doubt that Season 4 was the best, and a solid reason why fans are so excited
10:29 for RTD to return.
10:30 Donna was the greatest companion, because she played the best friend to the Time Lord,
10:34 and there was absolutely no romance between them, a relief after way too much in the previous
10:39 seasons.
10:40 She and the Doctor kept each other in check, and just had great chemistry.
10:43 It should have lasted forever.
10:45 Her exit was the most traumatic of all, though.
10:48 In Journey's End, she became the Doctor Donna, and had to have her memory wiped to save her
10:52 life.
10:53 Even when Ten caught up with her family later, he wasn't allowed to hang around because
10:56 meeting her for too long could trigger the memories of their adventures and kill her.
11:01 Seeing Donna's character development undone and her revert to an airhead gossip was painful.
11:06 It was at her wedding, though, when Ten secretly attended and gifted her a lottery ticket that
11:10 emotions were high all round.
11:12 Obviously, we knew the ticket would be a winner, and he was setting Donna up for a great start
11:16 in her new life, but she would never be able to know it was him, and that was just too
11:21 much.
11:22 And that concludes our list.
11:24 If you think we missed any, then do let us know in the comments below, and while you're
11:27 there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:30 Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there @whoculture, and I can be found across various
11:35 social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:37 I've been Ellie with WhoCulture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye,