The 60s was a turbulent time for Doctor Who companions, with many actors leaving the TARDIS in rapid succession. What was the real reason for all the quick exits?
For its first two years, Doctor Who enjoyed a period of relative stability. The show was something of a tight-knit family, overseen by the producer Verity Lambert, and the cast were firmly entrenched in their roles.
Susan, played by Carole Ann Ford, was the first of the Doctor Who companions to leave the TARDIS, but even this relatively early departure didn’t rock the boat. She was soon replaced by the character of Vicki, played by Maureen O’Brien, and the series continued to operate as a tight unit.
It wouldn’t be fair to say that things went ‘wrong’ when Verity Lambert left the producer’s chair, but her departure did create some instability. This could be because she was ‘phased’ out of the role, rather than having a clean break; there were some stories where she was still technically the producer, but had little creative involvement. At the same time, the new production team was still beholden to some of her earlier creative decisions, such as the commissioning of the twelve-part ‘Daleks’ Master Plan‘ which they weren’t overly keen on.
This somewhat messy situation must have made it tricky when it came to the Doctor Who companions. Vicki’s departure, for example, wasn’t as smooth as it could have been. Her contract wasn’t renewed past the first few episodes of Season Three, whereas her co-star Peter Purves’ had been. O’Brien was furious about this; apparently, there had been some confusion as to whether she wanted to remain with the show or not, and the producer John Wiles understood that she wanted to leave. And whilst O’Brien was ultimately happy with the decision, she did have something of a whirlwind exit at the end of ‘The Myth Makers.’
Replacing Doctor Who companions is always tricky, and finding a new character to fill Vicki’s boots was no exception. Initially, the production team created a character called Katarina, played by Adrienne Hill, but in a dramatic twist Katarina was written out before the actor even arrived. This is because her character was from Ancient Greece, and the producers quickly realised that too many things would have to be explained to her, which would hamper the storytelling.
Katarina, therefore, became one of the shortest-lived Doctor Who companions in the series’ history, lasting just four episodes and getting killed off midway through ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan,’ jettisoning herself out of an air lock in order to give the Doctor and his friends a chance to escape.
Her role was temporarily filled by Sara Kingdom, played by Jean Marsh, although the jury is out as to whether she truly counts as one of the ‘bona fide’ Doctor Who companions or not, as she only appears for seven episodes across a single story. That being said, she does get a trip in the TARDIS, and her picture is featured on a UNIT photo board in ‘The Day of the Doctor.’ Apparently, Sara Kingdom was considered to be a person of interest to UNIT, and was taken to the organisation’s Black Archive to have her memory wiped. And if UNIT considered her a companion, that must count for something.
Regardless, her departure was just as rapid as the ones that came before. Sara died before she could enjoy any further travels in the TARDIS, victim of the Daleks’ deadly time destructor. This means that, technically, the series saw the departure of three Doctor Who companions in the space of three months. Peter Purves’ character of Steven was the only consistent Doctor Who companion during this time.
There was a slight companion gap during the next story ‘The Massacre,’ with Steven travelling solo with the Doctor. It was thought that the next of the Doctor Who companions would be the character of Anne Chaplet from 16th century France, although the production team ultimately settled on one of her ‘descendants’ Dodo Chaplet – a young woman from modern day London.
Dodo was played by Jackie Lane, and by this time the series was onto its third producer, Innes Lloyd. Dodo’s time on the show was certainly longer than Katarina or Sara Kingdom’s, but not by much; Dodo only appeared in a total of six Doctor Who stories.
Interestingly, Dodo wasn’t even given an on-screen departure; her contract expired midway through ‘The War Machines,’ and it wasn’t renewed. She goes off to the countryside to recover from being possessed by WOTAN, and never returns, simply passing on “her love” to the Doctor and telling him she’s decided to stay in London.
Apparently, Jackie Lane wasn’t consulted about her departure from the show, and Innes Lloyd simply allowed her contract to expire. She was replaced by the swinging 60s pair of Polly Wright and Ben Jackson, but why Dodo was outright replaced and not paired up with Ben is a mystery. After all, both Dodo and Polly were modern day, female Doctor Who companions, although they did admittedly have strikingly different personalities and looks; Polly was tall and blonde, whereas Dodo was shorter with cropped black hair.
Polly and Ben did actually stay in the TARDIS for some time after this, lasting almost the entirety of Season Four, but it was still an unsteady time for the show. William Hartnell left shortly after ‘The War Machines,’ and Jamie McCrimmon was introduced two stories later, so it would be a while before the line-up of Doctor Who companions would truly stabilise. One could argue that it didn’t really get onto an even keel until the start of Season Five, when Victoria joined the team.
Still, despite these uncertainties, the show’s popularity didn’t suffer, and it’s a testament to the strength of Doctor Who‘s writers and actors that it is still being enjoyed some 60 years later.
Who are your favourite Doctor Who companions from the 60s? Let us know in the comments below.
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