in the British television series Doctor Who: any of the usually human characters who (regularly) travel with the Doctor
Used more often in reference to the show than on the show itself, which often used words like assistant or friend. There is no formal explanation of which characters are designated as companions; various characters who travelled with the Doctor are not so regarded.
Dr. Who and his three companions in the space-time ship Tardis have extricated themselves from the grim and precarious society of prehistoric man on earth.
A New Companion for Dr. Who?
Who else has seen them except for the Doctor and his two companions?
A new companion is introduced in Peter Purves—playing Steven—who sees his role as that of ‘a together, headstrong young man’. Ibid. 63/1 The Doctor loses his two companions, Ben and Polly…. With their departure, a new companion is announced.
I don’t see what you’re doing rampaging around the galaxy in a battlecruiser got up as a cathedral, why you imprisoned my companion,…and who the devil you think you are.
‘The thing about Doctor Who,’ explains Clayton Hickman, editor of Doctor Who magazine, ‘is that someone needs to be captured, or wander off and meet the rebels. The companion is there for that, and to be the eyes and ears of the audience, to ask ‘Where are we? How do we get there?’ This can, he concedes, result in the bimbofication of the female sidekick.
‘The Doctor won’t have a temporary companion this Christmas and essentially that space will be taken by Nardole,’ said a BBC source. ‘He’s not a companion as such but it’s not as if he doesn’t play a similar role.’
Last modified 2021-03-15 16:43:17
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entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.