List of supporting characters in Doctor Who

Over the course of its many years on television, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who has not only seen changes in the actors to play the Doctor, but in the supporting cast as well. This is not an attempt to make a comprehensive list of all supporting characters or alien races in Doctor Who, but merely the most significant.

Contents

1 Companions

1.1 with the First Doctor
1.2 with the Second Doctor
1.3 with the Third Doctor
1.4 with the Fourth Doctor
1.5 with the Fifth Doctor
1.6 with the Sixth Doctor
1.7 with the Seventh Doctor
1.8 with the Eighth Doctor
1.9 with the Ninth Doctor
1.10 with the Tenth Doctor
1.11 Notes

2 Other recurring or important characters

2.1 Notes

3 Recurring or significant villains

3.1 Notes

4 Significant alien species

5 Characters from Doctor Who spin-offs

6 External links

Companions

(See also Category:Doctor Who companions)

with the Fourth Doctor

Sarah Jane Smith (Season 12-14)
Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) (Season 12)
Leela (Louise Jameson) (Seasons 14, 15)
K-9 Mark I (voice of John Leeson) (Season 15)
K-9 Mark II (voice of John Leeson [Seasons 16 and 18]), voice of David Brierley [Season 17])
Romanadvoratrelundar ("Romana") (Mary Tamm [Season 16]; Lalla Ward [Season 17, 18])
Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) (Season 18)
Nyssa of Traken (Sarah Sutton) (Season 18)
Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) (Season 18)

with the Fifth Doctor

Adric (Season 19)
Nyssa of Traken (Seasons 19, 20)
Tegan Jovanka (Seasons 19-21)
Vislor Turlough (Mark Strickson) (Seasons 20, 21)
Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown (Nicola Bryant) (Season 21)
Kamelion (voice of Gerald Flood) (Season 20, 21)

with the Sixth Doctor

Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown (Seasons 21-23)
Melanie "Mel" Bush (Bonnie Langford) (Season 23)

with the Seventh Doctor

Melanie "Mel" Bush (Season 24)
Dorothy ("Ace") (Sophie Aldred) (Seasons 24-26)

with the Eighth Doctor

Dr. Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook) (1996 telemovie)

with the Ninth Doctor

Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) (Series 1, 2005)
Adam Mitchell (Bruno Langley) (Series 1, 2005)
Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) (Series 1, 2005)

with the Tenth Doctor

Rose Tyler (Series 2, 2006)

Notes

Sara Kingdom died in the same story in which she first appears. Some fans define her as a companion and others do not. Similiarly, there is dispute over the companion status of Dr. Grace Holloway from the 1996 telemovie, who is offered the chance to travel with the Doctor but declines and therefore appeared only once. Another character from the telemovie, Chang Lee, is sometimes described as a companion as well, although to be accurate he was actually a companion of the Master.
Of the companions, Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Adric and Kamelion have died on-screen.
Kamelion, an actual robot which had chronic technical problems on the set, appeared in only one story in Season 20 and a second in Season 21, the latter in which it was destroyed. Because Kamelion could change shape into anyone, a number of actors played it. Since it only appeared in two stories (a third appearance was filmed but not aired), its status as a companion is a matter of debate.
Susan, Jamie, Harry and Sarah Jane have guest-starred in later stories. Zoe, Liz, Adric, Tegan, Nyssa, Turlough and Kamelion have reappeared in cameo roles, played by the original actors rather than in stock footage or still photos. K-9 Mark III has also made a cameo.
Spin-off media have established Ace's surname as McShane. The production team had intended that if revealed in the course of a story Ace would either have the last name Gale (an allusion to the movie version of The Wizard of Oz) or whatever would suit the story. Various novels and audio dramas have offered at least three possible explanations as to how Ace's life progressed after the end of the series.
Among characters likely to have last names, none was ever established for Vicki. Polly's last name is never given onscreen but her character outline gave it as "Wright". A mishearing of an audio recording led some to believe her surname was "Lopez". Mel's last name was never mentioned on-screen but comes from official background literature for the character. Turlough's first name was not established until his final story.
The series never establishes how The Doctor first meets Mel; she just appears midway through The Trial of a Time Lord.
Billie Piper, who plays current companion Rose Tyler, was only seven years old when Doctor Who last aired as a weekly first-run series in 1989.
Adam Mitchell was the first companion to be expelled by the Doctor for bad behaviour.

Other recurring or important characters

Notes

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is thought to be a companion by some, though by others he is not. The argument over whether he is an acceptable companion continues to this day, although he is on the list of companions listed on the BBC Doctor Who site.
Some fans also consider UNIT era regulars Sergeant Benton and Captain Mike Yates to be "companions" although they do not fit the accepted definition. Benton and Yates appeared as regulars in Seasons 8, again making other appearances before and after.
Lethbridge-Stewart appeared as a regular in Seasons 7 and 8 (as well as making guest appearances before and since). Nicholas Courtney, along with his role as Brett Vyon in The Daleks' Master Plan, his appearance in the charity special Dimensions in Time and his participation in the Eighth Doctor audio play Minuet in Hell, has the distinction of having acted with every screen Doctor before the Ninth.
The Inquisitor appeared in every episode of Season 23.

Recurring or significant villains

(See also Category:Doctor Who villains)

The Meddling Monk (Peter Butterworth)
The Master (Roger Delgado; Peter Pratt; Geoffrey Beevers; Anthony Ainley; Gordon Tipple; Eric Roberts)
Davros (Michael Wisher; David Gooderson; Terry Molloy)
Omega (Stephen Thorne; Ian Collier)
The Black Guardian (Valentine Dyall)
Sil (Nabil Shaban)
The Rani (Kate O'Mara)
The Valeyard (Michael Jayston)
The War Chief (Edward Brayshaw)
The Cyber Controller (Michael Kilgarriff) and Cyberleaders (David Banks)
Lytton (Maurice Colbourne)

Notes

The Master appeared as a regular in Season 8 and has many guest appearances in subsequent seasons and the television movie. The Valeyard appeared in every episode of Season 23, a season which contained just one long story - The Trial of a Time Lord.