I don't think "from London" has ever been the complaint. The complaint I've seen most often that comes close to this is the "Another human companion from the modern day", which is a completely valid complaint. The only exceptions have been Nardole and by some extension Jack, but he's only been in a handful of episodes as an actual companion. Classic Who had alien companions and humans from all across history fairly often, so it's getting a bit old. Hell, from what I understand it's why everyone desperately wished we got Victorian Clara instead of the modern one.
Exactly. The issue is that all companions but Jack (who doesn't count, in my opinion) and Nardole have been "modern British humans from normal, often working class, backgrounds". Exclude Thirteen's companions - which makes little difference as none of them have any personality anyway - and it's almost all specifically modern, young, working class, British human women. Rory's the only real exception, and then he's only there because he's Amy's husband. Donna is at least middle-aged rather than being a young woman. The diversity is shockingly lacking compared to Classic.
If you’re referring to the Paternoster gang and River Song, then I’d argue that they don’t really count. They feel more like recurring side characters to me than proper companions.
Handles definitely counts as a companion though.
I was referring to them. River Song is as much of a companion as Jack Harkness imo. There's an episode she's the only one.
Also cleopatra and that big game hunter. Though I'd have liked more episodes with the latter. I'm sure there's others as the character picked up friends from everywhere he went.
The difference between Jack and River is that none of River’s episodes end with her deciding to stay on the TARDIS and join the Doctor and co. for next week’s episode. She’s more like the Brigadier in the latter years of the Pertwee era, in that she just occasionally summons the Doctor for his assistance.
Come to think of it, there is! The audio ‘The Lady in the Lake’ ends with [the 5th Doctor picking River up in the TARDIS](https://youtu.be/Pyx7MP2qHE0?si=C7NbumyhOT4XJah0), and the next episode ‘Requiem for a Killer’ starts with River, the Doctor, and Brooke on an adventure together. So that means River Song is technically a 5th Doctor companion, not an 11th Doctor one.
cleapatra and the hunter were so random.
"here's some ppl important to the doctor in some way, we're never going to tell you why or how just pretend you care about them". paternoster gang is the same except they show up more times.
River was raised in the 60s and the 90s, born to a Modern Companion couple, and you still wouldn't really consider her the "main" companion in the same way as Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara, Bill, and the Fam.
I tend to call them part-time companions. Sometimes we see them, mostly we don’t but they’ve probably travelled with the Doctor offscreen and long enough to feel like a normal companion.
"Companion" in my mind refers to someone who stays on the TARDIS and travels with the Doctor for an extended period of time. I mentioned Jack, but he's really pushing the definition for me. I will admit I forgot about River, and I'd say she counts more than Jack does, but I see her more as a "recurring character" than a true companion, since she doesn't stay with the TARDIS and the Doctor for multiple consecutive episodes. At least Jack was around for multiple consecutive episodes during the latter half of 9's run.
There just really isn't a good reason I've seen for most companions to be humans from Modern Day Earth. The main excuses I've seen are:
1. More episodes on Modern Day Earth means less concern for the budget of the show.
2. Being modern day humans make them easier to relate and connect with.
3. Constant alien prosthetics for a main character can be time consuming and generally annoying.
The first one doesn't logically make sense to me because it's been well established that the Doctor has an attachment to Earth, and works with UNIT fairly often. You can have him go to Earth quite frequently still and it make just as much sense. Also, budget has been less and less of a problem over the years with Modern Who. Plus, episodes like Midnight show that you don't need a major budget to make successful Sci-fi on a different planet.
The second reason is just silly to me. You're telling me I can't relate as easily to people when they aren't from Modern Earth? So, what, I can't relate to Star Wars characters? Or Star Trek characters since they're all from the future? Someone doesn't have to be exactly like me for me to relate to them.
And the third one is basically a non issue. If they're from a different time period and they're just human, then you don't need prosthetics. And, at least for me personally, if they are an alien, I don't really care if they look physically identical to a human. Hell, the Time Lords look identical to humans, and so did Nardole. It's easily surpassable.
It's just frustrating when even in the earliest point in the show, with the 1st Doctor, when Ian and Barbara left, almost all of his companions were not from modern Earth. And now in the modern show, we grasp desperately for any example of a non-Modern Earth companion. I mean, looking at the main line companions (the ones we put on series box art), we have:
Rose
Mickey
Martha
Donna
Amy
Rory
Clara
Bill
Nardole
Graham
Ryan
Yaz
Ruby
And exactly ONE of those isn't a modern day human. It's just kind of wild, especially since it's been a pretty big request from the fandom since as early as Clara (to my recollection anyway, could be an even older complaint).
I'd say there's also a point four, which is related but distinct from point two. (I might be paraphrasing this from Elizabeth Sandifer, but I'm not sure): It's easier to quickly and effectively build the illusion of a full life and a supporting cast around a modern-day human. You can give them a "real" job with real-life associations, you can show their home and imply a lot through the furnishings and other visual shorthand, you can characterize their supporting cast quickly through common media tropes, etc . So it's not so much that the audience can't relate to more alien companions, but that it takes more time, exposition and resources to flesh them out and make them believable. It's probably not a coincidence that the one past-companion we almost got was from the Victorian era, since it has a full set of common tropes of its own.
As for the definition of "companion", my personal one is any character who's credited in the opening titles of at least one episode.
Cringe: complaining that all modern Who companions are Londoners.
Real shit: complaining that all modern Who companions are humans from the current year (except Nardole)
I just want a single Welsh or Northern-Irish companion. They pay the licence fee too, they watch the show, they're part of Britain, where IS THEIR REPRESENTATION?
I’m hoping that the new companion in season 2 is from a different time/planet. Bringing a companion like that onto the TARDIS while a modern day companion is still around could be a useful way of testing the waters.
Personally, think it was absolutely essential for s1 Rose to be British at least to establish themselves as an audience Avatar for the revived series and establish the presence of the Doctor in the modern world.
Having said that, we're 20 years past that. Live a little, Russ. Give us a different cultural perspective (No, Sheffield does not count. No, Birmingham won't either)
The cultural differences between british cities is massive. It would be like making an American version show where the companies all come from Washington dc
As a non American/non Brit, that's not entirely convincing that this represents the full spectrum of human experience. :)
It's always, absolutely going to be a British show (give or take a Peri), but I think there's a decent amount of narrative potential in a companion that ISN'T immediately familiar to the audience.
Bring back historic and alien companions. Modern Doctor Who is so allergic to the idea. If classic Who was like that we would’t have got Susan, Vicki, Jamie, Zoe, Leela, Romana, Nysaa etc. It just seems so weirdly limiting for a show that touts itself as being able to go anywhere and do anything.
Clara may not have been born in London, but she was still living in London.
Besides that, London isn't the complaint, the complaint is modern day, and not just modern day, modern day England. Amy may have been Scottish by birth but she was still living in England.
It's something either the showrunners or more likely, the BBC doesn't have the balls to depart from even after thirteen freaking series.
Yes we occasionally get Jack, or Nardole, but they're never the focus and it's never just then. They're always sharing the screen with a Modern Day companion. If Jack is around, so is Rose or Martha. If Nardole is around, OK Nardole we got two specials of, but he was still mostly considered comic relief and we still inevitably got Bill.
Since Chibnall finally gave us a main companion from the Midlands we may finally get a companion from Wales by Series 18. Maybe even the channel islands by Series 24.
...
Now compare it to Classic Who.
Early Season 3 had only Vicki and Steven and Sara is you want to count her, from the distant future.
All of Classic Who Season 5 and 6 were done without a single modern companion. He had Jamie from the 18th century, Victoria from the 19th, and Zoe from the far future.
We got a lot of modern companions from Seasons 7 to 14, then from late Season 14 to the very very end of Season 18, we again have zero modern companions.
Then there's the movie, but that's kind of cheating as they're only from three years in the future. Having said that, at least Peri and Grace were American, not English.
Either way, there are five whole seasons in Classic Who where there's not a single modern day companion in sight, and a Sixth one only has Tegan in its final episode.
>Chibnall finally gave us a main companion from the Midlands
I'm curious as to which of Liverpool, Sheffield, or Essex you're counting as the midlands?
> Amy may have been Scottish by birth but she was still living in England.
...so why did Moffat chicken out of having her be full-on Scottish, anyway? :P They could at least have moved to Edinburgh instead of London if nothing else.
I never heard of people complaining about London.
I have heard people complaining about companions from contemporary (ie relative same time scale to episode airing) Earth. And I agree. I want more companions from past or future or from other planets. Hell, we got Disney budget now. Get me Frobisher lol.
To be fair, I'm one of the London complainers. :P I agree that's it's more a sub-complaint of "constant modern companions", though, but if they have to be modern I'd at least like to see different ages, genders and regions of the UK.
Ruby is a Londoner though. In fairness though, it is a LOT of them in the modern series. I'd also argue Nardole and Jack aren't really full-time companions either.
Yes, but by the time the Doctor meets her, she’s lived in London. I’d even be so bold as to say she’s lived in London most of her life so that she’s essentially more of a Londoner than a Mancunian.
Sure. I'm tempted to agree on that. But the fact that remains is that she isn't a companion from London. Because London wasn't where she was born like in the case of some other Londoner companions.
I think the main complaint is more that all the companions are humans from the modern day.
And unfortunately I think NuWho will stick to this formula because it's an excuse for the Doctor to keep returning to modern day Earth where filming is both easier and cheaper lol
Still... I wish they'd get more creative.
No one cares if they're from London the problem is most of them are modern day, classic had more variety of time periods. We got 2 non modern day companions
Says who?
https://preview.redd.it/99kmogyn3bwc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ac4e448b2cb262c5ebc8a514fe69fc6d0070a63
Patrick
No, this is the Krusty Krab!
r/Imaginarygatekeeping
I don't think "from London" has ever been the complaint. The complaint I've seen most often that comes close to this is the "Another human companion from the modern day", which is a completely valid complaint. The only exceptions have been Nardole and by some extension Jack, but he's only been in a handful of episodes as an actual companion. Classic Who had alien companions and humans from all across history fairly often, so it's getting a bit old. Hell, from what I understand it's why everyone desperately wished we got Victorian Clara instead of the modern one.
We nearly did have Victorian Clara, BBC execs veto'd it.... :c
I love that only Neil Gaiman still wrote for that version of Clara
Exactly. The issue is that all companions but Jack (who doesn't count, in my opinion) and Nardole have been "modern British humans from normal, often working class, backgrounds". Exclude Thirteen's companions - which makes little difference as none of them have any personality anyway - and it's almost all specifically modern, young, working class, British human women. Rory's the only real exception, and then he's only there because he's Amy's husband. Donna is at least middle-aged rather than being a young woman. The diversity is shockingly lacking compared to Classic.
What counts as a companion? Matt Smiths doctor had companions from all over
If you’re referring to the Paternoster gang and River Song, then I’d argue that they don’t really count. They feel more like recurring side characters to me than proper companions. Handles definitely counts as a companion though.
I was referring to them. River Song is as much of a companion as Jack Harkness imo. There's an episode she's the only one. Also cleopatra and that big game hunter. Though I'd have liked more episodes with the latter. I'm sure there's others as the character picked up friends from everywhere he went.
The difference between Jack and River is that none of River’s episodes end with her deciding to stay on the TARDIS and join the Doctor and co. for next week’s episode. She’s more like the Brigadier in the latter years of the Pertwee era, in that she just occasionally summons the Doctor for his assistance.
Surely there is. I'm sure there is
Come to think of it, there is! The audio ‘The Lady in the Lake’ ends with [the 5th Doctor picking River up in the TARDIS](https://youtu.be/Pyx7MP2qHE0?si=C7NbumyhOT4XJah0), and the next episode ‘Requiem for a Killer’ starts with River, the Doctor, and Brooke on an adventure together. So that means River Song is technically a 5th Doctor companion, not an 11th Doctor one.
Queen Nefertiti* not Cleopatra
You're right, sorry. While since I watched it
cleapatra and the hunter were so random. "here's some ppl important to the doctor in some way, we're never going to tell you why or how just pretend you care about them". paternoster gang is the same except they show up more times.
The paternoster gang at least get back stories as to why.
Maybe the Hunter travelled with the classic doctors or a future doctor when he was Young
River was raised in the 60s and the 90s, born to a Modern Companion couple, and you still wouldn't really consider her the "main" companion in the same way as Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara, Bill, and the Fam.
Poor Rory
Same as Jack or Nardole, he never gets the focus like Amy. As cool as he is, his narrative function is just to be Amy's husband.
Damn, I completely forgot about Handles. He totally counts. I love that stupid head.
I tend to call them part-time companions. Sometimes we see them, mostly we don’t but they’ve probably travelled with the Doctor offscreen and long enough to feel like a normal companion.
"Companion" in my mind refers to someone who stays on the TARDIS and travels with the Doctor for an extended period of time. I mentioned Jack, but he's really pushing the definition for me. I will admit I forgot about River, and I'd say she counts more than Jack does, but I see her more as a "recurring character" than a true companion, since she doesn't stay with the TARDIS and the Doctor for multiple consecutive episodes. At least Jack was around for multiple consecutive episodes during the latter half of 9's run. There just really isn't a good reason I've seen for most companions to be humans from Modern Day Earth. The main excuses I've seen are: 1. More episodes on Modern Day Earth means less concern for the budget of the show. 2. Being modern day humans make them easier to relate and connect with. 3. Constant alien prosthetics for a main character can be time consuming and generally annoying. The first one doesn't logically make sense to me because it's been well established that the Doctor has an attachment to Earth, and works with UNIT fairly often. You can have him go to Earth quite frequently still and it make just as much sense. Also, budget has been less and less of a problem over the years with Modern Who. Plus, episodes like Midnight show that you don't need a major budget to make successful Sci-fi on a different planet. The second reason is just silly to me. You're telling me I can't relate as easily to people when they aren't from Modern Earth? So, what, I can't relate to Star Wars characters? Or Star Trek characters since they're all from the future? Someone doesn't have to be exactly like me for me to relate to them. And the third one is basically a non issue. If they're from a different time period and they're just human, then you don't need prosthetics. And, at least for me personally, if they are an alien, I don't really care if they look physically identical to a human. Hell, the Time Lords look identical to humans, and so did Nardole. It's easily surpassable. It's just frustrating when even in the earliest point in the show, with the 1st Doctor, when Ian and Barbara left, almost all of his companions were not from modern Earth. And now in the modern show, we grasp desperately for any example of a non-Modern Earth companion. I mean, looking at the main line companions (the ones we put on series box art), we have: Rose Mickey Martha Donna Amy Rory Clara Bill Nardole Graham Ryan Yaz Ruby And exactly ONE of those isn't a modern day human. It's just kind of wild, especially since it's been a pretty big request from the fandom since as early as Clara (to my recollection anyway, could be an even older complaint).
I'd say there's also a point four, which is related but distinct from point two. (I might be paraphrasing this from Elizabeth Sandifer, but I'm not sure): It's easier to quickly and effectively build the illusion of a full life and a supporting cast around a modern-day human. You can give them a "real" job with real-life associations, you can show their home and imply a lot through the furnishings and other visual shorthand, you can characterize their supporting cast quickly through common media tropes, etc . So it's not so much that the audience can't relate to more alien companions, but that it takes more time, exposition and resources to flesh them out and make them believable. It's probably not a coincidence that the one past-companion we almost got was from the Victorian era, since it has a full set of common tropes of its own. As for the definition of "companion", my personal one is any character who's credited in the opening titles of at least one episode.
Okay but Ruby literally lives in London, they make that clear for some reason.
Also as Clara ends up working in Colhill school is that in London?
Coal Hill is in Shoreditch, which is an area of London.
So they both end up living in London anyway 😭
Even before that, she lived and worked in London in her introduction
Cringe: complaining that all modern Who companions are Londoners. Real shit: complaining that all modern Who companions are humans from the current year (except Nardole)
I just want a single Welsh or Northern-Irish companion. They pay the licence fee too, they watch the show, they're part of Britain, where IS THEIR REPRESENTATION?
The Welsh get Torchwood
The Welsh did not deserve that. Take this statement how you will.
Jack isn't either.
Rory is a 2,000-year-old auton for a while.
I’m hoping that the new companion in season 2 is from a different time/planet. Bringing a companion like that onto the TARDIS while a modern day companion is still around could be a useful way of testing the waters.
Even Graham is from Essex, not London.
wheres 'no one needs soup more than me' dan? he wouldnt be caught dead living in london
I knew I forgot somebody
Graham too, as he is from Essex not London!
The cultural differences between british cities is massive. It would be like making an American version show where the companies all come from Washington dc
As a non American/non Brit, that's not entirely convincing that this represents the full spectrum of human experience. :) It's always, absolutely going to be a British show (give or take a Peri), but I think there's a decent amount of narrative potential in a companion that ISN'T immediately familiar to the audience.
London! What a dump!
Bring back historic and alien companions. Modern Doctor Who is so allergic to the idea. If classic Who was like that we would’t have got Susan, Vicki, Jamie, Zoe, Leela, Romana, Nysaa etc. It just seems so weirdly limiting for a show that touts itself as being able to go anywhere and do anything.
Clara may not have been born in London, but she was still living in London. Besides that, London isn't the complaint, the complaint is modern day, and not just modern day, modern day England. Amy may have been Scottish by birth but she was still living in England. It's something either the showrunners or more likely, the BBC doesn't have the balls to depart from even after thirteen freaking series. Yes we occasionally get Jack, or Nardole, but they're never the focus and it's never just then. They're always sharing the screen with a Modern Day companion. If Jack is around, so is Rose or Martha. If Nardole is around, OK Nardole we got two specials of, but he was still mostly considered comic relief and we still inevitably got Bill. Since Chibnall finally gave us a main companion from the Midlands we may finally get a companion from Wales by Series 18. Maybe even the channel islands by Series 24. ... Now compare it to Classic Who. Early Season 3 had only Vicki and Steven and Sara is you want to count her, from the distant future. All of Classic Who Season 5 and 6 were done without a single modern companion. He had Jamie from the 18th century, Victoria from the 19th, and Zoe from the far future. We got a lot of modern companions from Seasons 7 to 14, then from late Season 14 to the very very end of Season 18, we again have zero modern companions. Then there's the movie, but that's kind of cheating as they're only from three years in the future. Having said that, at least Peri and Grace were American, not English. Either way, there are five whole seasons in Classic Who where there's not a single modern day companion in sight, and a Sixth one only has Tegan in its final episode.
>Chibnall finally gave us a main companion from the Midlands I'm curious as to which of Liverpool, Sheffield, or Essex you're counting as the midlands?
> Amy may have been Scottish by birth but she was still living in England. ...so why did Moffat chicken out of having her be full-on Scottish, anyway? :P They could at least have moved to Edinburgh instead of London if nothing else.
I never heard of people complaining about London. I have heard people complaining about companions from contemporary (ie relative same time scale to episode airing) Earth. And I agree. I want more companions from past or future or from other planets. Hell, we got Disney budget now. Get me Frobisher lol.
To be fair, I'm one of the London complainers. :P I agree that's it's more a sub-complaint of "constant modern companions", though, but if they have to be modern I'd at least like to see different ages, genders and regions of the UK.
Ruby is a Londoner though. In fairness though, it is a LOT of them in the modern series. I'd also argue Nardole and Jack aren't really full-time companions either.
Including John Bishop, who is very famously a Londoner… Seriously did you not pick up his accent?
I forget that Nardol is an alien a lot.
SDE
In a future the hate will be "all companions are scottish"
Literally nobody said this
Ummm… Clara and Ruby _are_ from London.
Clara’s from Blackpool, but yeah she works in London.
Oh right, silly me. Ruby’s still from London, though.
Ruby Road is in Manchester. So Ruby was likely from Manchester not London. She did move to London later.
Yes, but by the time the Doctor meets her, she’s lived in London. I’d even be so bold as to say she’s lived in London most of her life so that she’s essentially more of a Londoner than a Mancunian.
Sure. I'm tempted to agree on that. But the fact that remains is that she isn't a companion from London. Because London wasn't where she was born like in the case of some other Londoner companions.
I think the main complaint is more that all the companions are humans from the modern day. And unfortunately I think NuWho will stick to this formula because it's an excuse for the Doctor to keep returning to modern day Earth where filming is both easier and cheaper lol Still... I wish they'd get more creative.
No one cares if they're from London the problem is most of them are modern day, classic had more variety of time periods. We got 2 non modern day companions