History Characters / DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions

%% Don't add the Fifteenth Doctor until she actually meets him onscreen
!!Melanie "Mel" Bush (Sixth, Seventh, and Fourteenth Doctors)

* HealingFactor: You'd think it'd be a massively useful trait for a companion to have, given the [[IncrediblyLamePun scrapes]] they get into, but Adric's HealingFactor is only mentioned twice -- in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle Full Circle]]" (his introductory story) and again in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation The Visitation]]."

* MakeMeWannaShout: Creator/BonnieLangford was hired because she had a scream "that could tear the paint off walls". For "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E3TerrorOfTheVervoids Terror of the Vervoids]]", Creator/JohnNathanTurner asked her to do a {{cliffhanger}} scream on an "F" note, just so her scream would segue seamlessly into the ending credits. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC6cFsPG7dE She did]].

* ScreamingWoman: As mentioned above, Mel did a ''lot'' of screaming. Oddly, this tendency is very much at odds with the rest of her character, with the end result being that Mel seems to be a very capable, diligent adventurer with a habit of overreacting at the slightest sign of danger despite not seeming all that scared mere moments after she's done screaming her head off.

!!Melanie "Mel" Bush (Sixth, Seventh and Fourteenth Doctors)

* InformedAbility: All over the place - often it's hard to remember the Mel we actually see is the same one we're told about. Mel supposedly has a PhotographicMemory, but aside from a SpotTheImposter moment in ''"The Ultimate Foe"'', it never comes up. She's apparently quite well-read, with the Doctor claiming she's a fan of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Snow CP Snow]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani "Time And The Rani"]]. Similarly, about the only time her experience as a computer programmer comes up is when she inexplicably identifies the Valeyard's doomsday machine as "a [[{{Technobabble}} megabyte modem]]." The Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse at least takes these attributes and makes something out of them and she would later work at UNIT later on.

* InformedAbility: All over the place - often it's hard to remember the Mel we actually see is the same one we're told about. Mel supposedly has a PhotographicMemory, but aside from a SpotTheImposter moment in ''"The Ultimate Foe"'', it never comes up. She's apparently quite well-read, with the Doctor claiming she's a fan of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Snow CP Snow]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani "Time And The Rani"]]. Similarly, about the only time her experience as a computer programmer comes up is when she inexplicably identifies the Valeyard's doomsday machine as "a [[{{Technobabble}} megabyte modem]]." The Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse at least takes these attributes and makes something out of them.

!!Melanie "Mel" Bush (Sixth and Seventh Doctors)

->'''Played by:''' Creator/BonnieLangford (1986–87, 2022)

* TheBusCameBack: Makes an appearance at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor "The Power of the Doctor"]], 35 years after "Dragonfire" aired, having apparently returned to Earth in her own time period sometime after her travels with Sabalom Glitz.

The most archetypal companion (many older fans grew up with her as their companion), and the longest-serving if you count by number of seasons, together with Tegan[[note]]Rather than by individual episodes, which would be Jamie, or calendar years, which would be Yaz, or stories, which would be Clara[[/note]]. So popular that she got ''two'' spinoffs: the didn't-go-anywhere ''Series/K9AndCompany'' pilot, and eventually the very successful Franchise/{{Whoniverse}} tie-in spinoff ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' (2007-2011), in which the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors also appear. She was the first companion from the classic series to appear in the revival.

[[Characters/DoctorWhoFirstDoctor 1]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSecondDoctor 2]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirdDoctor 3]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFourthDoctor 4]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFifthDoctor 5]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSixthDoctor 6]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSeventhDoctor 7]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoEighthDoctor 8]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoWarDoctor War]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoNinthDoctor 9]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTenthDoctor 10]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoEleventhDoctor 11]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTwelfthDoctor 12]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirteenthDoctor 13]]\\

* GirlyGirl: To Tegan's tomboy.

Also known amongst the Fandom as ''the'' boss ass companion.

--> "I've really got off to a terrific start haven't I? I find the man everybody's looking for, I forget where he is, and I end up by trying to blow you all sky-high."

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Not that Katy Manning looked ''old'', exactly, but Jo was supposed to be a teenager coming into her first job straight out of school, but her confident air and modern outfits didn't back this up. [[MsFanservice Nobody complained]].

->'''Played by:''' Creator/KatyManning (1971–1973, 2010, 2022)

* TheBusCameBack: She became a companion to Eleven for one episode, along with Sarah Jane.

* BoundAndGagged: In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks Day of the Daleks]]'', in Episode 2, when she's captured and tied up in the basement of Auderly House by time-travelling resistance fighters.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E2TheMindOfEvil The Mind of Evil]]'' most prominently, where she and the doctor, aided by the rehabilitated prisoner Barnham, carried the Keller Machine to the site of the Thunderbolt missile to incapacitate the Master, preventing him from launching the missile at the World Peace Conference.
* CuteClumsyGirl: Jo's first meeting with the Doctor didn't bode well. She mistook an important experiment for an accidental fire and ruined it by dousing it with a fire extinguisher.

* PluckyGirl: Not many people can politely-but-firmly tell the Master that they aren't going to let themselves be hypnotised again, as seen in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace Frontier In Space]].''

* WillTheyOrWontThey: She enjoys a mild flirtation with Mike Yates and in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E2TheCurseOfPeladon The Curse of Peladon]]'', she's all ready to go out on a date with him, until the Doctor whisks her away.

!!! ''Doctor Who''

*** Lampshaded in ''[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E5E6TheWeddingOfSarahJaneSmith The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith,]]'' where it's implied that she hates being called "Sarah" by anyone except the Doctor. [[TheDitz Gita]] also calls her Sarah, which annoys her, but there doesn't seem to be much she can do about it.

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Maureen O'Brienreturned to the role of Vicki decades later in an episode of ''Series/TalesOfTheTardis'', along with Peter Purves as Steven.]]

* TheCutie: Absolutely adorable.

* AmbiguouslyRelated: The idea of The Doctor having a granddaughter seemed strange in later seasons as he was usually portrayed as a CelibateHero and his family was rarely mentioned.
** "Birth Of A Renegade" short story has her as the last descendant of Rassilon who was adopted by The Doctor after stowing away on the [=TARDIS=].
** The novel, ''Lungbarrow'' has her as a granddaughter of The Other and just being HappilyAdopted by The Doctor from the future. Of course depending on what you're reading, sometimes The Doctor is The Other.
** The ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' make this very complicated. The Eighth Doctor adopts a girl called Miranda who turns out to be his KidFromTheFuture. In "Sometime Never..." Miranda's daughter Zezanne and a Council Of Eight member, Soul travel back to Earth 1969. They lose their memories and become Susan and the First Doctor.

* AmnesiacHero: ''Sometime Never...'' said she and the First Doctor lost their memories shortly before landing on Earth.

** Possibly subverted if the only reason the Doctor thought he was the LastOfHisKind is because Susan was probably on Gallifrey at the end of the Time War, with her having been confirmed now to have been there in recent Big Finish releases. If that's the case, now that it's been [[TheReveal revealed]] that the Doctor managed to save Gallifrey in a frozen moment in time rather than destroying it, it's possible that Susan's still alive.

** She was originally intended as a CreepyGood ActionGirl with PsychicPowers but was [[{{Retool}} Retooled]] into a "normal girl" after the unaired pilot. The result of this is that her character fluctuates wildly between scripts: in "An Unearthly Child" she is a nice girl who wishes she was normal but shows a little NightmareFetishist behaviour ("I like walking through the dark. It's mysterious.") and physically attacks a massive, armed caveman to save her friends; in "The Daleks" she is a KiddieKid who displays exaggerated fear about walking through the dark and the few times she's allowed to speak it's to make stupid suggestions ("First we all lie down and pretend to be dead..."); in "The Edge of Destruction" she drifts around in a long dress, babbles about creatures inside her and threatens to shred Ian with a pair of surgical scissors; in "Marco Polo" she is a TotallyRadical sixties teen who thinks everything is "gear"; in "The Keys of Marinus" she is a DamselInDistress; in "The Aztecs" she has nothing to do; in "The Sensorites" she has a fight with her grandfather and saves the day with her telepathic powers; and then in "The Reign of Terror" she refuses to attempt to escape from a prison when she and Barbara are due to be guillotined because she's scared of the rats, and then develops a fever for plot convenience.

** The ''Birth Of A Renegade'' short story gives her real name as Lady Larn and Susan is just a nickname The Doctor gave her

* TheSceptic: It took him a while to believe that the TARDIS really travelled through time and space. He was also more sceptical than Polly when the Doctor regenerated, believing that the new incarnation was an impostor. It took a Dalek recognising the Doctor to finally convince Ben of the truth.

** She was originally intended as a CreepyGood ActionGirl with PsychicPowers but was [[{{Retool}} Retooled]] into a "normal girl" after the unaired pilot. The result of this is that her character fluctuates wildly between scripts: in "An Unearthly Child" she is a nice girl who wishes she was normal but shows a little NightmareFetishist behaviour ("I like walking through the dark. It's mysterious.") and physically attacks a massive, armed caveman to save her friends; in "The Daleks" she is a KiddieKid who displays exaggerated fear about walking through the dark and the few times she's allowed to speak it's to make stupid suggestions ("First we all lie down and pretend to be dead..."); in "The Edge of Destruction" she drifts around in a long dress, babbles about creatures inside her and threatens to shred Ian with a pair of surgical scissors; in "Marco Polo" she is a TotallyRadical sixties teen who thinks everything is "gear"; in "The Keys of Marinus" she is a DistressedDamsel; in "The Aztecs" she has nothing to do; in "The Sensorites" she has a fight with her grandfather and saves the day with her telepathic powers; and then in "The Reign of Terror" she refuses to attempt to escape from a prison when she and Barbara are due to be guillotined because she's scared of the rats, and then develops a fever for plot convenience.

* DistressedDamsel: Her young age likely didn't help her to avoid being in situations like this.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: A fairly severe example, as he was not originally intended to be a companion and was added on after they'd already filmed a scene of the crew saying goodbye to him, with the next few scripts written initially without his character. As a result, he's playing virtually a completely different and unexpectedly minor character in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E4TheHighlanders The Highlanders]]", and in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E5TheUnderwaterMenace The Underwater Menace]]", while he's a fairly active player in events, his dialogue and actions are mostly pilfered from Ben, Polly and some of the RagtagBunchOfMisfits characters in the story and rewritten in Scottish dialect, leading to a lot of out of character behaviour (notably, [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slapping Polly]]). He gets a little scene penned specifically for him in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E6TheMoonbase The Moonbase]]" that expands upon his backstory, but he's playing a [[DistressedDamsel damsel role]] where he's sweet and vulnerable and gets menaced by the monster. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E7TheMacraTerror The Macra Terror]]" he again gets a little scene capitalising on his Scottishness (when he dances the Highland Fling for the cheerleaders) but spends most of the script as a substitute Polly. He doesn't settle down into his main personality until "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E8TheFacelessOnes The Faceless Ones]]", which gives him a lot of things to do, some solid character development and even a GirlOfTheWeek.

* DistressedDamsel: All the time.

* DistressedDamsel: Hazards of the companion job.

* FlatCharacter: Creator/BonnieLangford never got a chance to shine. Mel was introduced as a supposedly "[[RevisitingTheRoots back-to-basics]]" companion of a [[ScreamingWoman kind that never really]] [[DistressedDamsel existed in the first place]]. She never got a proper introductory story, and was inherited by a script editor who didn't care for the character, so she never got any CharacterDevelopment either.

* {{Catchphrase}}: Her [[GoshdangItToHeck U-Rated profanity]] "Rabbits!" is universally remembered as such. (Though of course, the evils of rabbits are SeriousBusiness to [[UsefulNotes/AustralianWildlife an Australian.]]) Despite this, she only uttered it twice onscreen, in "Logopolis" and "Frontios", though she makes up for it by using it much more regularly in other media.

* {{Catchphrase}}: Enjoyed shouting "Ace!" (meaning "cool"). Since this is also her nickname, it almost seems like she is engaging in PokemonSpeak.

* TrueCompanions: Needless to say, although it speaks volumes that Sarah Jane is the ''only'' person he ever breathed a word to about the War Doctor before ''The Name of the Doctor'', albeit too obliquely for her to understand the significance.