After nearly a year away, Doctor Who will return to the BBC this Saturday.
The hit sci-fi series kicks off with three standalone 60th anniversary specials, with David Tennant and Catherine Tate reprising their beloved roles, ahead of a full new series.
Then the 14th series, in which Ncuti Gatwa will be the new Doctor, will start on December 25.
Ahead of the new series, we list some of our favorite friends since the show returned in 2005; So, do you agree with our ranking?
7) Martha Jones
Martha Jones was a wonderful friend: kind, intelligent, and resourceful; but it’s hard not to think of it as the ‘challenging second album’ of the Doctor Who companions.
After Billie Piper’s Rose left the series, the David Tennant era continued with the watchable but – dare we say it – sometimes slightly forgettable turn of Freema Agyeman.
Yet Jones was headstrong and talented, and Russell T Davies’s writings provided him with a compelling family life away from his adventures across space and time. He was also in some great episodes: The Shakespeare Code, Human Nature/The Family of Blood, and the (mostly) excellent trio finale starring John Simm as The Master.
6) Amy Pond
Steven Moffat’s time as Doctor Who showrunner brought plenty of innovation: a Doctor in the form of Matt Smith, a new TARDIS and a much-hyped new companion in Amelia Pond.
But big name aside, Karen Gillan’s breakout role turned out to be a real mixed bag. Oscillating between amusingly feisty and annoyingly brash, the character had her moments of brilliance but often lacked sympathy.
For example, in series six’s The Girl Who Waited, Amy becomes angry and resentful after being stranded in a parallel universe for 36 years while the Doctor and Rory try to find her. In the series’ fifth finale, she was sitting in front of a giant box, waiting for him, and she never complained about it.
5) River Song
River Song, another of Moffat’s works with its high ups and downs, is conceptually one of the best characters of the ‘new Who’. But in practice, it ran into a lot of unnecessary baggage and OTT campiness.
River’s first introduction in the David Tennant-era story Silence in the Library was superb; River was an important figure in the Doctor’s future adventures, already in his past. Both were time travelers moving in opposite directions; Each time they met, he knew her better, and she knew him less.
Of course, the time warping quickly became complicated, and the later reveal that River was both the Doctor’s wife of sorts and Amy Pond’s daughter was a few twists.
However, actor Alex Kingston was superb and shined in the role; especially in Peter Capaldi’s cheerful and emotional Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song.
4) Jasmine Han
Jodie Whittaker had many friends, including 19-year-old electrical engineer Sinclair and her step-grandfather Graham O’Brien. But Yasmin ‘Yaz’ Khan was the standout of the bunch, and not just because she remained throughout Whittaker’s tenure as the Doctor, which meant she was one of the longest-ever Doctor Who companions – the other being Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler.
The fiercely loyal junior police officer from Sheffield won over viewers with the way he tackled his demons in the series, which touched on all sorts of topics including bullying, mental health issues, Islamophobia and sexuality.
3) Clara Oswald
Let’s preface the inclusion of Clara ‘Oswin’ Oswald at number three by saying that she wasn’t always the perfect friend. Jenna Coleman’s first Doctor Who appearance took a long time to warm up.
But Clara flourished with intelligence and charm when paired with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. He undergoes a dramatic transformation, growing in confidence and recklessness, leading to his truly shocking death in season nine’s Face the Raven.
Frustratingly, the character’s impressively dark ending wasn’t written quickly, with a twisted conclusion that leaves Clara frozen in time and traveling through space in her own TARDIS with Lady Me.
2) Rose Tyler
The success of Doctor Who’s return was as much down to Rose Tyler as the country’s fond memories of old Doctors and Daleks.
The casting of Billie Piper seemed odd at the time, given that Piper was best known as a Noughties pop star, but she made Rose a hugely entertaining and engaging character for both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant’s Doctors. He proved to be a talented actor who made him a friend.
He remains one of the best-loved characters in the revived series – a young Londoner who works in a department store and loves crisps – but he’s still completely convincing as the intergalactic super-being ‘Bad Wolf’ after peering into the heart of the TARDIS.
His departure at Judgment Day in the second series is downright heartbreaking, with Tennant’s Doctor and Rose trapped in different parallel universes. Please don’t make us think any further.
1) Donna Noble
Donna Noble’s loud entrance, which came on the heels of Rose’s tear-jerking exit, made a bad first impression in the Christmas special, The Runaway Bride.
However, thanks to the full series arc in the fourth series, Catherine Tate’s character has become the Doctor’s greatest companion in recent memory. Donna Noble transforms from a garrulous narcissistic caricature into the Time Lord’s funniest and most human wanderer; She acts as the Doctor’s conscience on many occasions (especially the Ood and Pompeii episodes) and delivers one-liners like no one’s business.
Best to follow Rose and Martha, there is no sexual tension here. Donna and the Doctor are two people who balance each other out, whether they’re solving an Agatha Christie mystery (starring Agatha Christie herself) or fighting space-walking potatoes.
While Rose’s departure was completely tragic, Donna’s was almost even sadder; At the end of the fourth series, her mind was supposed to be wiped and she was supposed to return to the way she was before she met the Doctor. Skip the textures.
Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary specials will air weekly on BBC iPlayer between 25 November and 9 December.