List of Doctor Who supporting characters explained

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.

Companions

See main article: article and Companion (Doctor Who). The Doctor is usually accompanied in his travels by one to three companions (sometimes called assistants). These characters provide a surrogate with whom the audience can identify, and further the story by asking questions and getting into trouble, (similar to Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.) The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home, or find new causes on worlds they have visited. A few of the companions have died during the course of the series.

Recurring characters

UNIT personnel

Other humans

This list includes characters who appear to be human and who are not known to be anything other than human, even if having originated extra-terrestrially.

Time Lords

See main article: Time Lord.

Other beings

See main article: List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens.

Notes

  1. Lethbridge-Stewart appeared as a regular in Seasons 7 and 8 and more sporadically in many other episodes. Nicholas Courtney, along with his role as Bret 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 and also the Tenth (although in adventures before actor David Tennant was cast as the Doctor).
  2. The Inquisitor and The Valeyard appeared in every episode of Season 23, a season that comprised just one story, (albeit split into four segments), The Trial of a Time Lord.
  3. Mickey Smith was a significant recurring character in the 2005 series, prior to briefly becoming a companion in the 2006 series. Similarly, Jackie Tyler appeared in many episodes of the 2005 and 2006 series; in the episodes "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday", she briefly travels in the TARDIS and acts like a companion, although she is not generally considered one.
  4. The Master appeared as a regular in Season 8 and has returned numerous times in subsequent seasons and the television movie.

Recurring alien species, monsters, or robots

See also: Creatures and aliens in Doctor Who.

Major

Secondary

Characters from Doctor Who spin-off comics, novels, audio dramas and webcasts

The Doctor Who comics, novels and audio dramas have created companions, villains and supporting characters of their own. Some of these originated in one medium and later appeared in another. The lists below indicate where a character has appeared.

Companions

See also: List of companions in Doctor Who spin-offs.

with the First Doctor

with the Second Doctor

with the Third Doctor

with the Fourth Doctor

with the Fifth Doctor

with the Sixth Doctor

with the Seventh Doctor

with the Eighth Doctor

with the Tenth Doctor

with the Eleventh Doctor

with the Twelfth Doctor

with the Fourteenth Doctor

Other recurring or important characters

See also

Notes and References

  1. Ashildr/Me is a substantial supporting character in the Twelfth Doctor episodes "The Girl Who Died", "The Woman Who Lived", "Face the Raven", and "Hell Bent"
  2. Captain Avery is a substantial character in the Eleventh Doctor episode "The Curse of the Black Spot", and also appears in the Eleventh Doctor episode "A Good Man Goes to War".
  3. Toby Avery appears in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Curse of the Black Spot" and the Eleventh Doctor episode "A Good Man Goes to War".
  4. Sophie Benson is a supporting character in "The Lodger", co-stars in the mini-episode "Up All Night", and appears again in "Closing Time" (each is an Eleventh Doctor story).
  5. Captain Carter appears in "Let's Kill Hitler", and "The Wedding of River Song", both being Eleventh Doctor stories.
  6. Winston Churchill appears in "Victory of the Daleks" "The Pandorica Opens", and "The Wedding of River Song", each of which is an Eleventh Doctor story.
  7. This unnamed computer programmer appears in the Ninth Doctor stories "Bad Wolf" & "The Parting of the Ways".
  8. Torchwood co-starring character Gwen Cooper appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "The Stolen Earth" & "Journey's End". Before Gwen's creation, Eve Myles portrayed Gwen's ancestor or distant relative, Gwyneth, in the Ninth Doctor episode, "The Unquiet Dead"; the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler recognise the two women's relationship in "Journey's End".
  9. Danny Boy appears in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "Victory of the Daleks" and "A Good Man Goes to War", and Captain Lethbridge-Stewart appears in the Twelfth Doctor finale Twice Upon A Time
  10. Canton Delaware appears in "The Impossible Astronaut", "Day of the Moon" and "The Wedding of River Song".
  11. Miss Dexter appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "42" in which she is credited simply as 'Sinister Woman', and "The Sound of Drums" in which her name is given in the credits.
  12. Charles Dickens is a supporting character in the Ninth Doctor episode "The Unquiet Dead" and features in the Eleventh Doctor episode "The Wedding of River Song".
  13. Queen Elizabeth I makes appearances in the First Doctor serial The Chase, and the Tenth Doctor episode "The Shakespeare Code" and the Eleventh Doctor episode "The Day of the Doctor".
  14. Queen Elizabeth I is referred to in "The End of Time" in which the Tenth Doctor explains that he married her (the wedding was later filmed for "The Day of the Doctor"), "The Beast Below" in which her far future successor, Queen Elizabeth X chides the Eleventh Doctor about the relationship, and "The Wedding of River Song" in which the Eleventh Doctor notes that he could revisit her before their wedding (which he later does in "The Day of the Doctor"). The then-Lady Elizabeth is off-camera in "The Power of Three" in which Amy Pond becomes the accidental wife of Henry VIII, thus making Lady Elizabeth her step-daughter and the step-sister of the Doctor's other known wife, River Song. Then-Lady Elizabeth is also off-camera with her sister Queen Mary, in Lost in Time, their approach spelling doom for the Prétendre Queen Jane.
  15. Queen Elizabeth II is seen in the Seventh Doctor serial Silver Nemesis (played by Jeanette Charles) and "Voyage of the Damned" (Jessica Martin providing her voice, and Angharad Baxter acting on-camera).
  16. Queen Elizabeth II is also present but unseen in the Olympic Stadium at the end of the Tenth Doctor episode "Fear Her" and in the Eleventh Doctor mini-episode "Good as Gold", both of which take place with the torch's arrival, and thus after Her Majesty's entrance and formal opening of the games; and is at an off-camera party outside of the TARDIS in the Eleventh Doctor mini-episode, "Bad Night" (the Queen is unidentified in the mini-episode itself, but is revealed as "Liz Two" in the associated behind-the-scenes featurette.
  17. An alternate universe Queen Elizabeth II is said to have been executed prior to the events of the Third Doctor serial Inferno, and another alternate universe ER II is killed in the Tenth Doctor episode "Turn Left", in the Doctor-less version of the events of "Voyage of the Damned".
  18. Queen Elizabeth X appears in "The Beast Below" and "The Pandorica Opens", both of which are Eleventh Doctor episodes.
  19. Nia Roberts appears in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Hungry Earth" & "Cold Blood"
  20. Jenny Flint first appears in the Eleventh Doctor episode "A Good Man Goes to War", co-stars in the mini-episodes "The Battle of Demon's Run - Two Days Later", "The Great Detective", & "Vastra Investigates", and appears again in "The Snowmen", "Songtaran Carols", "The Crimson Horror", and "The Name of the Doctor", each of which is an Eleventh Doctor episode. She is then seen in the Twelfth Doctor episode, "Deep Breath"
  21. Alonzo Frame appears in the Tenth Doctor episode "Voyage of the Damned" and again briefly in "The End of Time".
  22. Doctor Who

    Ninth Doctor episode "Army of Ghosts";
    Torchwood: Torchwood: Children of Earth "Day Three" & "Day Four";
    The Sarah Jane Adventures: "Secrets of the Stars"
    He and Trinity Wells (below) are the only two characters to appear in all three series, although the TARDIS is heard in all three.

  23. Gachet is depicted in his portrait by van Gogh in "Vincent and the Doctor" Howard Lee makes an appearance as Gachet in eleventh Doctor story "The Pandorica Opens". Both are Eleventh Doctor episodes.
  24. Vincent van Gogh is a major character in the Eleventh Doctor episode "Vincent and the Doctor" and reappears briefly in the Eleventh Doctor episode "The Pandorica Opens".
  25. DI Gregson is first seen in the Eleventh Doctor-era webisode, "Vastra Investigates". He gains his surname when he returns in the Twelfth Doctor episode, "Deep Breath".
  26. Yvonne Hartman is a character in the Ninth Doctor episodes "Army of Ghosts" & "Doomsday".
  27. Clive Jones appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Smith and Jones", "The Sound of Drums", and "Last of the Time Lords".
  28. Francine Jones appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Smith and Jones", "The Lazarus Experiment", "42", "The Sound of Drums", "Last of the Time Lords", "The Stolen Earth", and "Journey's End".
  29. Harriet Jones is introduced in the Ninth Doctor episodes "Aliens of London" & "World War Three" and features again in the Tenth Doctor episodes "The Christmas Invasion" and "The Stolen Earth".
  30. Torchwood co-starring character Ianto Jones appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "The Stolen Earth" & "Journey's End".
  31. Leo Jones appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Smith and Jones", "The Lazarus Experiment", "The Sound of Drums", and "Last of the Time Lords".
  32. Tish Jones appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Smith and Jones", "The Lazarus Experiment", "The Sound of Drums", "Last of the Time Lords", and "Turn Left".
  33. Episode 1 of the Seventh Doctor serial, Remembrance of the Daleks, opens with a voice-over excerpt from John F. Kennedy's American University speech of 10 June 1963 (165 days prior to the episode's 22 November 1963 setting); the episode's cliffhanger end takes place in the early evening of 22 November, at or about the moment of Kennedy's assassination.
  34. Kennedy is shown passing the Ninth Doctor on Main Street in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on 22 November 1963, in a doctored version of Walt Cisco's famous photograph for the Dallas Morning News, in "Rose".
  35. Kennedy's wax sculpture at Madame Tussauds is featured in the Second Doctor's première serial, Spearhead from Space.
  36. Additionally, Kennedy's assassination - which occurred on the day before Doctor Who premièred with "An Unearthly Child" (which took place one or two days before the assassination, as indicated by the presence of the French Revolution book in Remembrance of the Daleks) - is addressed in Silver Nemesis, "Dimensions in Time", "Rose", "The Cambridge Spy", and "Let's Kill Hitler". His assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald occurs off-screen during the events of Remembrance of the Daleks (at or about the time of episode 1's cliff-hanger or the beginning of episode 2), and a subtle reference is made in "Asylum of the Daleks" in which the two brief survivors of the starship Alaskas crash are named Harvey and Oswin Oswald.
  37. Madame Kovarian appears briefly in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "Day of the Moon", "The Curse of the Black Spot", and "The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People", and more substantially in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "A Good Man Goes to War" and "The Wedding of River Song".
  38. . . . . . London . 27 April 1 June 1968.
  39. . Episode Ten . . . . . London . 21 June 1969.
  40. The First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, & Vicki use the space-time visualiser to witness Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address in The Chase.
  41. Lincoln's wax sculpture at Madame Tussauds is featured in the Third Doctor serial Spearhead from Space.
  42. Charlotte Lux appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Silence in the Library" & "Forest of the Dead".
  43. Strackman Lux appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Silence in the Library" & "Forest of the Dead".
  44. Lytton's forename is not provided in either of his television serials. It is provided as Gustave in the novelisation of Attack of the Cybermen and the Doctor Who Magazine story, "Mistaken Identity".
  45. Gustave Lytton is a character in the Fifth Doctor serial Resurrection of the Daleks and the Sixth Doctor serial Attack of the Cybermen.
  46. Angie Maitland appears in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Bells of Saint John", "The Crimson Horror", "Nightmare in Silver", "The Name of the Doctor".
  47. Artie Maitland appears in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Bells of Saint John", "The Crimson Horror", "Nightmare in Silver" (guest), "The Name of the Doctor".
  48. Oliver Morgenstern appears in the Tenth Doctor episode "Smith and Jones" and returns briefly in the Tenth Doctor episode "Turn Left".
  49. Lynda Moss appears in the Ninth Doctor episodes "Bad Wolf" & "The Parting of the Ways", a scene from which is shown again as a flashback in the Tenth Doctor episode "Journey's End".
  50. Nerys appeared in the Tenth Doctor episodes "The Runaway Bride" and "The End of Time".
  51. Nerys is mentioned by Donna Noble in the Tenth Doctor episode "The Doctor's Daughter".
  52. Richard Nixon appears in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Impossible Astronaut Prequel", "The Impossible Astronaut" & "Day of the Moon".
  53. Nixon's wax sculpture at Madame Tussauds is featured in the Third Doctor serial Spearhead from Space.
  54. The newly regenerated Eighth Doctor examined a Richard Nixon mask when stealing clothes.
  55. News: 18 October 2007 . none . . 388 .
  56. Sylvia Noble appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "The Runaway Bride", "Partners in Crime", "The Sontaran Stratagem", "The Poison Sky", "Turn Left", "The Stolen Earth", "Journey's End", and "The End of Time"
  57. Lady Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17 appears in the Ninth Doctor episode "The End of the World", and the Tenth Doctor episode "New Earth".
  58. Michael Dixon portrayed Dave Oswald in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Rings of Akhaten" and "The Name of the Doctor".
  59. James Buller portrayed Dave Oswald in the final Eleventh Doctor episode, "The Time of the Doctor"
  60. Ellie Oswald appears in the Eleventh Doctor mini-episode "The Bells of Saint John Prequel", and the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Rings of Akhaten" and "The Name of the Doctor".
  61. Alfie Owens appears in the Eleventh Doctor-era mini-episode "Up All Night" and the Eleventh Doctor episode "Closing Time".
  62. A former soldier cum mathematics teacher at Coal Hill School, Danny is the colleague and boyfriend of Clara Oswald. He appears in all Series 8 episodes, excepting "Deep Breath" and "Robot of Sherwood". Despite only small scenes in "Mummy on the Orient Express" and "Flatline", he was credited for both. After appearing in ten episodes (most significantly in "The Caretaker", "In the Forest of the Night", "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven"), he died in the pre-credit scene of "Dark Water", but he still appeared in the post-credit scenes of the episode, and its follower. The turning point for the finale was when Danny sacrificed himself to save Earth from "Missy" (the Master).
  63. "Listen"
  64. "Death in Heaven"
  65. "Flatline" and "Face the Raven"
  66. Lucy Saxon appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "The Sound of Drums", "Last of the Time Lords" and "The End of Time.
  67. William Shakespeare appeared briefly in the First Doctor serial The Chase, and more substantially in the Tenth Doctor episode "The Shakespeare Code".
  68. Walter Simeon appears in the Eleventh Doctor episode "The Snowmen". Thereafter, the Great Intelligence assumes Simeon's form and personality (still played by Richard E. Grant) in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Bells of Saint John" and "The Name of the Doctor".
  69. Jake Simmonds appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Rise of the Cybermen", "The Age of Steel", and "Doomsday".
  70. The Sarah Jane Adventures co-starring character Luke Smith appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "The Stolen Earth", "Journey's End", and "The End of Time". His name is additionally shown on-screen in a newspaper in "Turn Left", in which he is reported killed in a Doctor-less version of the events of "Smith and Jones".
  71. The Abominable Snowmen . The Abominable Snowmen . Doctor Who . Doctor Who . . . London . 30 September 4 November 1967.
  72. The Web of Fear . The Web of Fear . Doctor Who . Doctor Who . . . London . 3 February 9 March 1968., Downtime
  73. Miss Trefusis' hand is seen in the Tenth Doctor episode "Last of the Time Lords", and the rest of her is seen later in the Tenth Doctor episode "The End of Time".
  74. . . . . . Cardiff . 26 March 2005.
  75. . . . . . Cardiff . 2 April 2005.
  76. . . . . . Cardiff . 16 April 2005.
  77. . . . . . Cardiff . 23 April 2005.
  78. . . . . . Cardiff . 14 May 2005.
  79. Jackie is not generally considered a companion to the Doctor, however she does fulfill this role in the two-part episode Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.
  80. Pete Tyler is introduced in the Ninth Doctor episode "Father's Day", in which he dies. A parallel universe version of the same man appears in the Tenth Doctor episodes "Rise of the Cybermen", "The Age of Steel", and "Doomsday".
  81. Madame Vernet is a minor character in the Eleventh Doctor episode "Vincent and the Doctor", and she is seen again in "The Pandorica Opens".
  82. Doctor Who

    Tenth Doctor episode "Tooth and Claw"

  83. Doctor Who

    Ninth Doctor episodes "Aliens of London" & "World War Three", Tenth Doctor episodes "The Christmas Invasion", "The Sound of Drums", "The Poison Sky", "Turn Left", "The Stolen Earth", and "The End of Time".
    Torchwood: Children of Earth "Day Three" & "Day Four".
    The Sarah Jane Adventures: "Revenge of the Slitheen" and "Secrets of the Stars".
    Wells is the only named character to appear in all three series, although Anthony Debaeck's unnamed French newsreader does as well, and the TARDIS is heard in all three.

  84. Brian Williams is a character in the Eleventh Doctor episodes "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three", and in the Eleventh Doctor-era mini-episode "P.S.".
  85. Web site: Is Courtney Woods a Companion? | Doctor Who TV. 9 October 2014.
  86. Web site: BBC One - Doctor Who (2005–2022), Series 8 - Courtney Woods . 2024-07-11 . BBC . en-GB.
  87. The Deadly Assassin
  88. The Invasion of Time
  89. Arc of Infinity
  90. "The Five Doctors"
  91. Arc of Infinity and "The Five Doctors"
  92. Shada
  93. Shada
  94. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
  95. "The Doctor's Wife"
  96. "The Day of the Doctor" & "Hell Bent" (on-screen); "The Time of the Doctor" (voice only, repeatedly asking the "first question" through the crack).
  97. "Hell Bent" (on-screen)
  98. "The Doctor's Daughter"
  99. https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-time-meddler%2F
  100. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Doctor_Who_Programme_Guide/267plnl2E5YC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+meddling+monk+time+ltod&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover
  101. Terror of the Autons
  102. Planet of the Spiders
  103. . . . . . London . 30 December 1972 20 January 1973.
  104. "The End of Time"
  105. "Victory of the Daleks", "The Pandorica Opens"
  106. [Doctor Who (1996 film)|1996 telefilm]
  107. The Chase
  108. "The Pandorica Opens", "Prequel to 'A Good Man Goes to War'", "A Good Man Goes to War", "The Wedding of River Song", all of which are stories of the Eleventh Doctor's era.
  109. Vengeance on Varos, Mindwarp)
  110. "The Stolen Earth", "Journey's End")
  111. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2009/07_july/hornets_nest.shtml BBC Press Release: Tom Baker returns as the Fourth Doctor in new audio dramas

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