Doctor Who: Bill Potts’ five best moments in season 10
BBC
Despite the fact that Bill seemed to get overall less time as her time during companion than others, even one-season companions, she had plenty of moments that made her stick out and become one of the favorites of the entire New Era.
If there were any problems with her character, it stemmed from the writing, not Pearl Mackie. She delivered a stellar performance in a kind of character we haven’t quite seen before. Bill Potts brought the Doctor out of his shell into a new character that was different than anything he’d shown.
Bill’s moments were more than just small funny moments. She did have a couple of funny ones, but mostly hers were important. Bill was part a huge part of the season. She pushed the Doctor in ways no companion has ever done. She went through more than most, and it’s impossible to say that she isn’t one of the bravest companions we’ve had.
Bill and Heather
Many of the fans were either worried, excited or didn’t care about the sexual orientation of the companion. But it was still something that had to be addressed. And in The Pilot, it was addressed perfectly. We got to meet Bill, see her prefer women as she worked in the lunch line. After that, she met Heather.
Heather and Bill would go on to be a couple that many people would love. They had an amazing scene in a bar where Clara’s theme was played by the Doctor, and everyone was falling in love with this couple faster. Unfortunately, Heather was taken by aliens to fly their machine, consequently turning her into something that’s not human. She left the show, but she would definitely be back.
She ended up saving Bill from the Cybermen later in the season, proving that Bill and Heather were somehow meant to be. Now, they’re flying the universe together, exploring. We’ve even thought that maybe the two are responsible for the regeneration! Could it be?
BBC
Penny, Bill and the Pope
This is one of the funniest bits I’ve seen in Doctor Who in 12 years. In Extremis, the Pope is trying hard to find the Doctor. So he finds the Doctor, and the takes the TARDIS to Bill’s house to pick her up.
Meanwhile, Bill is on a date with a girl who is a little new to dating girls. Just as Bill was beginning to let her guard down with tea and talking, guess who barges through the door? The Pope. Penny rushes out of the house, I’m sure scarred for life, and Bill is not happy.
She storms into the TARDIS, giving him a full on speech about when that “one beautiful thing happens for just one second–do not put the Pope in my bedroom!”
In an episode that had the audience ready for many serious plot points, this was a hilariously funny thing to happen and to get us ready before the entire adventure would begin. Don’t worry Bill and Penny, we’re not laughing at you. We’re laughing with you!
BBC
On the roof with the Doctor
In World Enough and Time is when we really see the Doctor open up with Bill. Not even with Clara, the person he claimed was his best friend, did he ever come out of his shell like he did with Bill. So there they sat on the roof of the Doctor’s office, with the Doctor telling Bill his life at the Academy, and with the Doctor.
This was an important scene for many reasons, not just because it was once again showing a difference (the doctor calling Missy his “man crush”). This was the epitome of how Bill brought the Doctor out of his shell and how different she helped make him in season 10. When else would we have seen our Scottish Doctor sitting and eating chips, talking about the stars and the girls and boys he used to like? Never! One of Bill’s best moments was a culmination of Bill, showing how she’s always been there for the Doctor.
(C) BBC/BBC Worldwide – Photographer: Simon Ridgway
Blinding/Fixing the Doctor
Every companion hits a moment where they make a mistake. It happens all the time, we promise! But, we have to admit that Bill kind of made a mess half way through the season, and then made a bigger one try to fix it. It’s okay, it’s all good now. Let’s go back and explain.
During the episode ‘Oxygen’, the Doctor suffered himself for Bill by giving her his helmet as she ran out air, causing them both to be without oxygen for too long. This, in turn, made the Doctor blind. We don’t know why the Doctor couldn’t regenerate and make himself better, nor do we know why Nardole couldn’t fix it. But for a horrible two episodes, the Doctor was blind and trying to make do without anyone knowing.
Finally, at the end of ‘Pyramid at the End of the World’, he tells Bill what’s been going on. Bill, trying to fix what she’d broken, goes to the Monks and promises to let them have whatever they wanted if they could fix the Doctor. Essentially, played right into this plan.
However, this is not a story of a companion messing up. This is a companion that was, for once, being the Doctor. She was willing to do anything to save the Doctor, because the Doctor was willing to do anything to save her. Even though it caused a bit of a mess, she was only trying to do the best of what she could to fix the man who deserved fixing more than anyone.
BBC
The Next Girl Who Waited
The last part of season 10 that Bill really shone in was World Enough and Time. She got killed by a man who was blue so that the would-be Cybermen wouldn’t come up and capture them all. She woke up from a surgery that had repaired the hole in her body that had been shot through completely, left with a metal box powering her body.
Throughout the episode, she would get visions of the Doctor saying ‘Wait for me’. And so she did. For 10 years, she waited for the Doctor. She got a job helping in what she thought was the hospital, made friends with a man, and just…waited. It echoed Amy’s story but with a much sadder ending. She wasn’t just waiting for the Doctor with an image in her mind, her clock was ticking — literally.
The man who was her friend turned out to be the Master, and help turn her into a Mondasian Cyberman. One of the first.
If this list doesn’t show the amazing journey that Bill had throughout the season, nothing will. She went from a woman selling chips in a line to flying the universe. Then she went to outer space and was turned into a Cyberman, only to be saved by the girl she liked back before she started travelling. The story of Bill was probably one of the most neatly tied bows I’ve ever seen, and I can’t wait to see what can possibly happen at Christmas.