Doctor Who: Could an untrustworthy companion work in the New Series?

Doctor Who companions are generally known for having many great qualities, including a strong sense of loyalty. But what if the New Series introduced a companion who wasn’t so trustworthy?

After looking back at Turlough in yesterday’s article, it suddenly got me thinking. In the New Series, at least, companions have generally had very strong qualities. They love travelling, they’re eager to help save the day, and they’re loyal. And this is true for many companions of the Classic Series, too.

There has, of course, been the rather obvious exception of Adam. But even he only lasted for two episodes before the Doctor kicked him out in The Long Game. So generally, the Doctor prefers to only travel with the best.

But with Turlough in the Classic Series, we had a longer term companion who didn’t have the best qualities. A young man who was essentially a coward, and only out for himself.

He redeemed himself eventually, but it did get me thinking. Could the New Series give us a companion like that? Could we have a companion on the TARDIS that we couldn’t trust?

The upcoming Series Eleven will include three different companions. In a TARDIS team of this size, could you include a companion considerably less trustworthy than most?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: BBC Press.)

How it could work

When writing a character that’s intentionally unlikable like that, there is admittedly always a huge risk. Particularly if that character’s a regular. Succeed too much at making a companion act terrible, and that could be off-putting to the audience. Especially to the more general viewers.

The key thing to do would be to make a character like that sympathetic on at least some level. If they’re working against the Doctor in some way, is there a strong reason for that?

When Turlough first joined the Doctor, he was initially given the task to kill him by the Black Guardian in Mawdryn Undead. But that was only through sheer desperation, as he was primarily looking for an easy way off Earth, and thought he could back out of the deal if he wanted.

Of course, with an entity as evil as the Black Guardian, backing out wasn’t really an option. Not if he wanted to live, at least.

Perhaps we could have a companion who’s put into a similar position on the TARDIS. Perhaps they’d be working against the Doctor to save themselves. Or better still, protect their family. If you make the companion’s motives sympathetic, you could have a really interesting character for the audience to become invested in.

It’s also worth pointing out that right now, we have a team of three companions. So it would certainly be easier to introduce someone devious into a TARDIS crew of that size, rather than if they were the sole companion. If you have two more traditional, likable companions on the crew already, a more untrustworthy companion would make things more interesting.

Redemption

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What could be interesting in a character arc like that could be the theme of redemption. As the series goes on, the companion could start to learn things from the Doctor, and gradually develop. They could become more morally conflicted, and find it more difficult to betray the Doctor.

This was, essentially, the core arc of Turlough. While he still had some rather selfish traits, even after he chose to truly side with the Doctor over the Black Guardian, over time, he did get better. Especially by the time he left.

It would be great to have an arc just like that. Possibly even better, since as great as Turlough was, his story and character could’ve been fleshed out just a little more.

Stories of redemption are always rewarding to watch when handled right, and it would be fantastic to watch something like that in the New Series, where character growth and drama are focused on so often.

What do you think? Do you think having a more morally grey companion would be interesting to have in the New Series? Or would you prefer all the companions to be clearly morally strong characters? Let us know in the comments below.