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Doctor Who's early years featured some of the series' best companions. The First Doctor traveled with a superb mixture of personalities, like the clever history teacher Barbara Wright, and the headstrong astronaut Steven Taylor. A firm fan favorite is Ian Chesterton, who is one of the Doctor's earliest assistants. Sadly, Ian Chesterton actor William Russell passed away on June 3, 2024, and fans have since been sharing their favorite Ian stories.

Ian Chesterton embarked on some of Doctor Who's grandest adventures. These 60s serials encompass many of the classic series' most memorable antagonists, such as the Voord and the Sensorites. They also introduced one of the show's most iconic adversaries, the Daleks. Ranking these Doctor Who plots is especially difficult, representing some of the First Doctor's strongest installments, and fans have firm opinions on which Ian Chesterton escapades are the best.

The Rescue's Quick Pace Keeps Audiences Engaged

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Warning: This article contains Major Spoilers for the Doctor Who season 14 finale.

To understand Doctor Who season 14's finale, watching Tales of the Tardis is crucial for context on the Memory Tardis. Tales of the Tardis provides explanations on the purpose and abilities of the Memory Tardis, which the Fifteenth Doctor only briefly touches upon. The Memory Tardis has a significant narrative impact in Doctor Who season 14's finale, amplifying its role beyond the spinoff.

Doctor Whos season 14 finale introduces a concept that will make no sense to viewers who havent watched Doctor Whos newest spinoff show. The last episode of Doctor Who season 14 has finally released, wrapping up a thrilling debut season for Ncuti Gatwas Fifteenth Doctor. Like past finales, the ending of Doctor Who season 14 solves mysteries like the identity of Rubys mother while continuing to build the lore of the Whoniverse.

Sutekhs survival is explained by the...

Millie Gibson is rumored to be leaving Doctor Who in Ncuti Gatwa's second season, but she wouldn't be the first companion to only last one year. It's unclear when Millie Gibson's departure will happen, whether in the season 14 finale or the opening episodes of the following season. Doctor Who fans will have to wait for season 14 to see if the rumors about Millie Gibson leaving are true and how Ruby Sunday will fit into the list of short-lived companions.

It's heavily rumored that Millie Gibson is leaving Doctor Who in Ncuti Gatwa's second season, but she's not the first of the Doctor's companions to only last one year. Reports in the UK tabloid press suggest that Millie Gibson has been "dropped" from the role, which feels needlessly harsh. This unfair wording ignores the most likely scenario; that Ruby Sunday was always planned as a one-season companion. After all, Millie Gibson...

Tales of the Tardis opens up exciting possibilities for future episodes, with various Doctor and companion pairings to explore. Reuniting characters like Jenny and the Tenth Doctor could provide closure and new storylines for Doctor Who fans. Bringing back Martha Jones and the Master would offer more insight into Martha's side of the story from when Harold Saxon took over the world.

Tales of the Tardis opens a whole new universe of Doctor Who, with many tantalizing pairings now possible should future episodes happen. In preparation for Doctor Who's 60th anniversary special, the BBC has released Tales Of The Tardis. The show follows pairings of classic Doctor Who Doctors and companions, and not only involves the actors reprising their roles, but also combines individual older episodes to create new anthology stories.

Tales of the Tardis sees the return of the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and Tegan (Janet Fielding), the...

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, the spinoff Tales of the Tardis brings back 12 beloved characters, offering closure or new adventures. Younger viewers have a chance to be reintroduced to characters from the old series, each of whom played a significant role in the Whoniverse. The different versions of the Doctor and their companions from the past return in special memory scenes, creating a nostalgic and exciting experience for fans.

Tales of the Tardis features 12 characters from classic Doctor Who episodes as they look back on their adventures. In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the long-running sci-fi series, the BBC has created six episodes of a special series where old faces from the show return. These characters appear in a short scene to open and close the story before one of the classic serials plays out as a feature-length single episode.

The characters featured in the Tales of...

If Doctor Who fans ever felt hard done by during any of the show’s previous big anniversaries then the 60th is here to soothe spirits, hand out cherished gifts, and generally make a bloody big hair-ruffling fuss of the lot of us.

First came news of David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s return in three anniversary specials, then came the ‘roughly 8 million episodes of Doctor Who are coming to BBC iPlayer on November 1’ announcement, then they brought back Doctor Who Confidential under a different name, and now…

…three Classic era Doctors are returning alongside eight former Doctor Who Companions (plus The Sarah Jane Adventures’ Clyde Langer) for new series Tales of the Tardis.

New Scenes, Classic Who Cast

Not a behind-the-scenes documentary, and not standalone adventures, the six-part series will pair up the stars of classic Who acting in new scenes together, in character, wrapped around episodes from six existing serials.

Tales of the Tardis is a great way for new viewers to get a taste of Doctor Who's classic era and understand its influence on the series today. The omnibus-inspired format of the series makes it more accessible to modern audiences who may not be used to the serialized format of the classic series. The newly filmed scenes in Tales of the Tardis offer a chance for familiar characters to return and tie up loose ends, while also introducing new viewers to other parts of the Doctor Who universe.

New Doctor Who spin-off series Tales of the Tardis has been revealed, as previous Doctor and companion actors reprise their roles to reflect on key stories from the show's classic era. The classic era of Doctor Who ran from the show's debut on November 23 1963 with "An Unearthly Child", and came to a close with the third episode of the 1989 storyline...

It’s a good time to be a Doctor Who fan. Over 800 episodes of the iconic sci-fi series will soon be available to watch on BBC iPlayer, and they’ll be joined by a brand-new Doctor Who spinoff series which will reunite classic Doctor Who duos, including classic Doctors and their companions.

Tales of the Tardis will span six-episodes, with each featuring a different duo, with brand new scenes woven together with classic episodes to create feature-length omnibus episodes. Reprising their roles for the Doctor Who spinoff series are; Maureen O’Brien as Vicki and Peter Purves as Steven, Frazer Hines as Jamie and Wendy Padbury as Zoe, Katy Manning as Jo and Daniel Anthony as Clyde, Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Janet Fielding as Tegan, Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri, and Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace.

While most Doctor Who companions over the past 60 years have been young women, the ages of companions actually varies widely. The first several Doctor Who seasons almost always had a teenage girl as one of the main companions, as an audience surrogate when the series was more aimed at children. The actresses, however, were all over 18.

Modern Doctor Who companions trend a little older, but new Doctor Who companion Ruby Sunday will be the youngest yet. Millie Gibson was just 18 years old when she began filming Doctor Who season 14 last year. Though some companions have been younger in fiction, none of the actors have been younger than 19 until now.

Related: Doctor Who: Every Doctor's True Companion

Susan Foreman

The Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, appeared to be a teenager when she and the First Doctor appeared in Doctor Who's first episode, "An Unearthly Child." In the "Marco Polo" serial...

Over the years, Doctor Who has featured many actors as companions to the titular Time Lord, but not many lasted a long time on the show. Doctor Who first premiered on the BBC in 1963, quickly becoming one of the most popular shows on television, at least until its 1989 cancelation. After a failed attempt at a revival in 1996, the series came back with a bang in 2005 under the supervision of Russell T. Davies. Fifteen actors have taken on the coveted role of the Doctor, but many more actors have portrayed traveling companions for the alien adventurer, most staying for only one or two seasons before departing.

When the series began, the role of the companion was simply a side character, acting as the audience's eyes and ears as the Doctor splurges information about the various time periods and planets they find themselves in. After its 2005 revival, however, companions have played a...

Vicki, who never even got a surname on screen despite appearing in 38 episodes of Doctor Who, is an underrated companion. Indeed, Maureen O’Brien’s character is significant as the template for the young female lead in the show going forward. She has a strong bond with William Hartnell’s Doctor, who provides a father-figure for her, and is smart, confident and funny in her own right.

Appearing in only nine stories, Vicki’s final story has no surviving footage (though the audio exists) and two more of her stories are only partially complete. Only one of her stories was in the top half of the Doctor Who Magazine 50th anniversary poll, and a few of them are in the lower reaches of the rankings. Her only Dalek story is ‘The Chase’, which is one of the less well thought of. So perhaps there are reasons she’s not often cited...

Do you fear getting into a situation where your TV-loving partner/friend/relative asks, 'When's show X coming back?' and you're forced to admit you don't know, and as a result they disown you, leaving you a hollow shell of a person?

Well don't you worry, precious flower, because we at Tube Talk are here to bestow you with knowledge and help you avoid tragic telly faux-pas. This week we've got scoop on True Detective, Revenge and more...

I don't think I have ever been more excited for a TV show than True Detective - please tell me it has been picked up by a UK network?

It has! As part of its five-year deal securing all new HBO programming, Sky Atlantic will air True Detective in February 2014... mere weeks after its Us premiere on January 12.

We're chuffed, because Tony Barret is right to be excited - the eight-part series,...

New details of BBC Worldwide's Doctor Who 50th Celebration have been announced.

Peter Davison is the latest star to be added to the guest-list for the three-day event, which takes place at ExCeL London from Friday, November 22 to Sunday, November 24.

The fifth Doctor actor joins Matt Smith and former Doctors Tom Baker, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy in attending the celebration.

It has also been confirmed that 50th anniversary special 'The Day of the Doctor' will be screened, in 2D and free of charge, on the evening of Saturday, November 23.

The screening will have limited availability and tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis, with Saturday attendees due to be e-mailed shortly with details about how they can reserve a seat.

The full guest list for all three days is as follow:

Friday, November, 22:

Waris Hussein, Anneke Wills, Kate O'Mara, Richard Franklin, Matthew Waterhouse,...

Two missing black-and-white episodes of Doctor Who have been found in the private collection of a TV engineer who bought them at a school fete in the 1980s.

The BBC had erased the original copies at a time when videotape was expensive and archiving was not a routine procedure.

One episode, broadcast in 1965, is called Airlock and is the third in a four-part story called Galaxy 4.

It features William Hartnell as the first Doctor, with companions Steven Taylor (played by Peter Purves, later a Blue Peter presenter) and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien), and marks the only appearance of a race of robots called the Chumblies, as can be seen in the image above.

The other episode is the second part of The Underwater Menace, from 1967. It starred Patrick Troughton as the second incarnation of the Doctor, who was trying to stop a mad scientist draining the ocean to raise Atlantis. His...

Producer Lili Fini Zanuck ("Rush") is set to direct a film adaptation of the darkly comic 1996 novel "Assault on Tony's" says The Hollywood Reporter.

"Leaving Las Vegas" author John O'Brien penned the book which is set over seventeen days in the near future when the U.S. is going up in flames due to rampant anarchy and mass race rioting. Inside a pub, a group of middle-class white alcoholics are initially united by the desire to sit and drink their way through events and defend the bar.

However, as the liquor supply starts to dwindle, each member's prejudices star to come out and it all ends in shocking violence. O'Brien killed himself before he finished it, leaving his sibling author Maureen O'Brien to write the conclusion based on his notes.

Erik Bergquist ("The Fast and the Furious") adapted the script which will change shorten the crisis to three days, change...

Lili Fini Zanuck to adapt novel into film Oscar-winning producer Lili Fini Zanuck is set to direct the film adaptation of John O'Brien's 1996 novel Assault on Tony's, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Assault on Tony's is about to start casting with the goal of entering production by year's end.

The dark novel by O'Brien, the author of Leaving Las Vegas, revolves around five white patrons who are barricaded in a bar called Tony's for 17 days while a race riot rages. The drunks continue to drink, but things get intense when the liquor supply begins to dwindle. Power struggles ensue, rationing begins and the alcoholics descend into their own chaos as the violence escalates outside.

Erik Bergquist adapted the novel and has made updates to reflect the current climate. The riots now have more to do with today's economic crisis, and the 17 days have been reduced to three.

Moreover, the...

After a nearly two-decade hiatus, Oscar-winning producer Lili Fini Zanuck is returning to her directorial roots to helm a big-screen adaptation of John O'Brien's 1996 novel "Assault on Tony's."

Mark Johnson is producing the project, which is about to start casting with the goal of entering production by year's end.

The dark novel by O'Brien, the author of "Leaving Las Vegas," revolves around five white patrons who are barricaded in a bar called Tony's for 17 days while a race riot rages. The drunks continue to drink, but things get intense when the liquor supply begins to dwindle. Power struggles ensue, rationing begins and the alcoholics descend into their own chaos as the violence escalates outside.

Erik Bergquist ("The Fast and the Furious") adapted the novel and has made updates to reflect the current climate. The riots now have more to do with today's economic crisis, and the 17 days have been reduced to three.

As we reported in August, the BBC have made a deal with MSN for the web portal to provide streamed classic TV content - and this includes Doctor Who, it has been confirmed. So far you can catch all 6 epsides of 1965 adventure The Web Planet, which stars William Hartnell as the Doctor, William Russell as Ian Chesterton, Jacqueline Pearce as Barbara Wright and Maureen O'Brien as Vicki. Co-starring many others including Martin Jarvis, The Web Planet sees the Tardis drawn off-course to the...

The BBFC have passed a trailer for two stories, The Space Museum and The Chase, indicating that both are being lined up for a DVD release in the next few months. The stories were part of Doctor Who's second season and were first shown between April and June 1965.

They feature William Hartnell as the first Doctor along with Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, William Russell as Ian Chesterton and Maureen O'Brien as Vicki, and introduce Peter Purves as new companion Steven Taylor.

The Space Museum was written by Glyn Jones and directed by Mervyn Pinfield, who as Doctor Who's first Associate Producer was responsible for many technical innovations used on the programme.

The Chase was the final story for Ian and Barbara. It sees the Daleks return in their third story for the series, which was again written by Terry Nation. Directed by Richard Martin, it also starred Hywel Bennett.