With Pearl Mackie leaving Doctor Who after the Christmas special, we've assessed the most likely candidates to be Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor new companion in the TARDIS
With Jodie Whittaker breaking that big glass ceiling to become the first female Doctor Who, we’re guessing Pearl Mackie’s replacement as the TARDIS companion will be a male friend. Here are a few actors we’d like new executive producer Chris Chibnall to consider joining her to whizz around time and space facing Daleks, Cybermen and any other weird monster the sci-fi show throws at them…
DAVID AMES We've always loved David as forever love-troubled surgeon Dominic Copeland in Holby City. Currently trying to lock lips with Lofty on the wards, Dom’s a sensitive soul but also a little stroppy from time to time, just as we'd like a Doctor Who companion to be. Perhaps it’s time for David to think about to ditching the medical scrubs and bring a lighter touch to all the universe offers, especially if Jodie proves to be a tetchy Time Lord (or is it a Time Lady?). We can really see his companion and Jodie’s Doctor as best mates swapping intergalactic gossip as well as fashion tips.
David’s been in Doctor Who before, playing bus passenger Nathan in the 2009 one-off adventure, Planet of the Dead, alongside David Tennant and Michelle Ryan. Nathan survived that episode so it be would wonderful to see David back in the show as either as Nathan or a new character altogether.
DEAN-CHARLES CHAPMAN Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones was the wettest monarch since King Canute, but the Westeros boy ruler has long since plunged to his death, freeing Dean-Charles Chapman to now jump on board the TARDIS. At 20 he’d be a young companion yes, but Bill was the same age, and was a revelation. Dean-Charles was once a ballet star in the West End musical Billy Elliot on the London stage, so he’d be quick on his feet should his companion and Jodie’s Doctor need to flee…
JACK ROWAN Jack shone when he played a psycho teen in Channel 4’s recent thriller Born to Kill. He was also an amateur boxer as a teenager, and played a boxer in Silent Witness and will be another boxer in the new series of BBC2’s Peaky Blinders, so fighting any aggressive aliens should be second nature. If a moody, brooding companion with a hint of menace is needed, he'll ace it...
ALFRED ENOCH Alfred has a big family connection to Doctor Who. His father is William Russell who played science teacher Ian Chesterton, the Doctor’s first ever companion in 1963 alongside William Hartnell’s grouchy grandfatherly Time Lord. It would be lovely it he continued the family tradition.
Alfred’s currently filming BBC1’s big budget epic Troy: Fall of City in South Africa, so he’d be well versed in period costume should the TARDIS take a trip back to ancient times. In his younger days he played Dean Thomas, one of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts’ gang in the films, where of course he helped fight off various monsters, Voldemort and Death Eaters. He'd have useful skills for an eventful jaunt round the universe.
KRIS MARSHALL Heavily tipped to be the new Doctor Who himself before the big Jodie announcement, the former Death In Paradise star might still make the TARDIS after all, but in an assisting role… He’s certainly got the quirky pedigree, but would he really be prepared to play second fiddle on screen after all the previous hype?
WILL MERRICK We love the quirkiness of Will from his time as a party boy on Skins, then a lovable butcher in ITV’s Brief Encounters last year and as 1980s snooker ace Steve Davis in top drama The Rack Pack. And he’s been in Doctor Who before. In 2013 Will played Brains in the Cyberman adventure Nightmare in Silver, which featured Matt Smith as the Doctor. Companions have often been cast after featuring in minor roles in the show. That was certainly the case with Freema Agyemon, so that would make Will a good bet.
MITCH HEWER Mitch was dancer student Maxxie Oliver from the start of Channel 4 series Skins. While he hasn't hit Hollywood and the big US dramas like some of his Skins contemporaries such as Nicholas Hoult, Dev Patel and Joe Dempsie, we’ve loved him recently as secretly gay Mickey Ellison in Casualty. We can easily see Mitch as a sensitive and entertaining companion who provides a friend for Jodie’s Doctor, as well as assistant.
