Ten weeks to go! From Sparrows to Lakes, from Motts to Brookes, here's our definitive verdict on the Doctor's greatest one-nighters.Every now and then, when a writer of new Doctor Who finds powerful inspiration, the Doctor is rewarded with an assistant for a solitary adventure in time and space. That faithful companion is usually rewarded with a grisly demise of some kind to prevent further travels in the TARDIS and any major shifts in the series' current status quo. All the same, in these characters we find some of the show's most memorable constructs, whose lives reside in fans' memories long after their prescribed expiration date.
You'll notice in this particular list of the greatest 'One-Off Companions' to feature in the programme that our focus is primarily on 2005-2013 constructs. No discredit is intended towards the so-called 'classic' era of Who in this decision, yet the story which contained perhaps the most prominent solitary TARDIS companions in 1963-1989, The Daleks' Master Plan (which featured freedom fighters Sara Kingdom and Katarina), is virtually lost to the archives and as such is difficult to accurately judge against the programme's modern-day incarnation. With that covered, let's move into this prestigious list...
5. JACKSON LAKE (2008)- For all The Next Doctor's faults, particularly in its climax, the 2008 Christmas Special does have at least one primary redemptive factor- David Morrissey. Doctor Who had acquired various celebrity stars for its festive episodes before (Penelope Wilton, Catherine Tate and Kylie Minogue among them), but with Morrissey, Russell T. Davies confirmed without fail that the revived show was once again playing in the big leagues. Whether in his bemused and tragedy-ridden state as the supposed 'Next' Doctor or in his triumphant recovery of his memories and his rescue of his son, Jackson Lake is a brilliantly pitched one-night stand for the Doctor, the very essence of Morrissey's performance impressively imbued by elements of past Doctors while equally unique in its own right!
4. RITA (2011)- This space on the shortlist was closely fought for by two worthy competitors, one of whom was A Good Man Goes To War's soldier-turned-saviour Lorna Buckett. Eventually, though, for this writer it became evident that Toby Whithouse's The God Complex provides the more effective lost hero by a slim margin. In her short space of time on the show, Amara Khan's beautifully portrayed Muslim medical student won her way into hearts nationwide, her unashamed faith and her resilience in challenging even our favourite Time Lord's own preconceptions of religion lending new depth in spite of the ominous sense that her death was only moments away. Perhaps most importantly of all, we never discover Rita's family name- to us, there will always only be Rita, and the Doctor, and the days that never came...
3. ADELAIDE BROOKE (2009)- When it comes to the matter of an assistant willing to fight the Last of the Time Lords at every turn, however, few characters carry such a legacy as Captain Adelaide Brooke. Introduced and subsequently killed off in the midst of The Waters of Mars, Adelaide's ferocity and stubborn retaliation both matched and eclipsed Series Four's beloved Donna Noble. Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford leave the viewer with a harrowing final glimpse of Lindsay Duncan's respected leader figure as she moves towards her suicide in order to restore history and defeat the Time Lord Victorious, although ultimately this unnerving departure lingers in the mind for its profound dramatic effect four years on, along with Duncan's spectacular performance.
2. KAZRAN SARDICK (2010)- If ever there was an instance in which Doctor Who's latest executive producer, Steven Moffat, had to keep the faith of Russell T. Davies' fanbase, then it was with the 2010 Christmas Special. Enter Michael Gambon, a stellar piece of guest casting for the programme in a year which had already given us Who turns from Ian McNeice, Alex Kingston, Helen McRory, Toby Jones, Bill Nighy and James Corden. A Christmas Carol's Kazran Sardick is transformed (a la Scrooge) from a petty miser with tyrannical control over his city to a lovable and surprisingly scarred romantic thanks to the intervention of Matt Smith's Doctor. Without Gambon, Sardick wouldn't hold such an intoxicating dynamic with the Doctor (who himself would turn Scrooge-esque in The Snowmen two years later), nor would he be recalled as one of Doctor Who's finest one-off companions!
1. WILFRED MOTT (2009)- "Please, just take this gun and save your life, and please don't die- you're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die." For a precious moment in The End of Time Part Two, the battle subsides aboard a Vinvocci space cruiser, presenting us with two men reminiscing upon their age and their experiences on the planet Earth below. David Tennant gives it his all as ever in his darkest hour, his final hour, yet in the end it's Bernard Cribbins' Wilfred Mott who's the real star of the show. Fans were able to witness raw emotion like never before in the British star's performance, his honesty and bravery proving to be his greatest strengths at the same time as dooming his one true friend. As the Tenth Doctor departs Donna's second wedding and bids Wilf a final farewell, to me it seems most tragic not that David Tennant's incarnation meets his demise, but that this sterling one-off traveller in the TARDIS has his journey cut short so briskly, all the while remaining one of the greatest characters that Doctor Who has ever produced.
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