A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the first edition of this book, originally titled Companions: 50 Years of Doctor Who Assistants, in 2013. Philip Bates, who has taken over writing duties from Andy Frankham-Allen, has not so much updated the book as given it a wholesale overhaul for this new incarnation, reflecting just how much has happened in the worlds of Doctor Who in the intervening years.
The first thing to say is that it must have taken a huge amount of work to produce this book. Coming in at a colossal 700 pages (think of the thickness of a fantasy epic, or one of those vast tomes about World War II), the new volume greatly expands on its predecessor to reflect both new series companions and the Expanded Universe of novels, comics and audio.
There are important structural issues for a writer to consider when embarking on this kind of work. Who counts as a companion and who doesn’t? How do you arrange so much material in a work covering six decades? How much should the writer’s own views influence the tone?
For the most part, I agreed with Bates’ decisions. He starts with a chapter explaining his answer to the first question (in summary, it depends on what the production team intended at the time). I’d still question some of his choices for inclusion (single episode characters Handles the Cyber-head from The Time of the Doctor, and hotel worker Anita Benn from Joy to the World surely owe their places to the familiar Steven Moffat trope ‘the Doctor has to spend a really long time somewhere’ more than any other factor) but I guess that goes to show there’s no definitive answer.
Each Doctor has their own section covering their companions one by one, with informative summaries of their experiences in each adventure. The Expanded Universe is given its own chapter at the end of each section, which feels like a sensible way to present things. So if you want to know what happened in Ace’s three different post-Survival timelines, or how come there are four distinct origin stories for Susan, for example, you can find out, but that information isn’t mixed in with what was seen on screen.
Companions is very much an in-universe book, so it’s not the place to look for biographical details of actors or behind-the-scenes information. This approach results in some amusing passages that point to iffy scriptwriting without directly labelling it as such, as with Sarah in The Android Invasion: “she appears somewhat out of sorts in this story; when she re-meets Harry, who appears to be working against her and the Doctor, she doesn’t even consider that he may, once again, be a duplicate.”
There’s so much to discover in this impressively researched book, and even the most avid fans are sure to learn something. The Eighth Doctor’s Expanded Universe chapter runs to 50 pages, reflecting just how long Paul McGann was the current Doctor, and the wealth of Doctor Who material released in that time. Wonderfully, it even includes his Radio Times comic strip companions, Stacy and Ssard. If you’re anything like me, you’ll require a stiff drink (or at least a few deep breaths) before attempting to tackle the account of River’s timeline, but Bates has made a valiant attempt to explain what often felt inexplicable. It probably would have been asking too much for an index, but a contents page would have been a big help, particularly when some characters appear in more than one section.
It’s a book most will want to dip into rather than read cover-to-cover, and is sure to be an essential volume for any Doctor Who fiction or non-fiction writer, or anyone who just wants to satisfy their curiosity about ‘whatever happened to…?’ without resorting to Google.
Authoritative, well-timed, and quirky (there’s a playlist of songs for each character), the new edition of Companions is a very worthwhile addition to your bookshelf.
Companions: More Than 60 Years of Doctor Who Assistants is available from Candy Jar Books, priced £20 plus P&P.
