Romana 1. Sorry to be reductive but Mary Tamm
I’ve got a lot of fondness for Sharon. Underrated IMO and Who’s first companion of colour.
I don’t feel so bad about that considering she had three VMAs to Romana I’s one, and still has multiple more novels than Romana I overall considering her VNA appearances too
See the problem with the VMA ones is their all written by Gareth Roberts, which is a little unfortunate.
Leela and Sarah Jane for me.
I love the Hinchcliffe era, and the camaraderie between Four and Sarah Jane. I also started watching from Planet of the Spiders onwards as a child, so this era has a lot of nostalgia for me.
I wasn’t that taken with Leela when those stories originally aired but, as an adult, I love how empowered she is as a woman. And this is explored further in the audios. Because she is a fighter, she’s not as much of a screamer as some other female companions, so feels more modern.
I’m sure I’ve gone over this point before, but I love how when Leela finds herself feeling afraid, she stops to ask why, and on finding out from K9 that it’s a chemical in the air, she then proceeds to ignore her fear.
I adore Leela, I actually think she’s one of the people most suited to be a companion, because her skill set and intelligence complement the doctor’s so well, especially the fourth one. She doesn’t need science, he can do that, but what he can’t do is sense danger for example.
I also love Romana, especially Romana II. That is just such a wonderful dynamic she has with the doctor.
I love Leela. I can’t get tired of her. There is something so sincere in her relationship with the Doctor that I love. In the show at times the Doctor do treat her as a stupid savage, but the expanded media refined their dynamic enough that there is so many more aspects to their relationship.
I love her eager for learning, and even more because she doesn’t rationalise everything the same way we do; it’s always in relation to her life before their travels and it makes her feel living and breathing. I love that she fills that fighter role that in Doctor Who is usually masculine; and I love how caring and sympathetic she can be. And she is not afraid to cross the Doctor, neither to say she is sorry when she believes she was wrong.