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Burning up a sun just to say goodbye...
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00:00Doctor Who has bid farewell to a staggering number of companions over the years.
00:04That's the reality of life with the Doctor.
00:06Human lifespans pale in insignificance against that of a Time Lord.
00:10Some of these departures have been victorious, happy endings,
00:13like Martha Jones' moment of self-actualisation,
00:17when she accepts that the Doctor will never see her in the same way he saw Rose.
00:21A companion exit is most successful when the audience feels something.
00:25A Doctor Who companion is their way in.
00:27The identification figure amongst all the madness of time travel and alien planets.
00:32So with all that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture,
00:35and here are the 9 saddest Doctor Who companion exits.
00:39Number 9. Adric in Earthshock
00:42Earthshock begins with Adric trying to convince the Doctor
00:44that he can mathematically plot a course back to his homeworld.
00:48It ends with him staying on board a crashing space freighter,
00:51determined to work out the final logic code.
00:53When a dying Cyberman blasts the console, Adric is doomed to never know the answer,
00:58and is blown to smithereens as the freighter crashes into Earth.
01:02What's interesting about the death of Adric is that it's not a noble sacrifice to save the Doctor and his friends,
01:07it's the result of his youthful arrogance.
01:09He says he's trying to stop the crash to save Earth,
01:12but it's his obsession with being right that ultimately leads to his death.
01:15What really sells the sadness of the moment isn't the lingering close-up of his shattered star or mathematical excellence,
01:22it's the emphasis on the Doctor's inability to do anything.
01:25Despite how he's remembered now, Adric's death traumatised a generation of young viewers,
01:31and the Doctor not reassuring the audience that everything will be okay plays a big part in that.
01:35Years later, towards the end of Billy Piper's second series,
01:39Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison emailed Russell T Davies
01:42in order to reassure his kids that Rose Tyler wouldn't die.
01:45Davies emailed back simply with,
01:47You killed Adric. What do you care?
01:49Number 8. Rose in Doomsday
01:52To the relief of Peter Davison and his sons, Rose Tyler didn't die.
01:56Instead, she was separated from the Doctor when she became trapped in a parallel world.
02:00It was the natural conclusion for a Doctor and companion who had become inseparable.
02:05Their need to be together is what ultimately leads Rose to join the Doctor at the top of Torchwood's Canary Wharf office.
02:10Rose isn't alone in this new universe, however.
02:13She has parallel Pete, the father she always wanted, and her mother Jackie.
02:17Finally, she has the family that she always wanted, but at the cost of her relationship with the Doctor.
02:22Rose has always neglected those close to her in pursuit of a life of adventure with the Doctor,
02:27so stranding her in the alternative universe is arguably cruel,
02:31but it allows her to appreciate what really matters.
02:34The lessons that she's learned from the Doctor and the support of her newfound family
02:38will ensure that she'll have a fantastic life, just like the Ninth Doctor had wanted for her.
02:43Of course, this bittersweet ending is undone when she's eventually reunited with the Doctor,
02:47who palms off his half-human duplicate as her clone concubine.
02:51Number 7. Tegan in Resurrection of the Daleks
02:54Tegan endures a great deal of torment in her time with the Doctor.
02:59Her Aunt Vanessa is murdered by the Master,
03:01she has her mind invaded by an evil psychic serpent,
03:04her friend Adric is blown up,
03:05she gets fired from her job as an air hostess,
03:07and yet she still decides to get back on board the TARDIS at the end of Arc of Infinity.
03:12She finally decides that she's had enough a year later in Resurrection of the Daleks.
03:17Tegan doesn't get much to do in the story,
03:19other than get a bump on the head and witness a whole host of people die horribly.
03:23It's no surprise that she decides her adventures with the Doctors have stopped being fun.
03:27It's more surprising that their adventures were ever fun in the first place.
03:30Tegan's criticism of the Doctor draws attention to the amount of horror and violence in the
03:351980s era, something that will only increase over the next year.
03:39What's sad about Tegan's farewell is that she leaves on bad terms,
03:42rashly running out of the warehouse.
03:44By the time she returns, the Doctor and Turlo have left.
03:47Number 6. K-9 in School Reunion
03:49Of the many innovations of the Russell T. Davies era,
03:53one of the lesser-championed ones was how it made audiences weep for K-9.
03:57In the late 70s and 80s, writers would regularly blow up the tin dog,
04:01or contrive ways to keep him in the TARDIS in order to avoid writing for the character.
04:05In Toby Whitehouse's School Reunion, however,
04:08K-9 blowing up holds dramatic weight.
04:10Staying behind to defeat the Quilletane,
04:12K-9 detonates the oil and perishes in the explosion.
04:16He even gets to deliver an action-hero-style one-liner.
04:19As the kids all celebrate their school being blown up,
04:21the Tenth Doctor puts his arm around a grieving Sarah Jane.
04:24K-9's death is so affecting because he has come to represent Sarah's last connection
04:29to her life with the Doctor.
04:30He hasn't worked properly for years,
04:32but she still keeps him in the boot of her car, almost as a memento.
04:35When he dies, it severs that link with her old life.
04:38It's heartbreaking, but it gives Sarah the chance to move on
04:41and form a new relationship with the Tenth Doctor, Rose, and Mickey.
04:45And even though she gets a shiny new K-9,
04:47it doesn't undermine his noble sacrifice.
04:50Number 5. Jamie and Zoe in The War Games
04:53By the end of the War Games,
04:55the second Doctor has been forced to request help from his own people
04:58to dismantle the perverse games of the Warchief.
05:01Their assistance comes at a cost, however,
05:03and the Doctor is put on trial for his meddling.
05:05Before he's marched off to court,
05:06he is allowed to say goodbye to his companions, Jamie and Zoe,
05:10before the Time Lords send them back to their proper time and place.
05:13Unfortunately for them,
05:14the Time Lords wipe their memories of their adventures with the Doctor
05:17after the first time they met him.
05:19So, Zoe remembers defeating the Cybermen on the wheel and nothing else,
05:23whilst Jamie is left to fend for himself in a brutal post-Culloden Scotland.
05:28It's an ending so sad and unjust that it's made a big impact on fans over the years.
05:32Number 4. Sarah Jane Smith in The Hand of Fear
05:35The original plan for Sarah Jane's departure was to kill her off in a story about the Foreign Legion.
05:41But script editor Robert Holmes disliked the script and nixed the idea.
05:44Holmes' decision would unwittingly change the shape of the modern series.
05:48I mean, who would they have put in school reunion instead?
05:51Nyssa?
05:51Due to her intended departure story being abandoned,
05:54Sarah's leaving was hastily written into the climax of The Hand of Fear.
05:58However, Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen found it to be completely unsuitable,
06:02and instead worked out a version between themselves.
06:05It's a sweet, understated scene,
06:07as the Doctor is recalled to Gallifrey and has to let Sarah go.
06:10They promise not to forget each other,
06:12and you almost forget that it was an abrupt last-minute change.
06:14What makes Sarah's departure sad
06:16is that it doesn't hold the weight that it really should.
06:19Sarah Jane Smith was one of the greatest ever companions,
06:22and having her simply dropped off on the wrong street just feels wrong.
06:25Sadder still is that Sladen reportedly only left
06:28because she mistakenly believed that producer Philip Hinchcliffe
06:31would want to create his own companion.
06:33Multiple new series episodes,
06:35two Doctors,
06:35and four and a half spin-off series later,
06:37it all worked out okay for her in the end.
06:39Number 3.
06:40Donna Noble in Journey's End
06:42Donna Noble's exit is dreadfully sad.
06:45She achieves her full potential,
06:47defeats the Daleks,
06:48saves the universe,
06:49and grows a whole new Doctor,
06:51only for it all to be cruelly erased from her memory to save her life.
06:54It's devastating because she has no real say in the matter.
06:57The Doctor takes it upon himself to wipe her brain without her consent.
07:01He feels terrible about it, obviously,
07:03but look how devastated he is standing in the rain.
07:05The tonal shift from this celebratory towing of the Earth by the TARDIS
07:09to Donna's mind wipe is enough to give you whiplash.
07:11It's a real downer of an ending to a series that had the most likable Doctor and companion pairing
07:16of the modern series.
07:18In the closing moments of The End of Time, however,
07:21the Doctor returns to put things right.
07:23On the day of Donna's wedding to a much nicer man than Ragnos agent Lance,
07:27he presents Wilf and Sylvia with a winning lottery ticket
07:29that will ensure she can afford to do all the travelling that she once dreamed of.
07:33It still doesn't take away from the gut punch of Journey's End, though.
07:36Number 2.
07:37Susan in Dalek Invasion of Earth
07:39The closing scenes of the Dalek Invasion of Earth find the Doctor making the decision
07:43to allow Susan to live a normal life,
07:46something his ninth incarnation will later state that he can never have.
07:50It's notable for being the very first companion exit,
07:53and also for being one of the most emotionally charged.
07:56Recognizing that Susan has fallen in love with young resistance fighter David,
07:59the Doctor locks the doors of the TARDIS and practically forces her to live happily ever after.
08:04It's one of William Hartnell's finest performances in the role,
08:07and his warmth and melancholy makes it a sweeter moment than it sounds.
08:11It's an incredibly strong character moment for the regular cast.
08:15Barbara and Ian have humanized the Doctor,
08:17and in softening him have allowed him to see that his freewheeling life of adventure
08:21will only hold Susan back.
08:23He has to cut the ties and give his blessing to her romance with David.
08:26Otherwise, she'll throw away a stable, rewarding future
08:29to get back inside the TARDIS and travel to who knows where.
08:32It's a beautiful moment that gives a real insight into the Doctor's psychology
08:36in a way that the series would rarely attempt until 2005.
08:401. Joe Grant in The Green Death
08:43The ending of The Green Death and Doctor Who's tenth season is a celebratory one.
08:47There's a party, and in a much-needed portrait of unity,
08:51stuffy military types rub shoulders with progressive environmental activists.
08:55So why is Joe Grant's departure the saddest companion exit?
08:58Throughout the story, the Doctor is coming to terms with the fact that his companion
09:01has outgrown him.
09:02She turns down the chance to visit Metabilis 3 to join the protests in Wales,
09:07where she spends an increasing amount of time with Cliff.
09:09The Doctor can see that she's falling for a younger, more handsome, more human version of him,
09:14but is unable to voice his sadness.
09:16With the party in full swing and Joe leaving her life in the TARDIS behind,
09:20there's a melancholy note to proceedings.
09:23Without saying goodbye, the third Doctor quietly departs from the festivities,
09:27gets in his car, and drives away into the twilight.
09:30It's such a memorable moment that Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss later referenced it
09:34in the Sherlock episode The Sign of Three,
09:37when Holmes departs John and Mary Watson's wedding in a similar fashion.
09:40And that concludes our list.
09:42If we missed out your saddest companion exit,
09:44then do let us know in the comments below.
09:46And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe
09:48and tap that notification bell.
09:50Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there,
09:52and I can be found across various social medias
09:54just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
09:56I've been Ellie with Who Culture,
09:58and in the words of Riversong herself,
10:00goodbye, sweetie.
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