Best/worst Dr Who partnerships

[Hillary]

Brought to mind by the Fenric thread below, what are your favourite partnerships from Dr Who, i.e. which Doctor and assistant(s) worked best together.

My favourite is Tom Baker's Doctor and Sarah Jane - I guess it was the one I grew up with.

Other notables are McCoy and Ace (hence the Fenric thread), Tom Baker and Romana (blond one), and Hartnell and Ian Chesterton.

I have a pretty good feeling about the current Smith and Jones partnership as well.

On the worst partnership front, Peter Davidson and Peri did very little for me tbh.

[Stark]

I think the partnership where the Doctor couldn't keep his eyes of her titties probably counts as the 'worst', although certainly one of the funniest.

[mr friendly guy]

I have to agree that Peter Davison and Peri wasn't that great.

Again I second Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.

Another of my favourites is Jon Pertwee with Katy Manning as Jo Grant, and generally Pertwee with the UNIT crew, particularly the Brigadier played by Nicholas Courtney.

Other notable are Patrick Troughton and Jamie McCrimmon as played by Fraser Hines.

Another less well known perhaps, is Tom Baker and Leela as played by Louise Jameson. I thought the pygmalion theme with the Leela taking the equivalent role of Audrey Hepburns character wasn't too bad.

[Stark]

All the partnerships where the other character isn't broken worked well - Chesterton, Jaime, Jo, Sarah, Leela, Romana, Nyssa, and Ace. Some of the others had no real work done beyond 'scream and get captured, or were unsuccesful like Victoria's often wince-worthy topical 60s womens equality stuff, or Space Cadet Steven's need to shoot/punch everything. Adric was emo before it was emo, Mel was terrible, that other Pertwee woman (er, Liz?) was misused, etc. There aren't many that go beyond 'bland' to be 'terrible' apart from Mel, really.

[Hillary]

There aren't many that go beyond 'bland' to be 'terrible' apart from Mel, really.

The marvellous Bonnie Langford, chosen because she could scream loudly apparently. Scotland's answer to Lena Zavarone.

[LadyTevar]

I hate to 'me too', but Baker's Sarah and Leela and Pertwee's UNIT days are the ones that stand out to me the most.

[Starglider]

My favourite is Tom Baker's Doctor and Sarah Jane - I guess it was the one I grew up with.

I never liked Sarah Jane. After 'School Reunion' I hated her passionately.

McCoy and Ace (hence the Fenric thread), Tom Baker and Romana (blond one)

Nothing can beat 4th Doctor + Romana II, but then the actors were in love and it showed. 4th Doctor + Leela was a great relationship from a dramatic point of view, the constrasting views, complementary abilities and character development.

Peter Davidson and Peri did very little for me tbh.

Did anyone like Peri? She's tied with Tegan for 'most annoying companion' (just ahead of Mel). That said the 5th doctor era often seemed to consist of the doctor carting around a Tardis full of people who were either criminally underused (Nyssa) or constantly bickering with each other.

My vote goes for the 2nd doctor, Jamia and Zoe. I didn't really like Troughton's take on the doctor, but the companions were great, with each other and the doctor.

[Stark]

I didn't *dislike* Peri: she was in a single Davidson story (with a guy in a gimp suit lusting after her, which is pretty hilarious) and then Colin Baker spent most of his time with her staring openly at her titties. Hardly the stuff of awesome stories, but very amusing.

[Patrick Degan]

I didn't *dislike* Peri: she was in a single Davidson story (with a guy in a gimp suit lusting after her, which is pretty hilarious) and then Colin Baker spent most of his time with her staring openly at her titties. Hardly the stuff of awesome stories, but very amusing.

Two actually. Peri was introduced in "Planet Of Fire".

Peri was a good character when she was written decently ("The Caves Of Androzani") and she and Davison had a rather good on-screen partnership. So did she have one with Colin Baker once they started toning down his Doctor's abrasiveness a bit. Again, it was entirely an issue with writing and unfortunately, neither Colin nor Nicola Bryant would really get the opportunity to show what could have been made of their team —we only see fleeting glimpses because this was the time JNT was so obsessed with his gimmickry and of course there was the whole feud with Michael Grade.

[Oddysseus]

I have to agree that Peri never had a chance, coming in in the darkest days of WHO. In the audio adventures they are doing these days, she comes off as a far better character. Plus the 6th Doctor is a far more enjoyable character there.

Smith and Jones look to be really promising as a duo. Leela was always interesting. Both Romanas and good banter. Sarah Jane was an instant classic. THe UNIT team, including Pertwees first partner were alwaays fun. Zoe and Jamie were great. And Ian and Barbara were missed when they left.

But the Doctor and Ace is my favorite combo.


Taking the audios into account, I can't say Peri is the worst by far. And the Doctor has had a number of duds for companions, utterly unmemorable. So I have to point to Mel, who seemed so out of place and without a point of real reference. It isw hard to see how you could expand on, improve, or advance such a character. DOA in the Whoverse.