The BBC’s Doctor Who series prepares to move into a new era, with a new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and new(ish) showrunner, the returning Russell T. Davies.) But before the new Doctor appears, the long-running series plays an important part in the broadcaster’s 100th anniversary. The Power of the Doctor, which airs October 23rd, marks the final appearance of the 13th Doctor Jodie Whittaker.
As part of the special, two of the most popular companions from the 1980s return to the series. Now, 30 years later, Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) return to meet the Doctor once again. However, modern audiences may not know much about these classic characters.
Ace, a/k/a Dorothy McShane, traveled with the Doctor in his seventh regeneration. She was the last companion of the series’ classic era. She joined the series at the end of season 24 and continued with the show through the end of season 26. When the series left the air at the end of 1989, Ace was still with the Doctor. When we next saw the Doctor, in 1996, Ace was nowhere to be seen.
Who is Ace?
When we first meet Ace, she is working as a waitress on the trading post Iceworld, on the planet Svartos (in the 1987 serial, “Dragonfire”). She is a 16-year-old human from 20th Century Earth, who grew up in Perivale, part of the West London borough of Eiling in England. She was smart for her age, excelling at subjects like chemistry. She had a rough upbringing, getting in trouble for burning down an abandoned Victorian mansion, Gabriel Chase, during her childhood. She also blew up her school’s art room with her own homemade explosive, Nitro-9.
It was while working on her explosive that Ace found herself swept up in a time storm in her bedroom, whisking her off to Iceworld. There, she met the Doctor and his companion Mel (Bonnie Langford). At the end of that adventure, Mel decided to part ways with the Doctor, suggesting he take the young Ace with him.
Ace would go on to be a great friend and ally for the Doctor. She would take on Cybermen, Daleks, and the Master with nothing more than a slingshot, a baseball bat, and a plucky attitude. She would face off against the ancient gods of Raganrok, monsterous bloodsucking Heamavores from the end of time, and a psychopath made of sweets.
After Survival
After the series ended, Ace would continue to be featured in the various books, comics, and audio plays (produced by Big Finish Productions, and still played by Sophie Aldred) that featured the 7th Doctor. But each medium worked independently, giving her different fates (and at times even different backstories.) Some had Ace leaving the Doctor and joining a future military, gaining experience as a soldier and tactician, before meeting the Doctor again, older, wiser, and more independent. Another version had her dying, only to be replaced with an Ace from an alternative universe. In some, Ace just stayed traveling with the Doctor.
When season 26 ended, the production team didn’t know if they would be returning for another year. Plans were afoot to have Ace find herself on Gallifrey, the Doctor’s home planet, in a story called “Thin Ice.” At the end of the story, the Doctor would sponsored her entry into the Prydonian Academy, the same school he attended. She would train to become a Time Lord. The story was never made. But in 2011, Big Finish produced it as part of their Lost Stories line. In this version, Ace elects to stay with the Doctor in the end. While Big Finish has produced stories set after Ace’s departure from the TARDIS, they have not produced a story where she actually leaves the Doctor.
Doctor Who Returns… But Where’s Ace?
In 1996, Doctor Who made its first return. The BBC, teaming up with US broadcaster Fox, along with Universal Pictures, produced a television movie version of Doctor Who. It was intended as a pilot for a possible new series and saw 7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy return to film a regeneration sequence, handing off the role to new Doctor, Paul McGann. Despite McCoy’s inclusion, there was no mention of the Doctor’s companion. He was traveling alone.
Ace, however, has been acknowleged in the NuWho universe, in the Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventure. In the episode “Death of the Doctor,” Sarah Jane meets former companion Jo Grant (Katy Manning). They meet at what they believe was the Doctor’s funeral. (It wasn’t of course, with then-current Doctor, Matt Smith, showing up.) At the end of the episode, Sarah Jane tells Jo how she has found out about some of the other companions of the Doctor, including a woman named Dorothy who runs A Charitable Earth(ACE) which helps underprivileged children and an Austrailian named Tegan Jovanka, who fought for Aboriginal rights in Australia.
When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, they were very deliberate at not acknowledging too much of the show’s history. Just the basics were covered: The Doctor is an alien, a Time Lord. He travels through time and space in a machine called a TARDIS. He protects Earth from aliens and monsters. Other than that, we did not hear much about the events and characters from the original series. That is until 2006 and the return of Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) in the episode “School Reunion.” Her appearance proved so popular, that she was spun off into her own show, “The Sarah Jane Adventures.”
Where have all the companions gone?
Why didn’t Doctor Who continue to bring back other characters? Maybe they didn’t want to overwhelm new viewers with over 26 seasons of homework to go over. Maybe the BBC was a little embarrassed by the shody-looking special effects of the original show. Who knows? But since its return, the series has only rarely returned to the specific characters and events of the original series, and the return of Ace and Tegan mark only the second time a classic companion has returned in the Doctor Who series. As the show enters its 60th year in 2023, the opportunity to revisit these characters will be get fewer and fewer. Most of the actors who played the Doctor’s companions are well over 60 years old now. Original companions like Susan (Carol Anne Ford) is over 80. Ian Chesterton (William Russell) is the show’s oldest alum, at 97. Wouldn’t it be great to see them return at least one more time?
