The eventual parting of the characters helped to reaffirm the Doctor’s weakness and fallibility as Rose continued to be a lingering influence on the Time Lord. But who stepped in to drag him out of his slump and set the path of the series straight once more? Another companion, of course! Martha Jones and Donna Noble both served to restore order to the titular character’s life, with Martha eventually taking the heroic reigns from him at the conclusion of season 3.
It’s Martha, after all, who manages to reverse the actions of The Master and save an incapacitated Doctor. While many would argue her determination – fuelled in large part by romantic feelings for Ten – undermines the sovereignty of her heroism, her decision to give this up and leave the TARDIS of her own accord is another clear reminder that the companion role is not one of subservience. As the series has rolled on, Doctor Who‘s creators have continually proven that the hero is not just whoever has the key to the TARDIS.
Fast forward a few years and Clara Oswald presents the most conclusive evidence of Doctor Who‘s female heroes yet. Introduced first as the companion for the Eleventh Doctor and sticking around well into the reign of Twelve, Clara became the revived series’ first long running hero outside of the title role. After some initial confusion around just who this new character was, the ‘Impossible Girl’ quickly weaved herself into the Doctor’s present and past.
Through his first adventures with her, the Eleventh Doctor attempts to understand who she is, having encountered her in several places and times. The resolution of this reveals Clara to be a powerful benefactor for the Doctor and shows that she’d saved his life or aided him at critical points through all stages of his regenerated form.
As Clara’s time in the TARDIS runs on, various events set her on a direct comparison with the Doctor himself. When she joins the Eleventh at his final moments, it’s her intervention that sees the Time Lords grant him regeneration and thus, survival. Her subsequent relationship with the Twelfth Doctor is the most telling of any in the new Who and in those episodes, she arguably eclipses Peter Capaldi’s character as the true hero of the show.