Ranking Doctor Who’s modern day companions
By Lacy Baugher
Bill Potts
Bill Potts is brave, smart and terribly inquisitive, always asking about the why or how of things. Yet she remains relentlessly normal, a relatable figure with everyday concerns about dating, class and the girl who gave her extra chips on the cafeteria line. After several seasons of puzzle box companions who basically existed to be mysteries for the Doctor to solve, Bill feels like a breath of fresh air.
Bill’s decision to travel with the Doctor makes perfect sense, yet she still feels like a person you could know in real life. You can’t ask for much more than that when it comes to a companion. Her ending leaves something to be desired – and to be honest, skirts the edge of copying Clara’s exit just a little too much – but after watching her get shot and be converted into a Mondasian Cyberman, she probably deserves that level of happiness.
Best episode: Season 10’s “Thin Ice.” This period installment takes place during London’s last great Frost Fair, as Bill and the Doctor discover a monster trapped beneath the Thames. Since the story itself is so straightforward, it lets Twelve and Bill have time to get to know one another (this was only her third episode). Pearl Mackie plays Bill’s struggle to understand just what sort of alien creature she’s run off with perfectly, and for once, Doctor Who actually acknowledges how uncomfortable it must be to journey into the past as a person of color. Plus, the Doctor punches a Victorian racist in the face after he says something nasty about Bill! What’s not to love?