List of Doctor Who supporting characters explained

Over the course of its many years on television, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who has not only seen changes in the actors to play the Doctor, but in the supporting cast as well.

Companions

See main article: article and Companion (Doctor Who). The Doctor is usually accompanied in his travels by one to three companions (sometimes called assistants). These characters provide a surrogate with whom the audience can identify, and further the story by asking questions and getting into trouble, (similar to Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.) The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home, or find new causes on worlds they have visited. A few of the companions have died during the course of the series.

Recurring characters

Many characters have appeared in multiple stories; some of which can also dubiously be considered companions, having travelled on the TARDIS, but not as a main character.

Recurring alien species, monsters, or robots

See also: Creatures and aliens in Doctor Who.

Major

• Daleks
  • Cybermen Time Lords

Secondary

• Autons (of the Nestene Consciousness)
• Cybermats and Cybermites
• Zygons
• Sontarans
• Ice Warriors
• Weeping Angels
  • Ood The Silence
• Yeti (of the Great Intelligence)
• Raxacoricofallapatorians (the Slitheen family's species)
  • Judoon Ogrons
• Macra
  • Silurians and Sea Devils Weevils
• Thals

Characters from spin-off media

The Doctor Who comics, novels and audio dramas have created companions, villains and supporting characters of their own. Some of these originated in one medium and later appeared in another. The lists below indicate where a character has appeared.

Companions

See main article: List of companions in Doctor Who spin-offs.

Other recurring or important characters

• Abslom Daak (Doctor Who Magazine comic strip; New Adventures)
• Beep the Meep (Toby Longworth, Bethan Dixon Bate, Miriam Margolyes^[1]) (Doctor Who Magazine comic strip; Big Finish Productions; 2023 specials^[1])
• Iris Wildthyme (Katy Manning) (Eighth Doctor Adventures; Past Doctor Adventures; Big Finish Productions)
• Jason Kane (Stephen Fewell) (New Adventures; Big Finish Productions)
• Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart (New Adventures)
• Muriel Frost (Karen Henson) (Doctor Who Magazine comic strip; Big Finish Productions)
• Sabbath (Saul Jaffe) (Eighth Doctor Adventures; Faction Paradox)
• Shayde (Mark Donovan) (Doctor Who Magazine comic strip; Big Finish Productions)
• Timewyrm (New Adventures)
• Irving Braxiatel (Miles Richardson) (New Adventures; Big Finish Productions)

See also

• List of Bernice Summerfield characters
• List of Doctor Who cast members

Notes and References

1. Web site: Miriam Margolyes to star as 'the Meep' in Doctor Who 60th-anniversary series. The Guardian. Mabel. Banfield-Nwachi. 14 September 2023. 14 September 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230914221516/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/sep/14/miriam-margolyes-to-star-as-the-meep-in-doctor-who-60th-anniversary-series. 14 September 2023. live.