Doctor Who's New Companion Is Repeating How Ian & Barbara Joined The TARDIS In 1963

Doctor Who's new companion is getting exactly the same treatment as Ian and Barbara, the Doctor's very first companions - and that's great news. The world's longest-running sci-fi TV show, Doctor Who has seen so many different companions join the TARDIS crew. Modern Who companions have tended to be the lens through which we view the different regenerations of the Doctor, and that's what makes them great; they offer a fresh, unique window into the enigmatic time traveler.

Doctor Who season 15 features Varada Sethu as the Doctor's newest companion. Sethu has appeared before in Doctor Who, and now she's playing an original character called Belinda Chandra. We got our first glimpse of Belinda in the recent Doctor Who season 15 trailer, and she looks set to have a much more antagonistic relationship with the Doctor than Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday. She's also repeating a very familiar story.

The Doctor Is Taking Varada Sethu's Character Home - The Long Way Around

Stop Me If You've Heard This Before...

According to the trailer, the Doctor is taking Belinda home - the long way round. It's a very familiar line of dialogue, originally said by William Hartnell's First Doctor all the way back in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The Doctor had spirited companions Ian and Barbara away from Earth in 1963, and he'd been struggling to get them home. Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith later claimed the line for himself in The Day of the Doctor, describing his own quest to find his way back to Gallifrey.

Now the Fifteenth Doctor is trying to take Belinda home too. The clear implication is that, unlike other Russell T. Davies era companions, she's someone who doesn't want to be in the TARDIS at all. Even more intriguingly, it suggests the Doctor has lost control of the TARDIS somehow, because he's no longer able to pilot his time-ship back to the right place or time.

Varada Sethu's Companion Wanting To Go Home Means She May Not Be In Doctor Who Long

How Long Can Modern Doctor Who Tell This Kind Of Story?

The question, though, is whether Doctor Who can still tell an ongoing story in which the Doctor hasn't got the ability to pilot the TARDIS properly. Modern Who has made the most of the idea the Doctor has precise control over his ship, even managing to tow the entire planet Earth in one notable story. A Doctor who's lost control is one who can't use the TARDIS in the same way, and he's a whole lot more undependable.

That may well mean Varada Sethu's character will only be in Doctor Who for one season - at least, unless she has a change of heart. When the Doctor eventually regains control of the TARDIS, he'll get her back home, and then she'll have to choose whether to stay on the TARDIS for good. Doctor Who season 14 featured a one-season companion, and the same could be true here.