Companion Choices #3
I don’t think she’s going to get looked at for a second, but here would be my choice for a Doctor Who companion: Susannah Harker.
I doubt for a minute she’ll be cast. She’s almost 44 and therefore old enough to be Matt Smith’s…well, biologically Matt Smith’s mum but more reasonably Matt Smith’s babysitter. But why couldn’t she be cast? Catherine Tate proved you could be a companion at 40. And what could send the old/young dynamic of the Doctor’s physical appearance vs. his actual age in to sharp relief than an older companion? It was one of the nicer traits Donna brought to the dynamic with the Tenth Doctor.
And Susannah Harker would rock. She’s smart, she’s witty and she’s absolutely gorgeous in every way. Anyone who’s seen Ms. Harker in House of Cards, Pride and Prejudice and Ultraviolet can attest to that. She was the best thing about the not-terribly-good webcast adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Doctor Who story, Shada. And has anyone listened to her portrayal of Sapphire in the Big Finish Sapphire and Steel audios? She was born ready for Mr. Moffat’s bon mot-filled dialogue.
Ms. Harker was, at least two or three years ago, seeing eighth Doctor Paul McGann (I don’t know if they’re still together) and I always thought Big Finish missed a trick by not having her play his companion. I doubt she’d even get looked at for the role on TV but I wish she would. She’s wonderful.
Posted by Graeme on Monday, January 19 at 2:55 pm
1 Comment...
Regarding an older companion, it’s clearly something that’s a real possibility given Smith only being 26.
I was thinking on this the other day on my way to work, and an older companion could be nice to see with Smith. It depends on how this Doctor is presented and designed.
What I thought could be intriguing is if the eleventh Doctor, while young-looking, affected a very old style of dress, perhaps something along the line’s of McGann’s Edwardian garb, thus played with a young/old dynamic. Bring in an older companion and have the Doctor treat her as very young, naive and inexperienced (which in the case of being the Doctor’s companion is very true).
I’d also like to see another Turlough-type character, someone with a malign agenda. I guess I just keep subconsciously referencing the Davison years since things were similar then with a new, very young Doctor being cast after the departure of a greatly favoured actor in the role.
But all this does lead to another speculative question - How will this Doctor dress and behave?
The ninth and tenth Doctors dressed in fairly representative 20th/21st century clothing, there’s not really a lot of other modern dress that could be done outside of the truly extravagant or just ill-advised.
As I mentioned elsewhere, affecting a very old-style dress (eg Edwardian) could be interesting or play up Smith’s rather awkward appearance by making his Doctor exceptionally nerdy. Not quite so clownish as the sixth Doctor but along a similar theme of ill-matching, not at all stylish, the sort of thing one who has no mind for dressing stylishly as he has much greater things to concern himself with might wear.
Posted by Noah on 01/23 at 12:23 PM
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