COMPANION RETROSPECTIVE

Ian and Barbara

Doctor: First (William Hartnell)

First episode: An Unearthly Child | Final episode: The Chase | (16 stories, 81 episodes)

April 2023

Screencap from The Chase: Ian and Barbara stand in front of a wall, looking up and grinning.

Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are (rather obviously) two people, but really they come as a matched set, so it only makes sense to look back on them together.

And they’re honestly pretty great!! They rule! They’re our point of view characters as far back as the very first episode, and arguably our primary protagonists for the whole of the first season—the Doctor and Susan really come in more as these two weird freaks that out friendly neighborhood schoolteachers encounter. They’re as much what makes Doctor Who...Doctor Who as the Doctor is for the first two seasons.

Ian is very much the man of action here, a sort of companion format that got more or less retired later as the Doctor became younger and more able to do action sequences. This is kind of interesting, because he’s — in theory, at least — a science teacher. There’s no reason why he should be able to win a duel against an Aztec warrior or a Roman gladiator! Maybe he moonlights as a self-defense instructor.

I mean the fact of the matter is, it doesn’t really matter that much to me, because he’s just a nice guy trying to do his best. He’s got strong characterization, and that counts for a lot.

Barbara is also pretty phenomenal! I remember going into this show being afraid that Barbara would be written to only be allowed to scream and be captured (this is a show from 1963), but she’s repeatedly shown to be highly competent and resourceful and given just as much agency as Ian is.

On their own and when split up (as they often are) they’re phenomenal, and as a duo they’re just fantastic—I’m frankly almost disappointed we don’t get more episodes with just the two of them, like that one part of The Keys of Marinus. Maybe there’s more of that in the non-TV stories? I dunno.

They also have an extremely touching sendoff, especially for the 60s show (from what I know about it). Not only do they make it back to their home, but we’re given an extended sequence of them enjoying it together. The fact that Barbara and Ian come as a set adds to this sense of joy when they finally return to London—they’re playing around in Trafalgar Square together, looking at the police boxes together, taking the bus together. And then we’re very sweetly shown that this is actually the Doctor and Vicki watching them be happy together. It’s about the best sendoff I could ask for.

Screencap from The Rescue: Ian and Barbara look at Koquillion.

With the departure of Ian and Barbara, we have jettisoned the first “era” of Doctor Who: when it was an experimental sci-fi show with a consistent cast of protagonists and without a solidified format. We’ve also moved to a recurring cast entirely of people from the future or from alien planets (the Doctor, Vicki, and Steven). I don’t really know how this will change things yet, but I’m sure it will.

Overall, Ian and Barbara rule. They ground the show in a present-day viewpoint, and it’ll be tangibly different without them. They are (in some ways) the ideal companions, capable, clever, and kind, and a wonderful showing of some of the best of the show’s early years.

Best stories: