The title protagonist in Doctor Who has had countless companions and the Doctor has done many of them wrong. This has been more striking in the revival series, although the classic series also had instances where The Doctor didn’t treat his companions well at all.
There’s more context to be found in Big Finish productions and comic book media, but the TV series has released certain storylines where the Doctor didn’t show the companions the respect they deserved. Taking all that into account, one would argue the Doctor didn’t deserve the companions in these 10 instances.
Ninth Doctor Abandoning Captain Jack
This was one of the worst things the Doctor has ever done regardless of which regeneration they were on, as Captain Jack was left all by himself in the far future in a colony that was already ravaged. As it happened, Jack was revived by the Bad Wolf.
However, he found the idea of Jack revolting by that point as the Doctor couldn’t comprehend Jack becoming an immortal and purposefully left the guy who had earlier died for him. Later on, the Tenth Doctor remained remorseless about what he’d done even after Jack had told him about the century he’d spent in torment.
Eleventh Doctor Giving Rory An Impossible Choice
The Doctor and his companions landed on the planet of Apalapucia, where Amy was separated from the Doctor and Rory. When they found her, Amy had aged by 36 years due to the odd passage of time on the planet. However, the young Amy also lived on as there were multiple time streams in play.
The Doctor, knowing that two Amys couldn’t coexist, lied that he would be able to take everyone in his TARDIS, only to lock the older Amy out to meet her death. When Rory put up an argument in her favor, the Doctor placed the decision on Rory’s shoulders. The tearful Rory was wracked with grief at having to leave the older Amy who was left to her own devices.
Tenth Doctor Calling People Unimportant
The Tenth Doctor became rather scary near the end of his lifetime, as he developed a kind of hubris by believing he was the winner by surviving the Time War when no other Time Lord had. After getting this thought deep into his head, he saved the life of Adelaide Brooke’s crew from Mars despite their death being a fixed point in time.
When Adelaide asked why he would mess with time like that, the Doctor argued that it wasn’t much of a problem as, apart from Adelaide, the crew were all “little people,” meaning they were unimportant enough for them not to matter in the grand scheme of things. Adelaide was scandalized, to the point where she took her own life to set the timeline right.
Tenth Doctor Using Martha As Rose’s Replacement
It was more Martha’s fault than the Doctor’s that she harbored hopes that he would return her love, but there’s no doubt that the Doctor himself was aware of how Martha felt and didn’t do anything about it. Instead, he seemed to keep her around so he could forget about Rose.
This wasn’t fair to Martha, however, as she felt like second fiddle to a person she’d never even met, and her tenure as a companion was marred by Martha always trying to make the Doctor forget about his lost companion.
Twelfth Doctor Leaving Clara Alone
The Doctor realized that Earth’s moon had always been a giant egg of an alien creature that was ready to hatch by 2049. Upon comprehending this, he abandoned Clara right then and there and took off, arguing that it wasn’t his decision to make if Earth should kill the creature or not.
The thunderstruck Clara had to plead with humanity to give the creature a chance to survive, and only other factors coming into play allowed the creature to fly away. Clara, shaken beyond belief at having being thrust into making the decision for humanity’s survival, cut off contact with the Doctor for forcing her in the situation she wasn’t equipped to handle.
Seventh Doctor Using His Companions As Chess Pieces
The Seventh Doctor started off being bumbling and full of life, with many assuming him to be similar to the Second Doctor in his personality. However, he eventually took a dark turn and become a complete chess master who put his companions in dangerous situations to benefit his own cause.
Although the Doctor argued that his companions weren’t in any real danger due to his scheming, you can’t deny that the companions could very well have died had the Doctor had even a minor flaw in his plans. These methods eventually left the Seventh Doctor all alone, and he regenerated with nobody around to comfort him in his last moments.
Eleventh Doctor Only Caring About Amy, Not Rory
There’s a joke among the Doctor Who fandom that Rory was an honorary immortal due to the many times he’d died, with even Rory remarking this in his last appearance…where he died again. The bad thing about this running joke, though, was how little the Doctor cared about him.
He didn’t even do anything about it the first time Rory died in Series 5. His efforts towards reviving Rory were purely for Amy’s benefit. In the couple’s last episode, the Doctor was only distraught about losing Amy, with the Doctor not even thinking of Rory and all his sacrifices later on when he recalled his past companions.
Fourth Doctor Leaving Sarah Jane
It appears as if Sarah Jane had fallen in love with the Doctor during their travels, as Rose was threatened by her appearance when she reunited with him. Back when Sarah had parted with the Fourth Doctor, he had bid her goodbye when he was summoned to Gallifrey.
However, the Doctor knew Sarah still longed to meet him but never alerted her to his whereabouts. Sarah revealed later on that she’d waited years for the Doctor to return to her and had given up hope after being heartbroken. What’s more, the Doctor dropped Sarah off somewhere far in Scotland, meaning she had to travel hundreds of miles to return home.
Twelfth Doctor “Cursing” Ashildr
The Doctor and Clara’s association gave way to the Hybrid, a term to describe the destructive partnership between the two as they started taking great liberties when saving people. To this end, the Doctor “saved” Ashildr by putting Mire technology in her head, which effectively made her immortal.
This ended up being a curse, though, as Ashildr had to live through centuries and see her loved ones die while she remained all alone. Even after knowing this, the Doctor refused to let Ashildr accompany him on the TARDIS for the same reasons he had earlier abandoned Jack, thereby continuing Ashildr’s curse, lasting until the end of time.
First Doctor Never Returning For His Granddaughter
The Doctor’s granddaughter fell in love with a human, leading to the First Doctor leaving Susan back so she could have a life of her own. Before he left, though, he promised Susan it wasn’t really goodbye and he would be back to take her, most likely since she was a Time Lord and would age slowly.
Well, it’s been half a century since we saw this happen and there’s still been no story where the Doctor has collected her. In fact, the Fifth Doctor didn’t even give her a proper greeting when he met her on happenstance, and it appears that the Doctor stranded his biological grandchild to fend for herself. Not exactly Grandfather of the Year, was he?
