Apart from the few that actually died, I wondered who is considered to have been the worst treated of the Doctor's many companions - in terms of their departure from the TARDIS.

The Doctor's appalling track record begins on Boxing Day 1964 when he locked his own grand daughter out of the TARDIS and left her behind in 22nd century London, to live out the rest of her days as part of a devastated society in a destroyed city. Nice!

Jamie and Zoe had their memories wiped and were forced to return to their own eras with no memory of their time with the Doctor . . as did Donna forty years later!

Sarah Jane was pretty much dumped back on Earth out of the blue. She was given her marching orders and booted out the door in two minutes flat - and that was after years of travel on board the TARDIS.

Peri was simply abandoned. She was left behind on an alien planet with no option but to marry King Yrcanos (it worries me that I knew how to spell that!). The Doctor had the chance to return and save her but it appears he chose not to.

Captain Jack was abandoned in the far future surrounded by Dalek dust.

And Rose was left trapped on a parallel Earth. I mean, OK, the first time it wasn't the Doctor's fault. But the second time it was on purpose. Although she did get a Doctor of her own to play with (and a 10th Doctor at that!).

Tegan left the Doctor in less than perfect circumstances, but at least that was 100% her choice (although he did whizz off in the TARDIS seconds later, which hardly gave her the chance to change her mind).

So - who do you think got the worst treatment? One of the above, or do you have your own to suggest?

How about Dodo? Totally possessed by WOTAN then dumped unceremoniously out of the show off-screen by being driven to the countryside without a proper goodbye to The Doctor after only two episodes of The War Machines?

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Then she got the clap and was murdered by the Master in the books.

The Doctor is a cruel man! None of those options sounds very nice. Being left behind somwhere far from home, or having your memory just wiped is awful.

Bad Doctor!

In Nu-Who???? Jack and Martha I think I saw the abrupt Sarah Jane exit from years ago too, poor SJ!

Boody hell! And I thought Peri had it bad, but at least her problems were up top(........no, not there, I meant her head!)
and not down below!

I think it was unquestionably Dodo. She was indeed a deeply unlucky lady. Though to be fair, she was also deeply annoying so she probably deserved it.

To be fair, the Doctor had no choice about leaving Donna with no memories. It was that or having her die. He still described her as his best friend and made her a multi-millionaire.

Sarah Jane's I blame on the story-telling style of the time. And he did later send her K-9 and two spin-offs.

But it's generally true, all in all, that travelling with the Doctor turns out unhappily. So do you stay with him or go? As Sarah Jane said, "some things are worth getting your heart broken."

As a companion, I think Christina de Souza got off the best!!!! No one she knew personally died, she never had any memories with the doctor to lose, she was set free when the Doctor should have let her get put away (then made a cameo in The End of Time at Lucy Saxons prison haha), plus she got a flying bus out of it! Cant say much fairer than that!

But she wasn't a companion. Traditionally, in order to be a companion, a character has to have travelled in the TARDIS (Liz Shaw being the exception, since even the Doctor didn't travel in the TARDIS during her tenure).

And nothing says "untraceable, will never be found" like a flying bus.

But thanks for bringing up the specials, because it reminded me of the definitive answer:

Adelaide Brooke.

That rule no longer applies to the new series and hasn't done since The Runaway Bride.

Since when? So now anybody whose name appears in the credits is a companion, even if they're never seen again? That makes no sense.

On the contrary, the rule clearly still applies. Anyone who has been described as a 'companion' - Rose, Micky, Martha, Donna, Captain Jack, Wilf - have all hitched a ride in the TARDIS at some point.

In all honesty, I see a companion as someone who travels regularly with the Doctor for a significant period of time. I see an assistant in the people that make a one-off appearance or only occasional appearances that do not warrant a full companion status. So in my opinion, Christina de Souza is the best treated assistant (who just so happens to get it better off than the regulars did although she does have a job stashing that red bus somewhere I'll admit). Adelaide would be the worst treated assistant, although Wilf got it quite bad in the end for an assistant too.

For me, the companions are since 2005 are Rose Tyler, Captain Jack, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Amy Pond and I presume . River Song has made enough appearances by the end of 2010 to be an assistant for me, but is not a companion.

RTD certainly shook things up on this front with his 2009 specials.

I don't think it could ever properly be described as a rule, more of a convention. There isn't some Whovian governing body that announced a change or anything.

Since Donna's creation in The Runway Bride, although I think it was Astrid that was designed to change and challenge the definition of 'companion'. In the New Series for the production team one-off main characters are classed as companions along as the Doctor is not travelling with a regular companion. Which is why for example, they count Lady Christiania but not Lynda because he already had Jack and Rose. And no they don’t have to appear in the opening credits.

He was such a slut, the way he forgot Rose!

Astrid, Christiania, Adelaide etc were all called companions by the official BBC press releases for their respected episodes.

Imagine if they had credited everybody in The End of Time: Part 2. It would need to be twice as long just to fill in the credits, and Murray Gold would be all stressed out having to extend the theme tune to accomodate it I really wish Catherine Tate had been credited in The End of Time's opening credits though, as although she never played a big part, this was only as a result of her being a bit of a red herring (unfortunately).

No, Rose was his girlie friend

I hate the term assistant, regardless of how it's defined. I'd prefer associate or friend. Mickey traveled with the Doctor pretty much as long as Jack did, but is rarely considered a companion.

Personally I think if someone considers someone a companion, they are. For myself, I base it on both travel and attachment, so I don't consider Mickey or Adam companions of the 9th or 10th Doctor but do consider Sarah Jane. I don't consider Astrid, Jackson, Christina, Adelaide or Wilf to be companions.

If it's any consolation, on the Specials box set she's given equal billing.

The could certainly have given her, Jacqueline King, Timothy Dalton and Claire Bloom "top of show" credits like they did for the Torchwood crew, Jackie, Mickey and Harriet in Stolen Earth. And in my opinion, that's where John Simm belonged. A villain shouldn't be in the opening credits.

I think that's the best way to go about it. Fan's can debate and debate who is a companion and who is but your’l never change the other's mind.