Interesting to see the Radio Times repeat its 'best companion' poll less than a year after it ran the same poll! Anyway, here are the top 10 from three Radio Times readers polls run since 2010:

2010 (3,300 readers took part):
1. Rose Tyler
2. Sarah Jane Smith
3. Donna Noble
4. K-9
5. Amy Pond
6. Captain Jack Harkness
7. Ace
8. Leela
9. Jo Grant
10. Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart

2013 (20,000+ readers took part)
1. Rose Tyler
2. Sarah Jane Smith
3. Donna Noble
4. River Song
5. Amy Pond
6. Jamie McCrimmon
7. Captain Jack Harkness
8. Ace
9. Clara Oswald
10. Martha Jones

2014 (poll size not revealed):

1/ Rose
2/ Donna
3/ River Song
4/ Captain Jack Harkness
5/ Amy Pond
6/ Sarah Jane Smith
7/ Clara Oswald
8/ Rory Williams
9/ K-9
10/ Ace

Glad to see rose consistently at the top. There seems to be a lot of rose hate on this forum for some reason but generally amongst the wider public, as these figures back up, she is still very popular. For me she just had a presence in the role no companion has since matched.

As far as the haters go, given that she was last properly a companion 8 years ago and last in the show briefly for about a minute 4 years ago means people can't even say 'it's just because she's current' because she isn't.

Amy's pretty constant at 5 too - surprised, though, to see Sarah Jane drop down the poll in the 2014 poll. That said I'd be interested to see how many people took part. It doesn't say how many were polled in the Radio Times.

Are you not counting the 50th anniv episode then?

Is this the same as/separate to the Companion Champion poll? There were 2.3 million votes for that.

Odd that Jamie was suddenly remembered in 2013 and then suddenly forgotten again. But nice to see K-9 clawing his way back into the top ten.

That poll was also won by Rose, but with Capt Jack a close 2nd (losing by just 2000 votes)

What no Adric? For shame!

Jack over Sarah Jane.


Ha.


Ha.


Please, no. But it is the nature of the polls.

Ah ok, that's why I was confused, I thought Jack was second. Separate polls makes more sense!

K9 should be 1-10.

It was Billie, but it wasn't Rose...

A little surprised Ace was in the top 10 in all three years.

Didn't think she was as popular as some companions who never made it in.

No i'm not, because the character rose did not appear in it.

Very true as 'Rose Tyler' did not appear in the 50th.......the 'moments' appearance was chosen for the significance of 'Roses' future with the Doctor.

Obviously a fixed poll as Zoe wasn't in the top three

Maybe Ace being in the list adds to the theory that McCoy's reign is more accepted by New Who viewers than some of the older Classic Who. I think that's largely because McCoy (and Ace) had the luxury of all of the New Adventure books being about them - admittedly I didn't read many so may be wrong, but get that impression.

Also, a lot of the writers of New Who seemed to be influenced by the Sylvester McCoy era, so maybe that influence is shown in more stories today.

What I'm trying to say is, maybe the McCoy stories are more accessible to the newer viewers who are catching up on Classic Who,so Ace gets considered whereas Romana{2) doesn't.

Sarah Jane being anywhere other than at number 1 is just wrong!

For me at least, I would agree with this. Was only introduced to who in 2005 and I'm often surprised that Mc coy seems to get a bad rap by many on here because when I have tried to watch classic who I have found him to be one one the more likeable doctors(I like Ace Too). In fact, whenever i'm in the mood to try a Classic who story I generally opt for tom baker, colin baker or mc coy. They seem like the three most interesting classic who doctors to me. I know colin baker is seen as unpopular too so maybe I'm just weird, but there you go, just what I like.

Turlough, Adric, Ace, Kamelion, K9, Romana I, Romana II, Liz Shaw & Frobisher

That's only 8 or 9.

Yes, I have to agree with you there!


I think its important to remember that among classic Who fans there is a massive range of ages - from someone in their 50s or 60s who remembers everything from Hartnell onwards, to viewers in their 30s who remember the show's 'twilight' years (Colin Baker and McCoy).

For instance, my mate is quite a bit younger than me - he's in his mid-thirties - and so he has vivid memories of the 7th Doctor and Ace and really enjoyed their stories. And don't forget the show was still getting 5m+ viewers each episode towards then end which although considered poor in those days is a bloody good figure by today's standards.

So I think there are a lot of classic Who viewers who have an affiliation or even emotional link with those years because, basically, the 7th Doctor was their Doctor growing up. And so for many fans, Ace will be their Sarah Jane.

Totally agree with this as someone in their 30's. I adored Ace and her Nitro 9.

There is also a good argument that Rose has her origins in Ace. They are from similar worlds and similar ages and with very similar attitudes.

I don't like Rose much these days, though I did when she was the main companion, but yes these poll results show she is very popular. I think being the first companion of New Who is something as well, she set the standard that the others after her would follow.

One thing that is noticeable is that the revived series dominates the results more as years have gone on. Ace is the only companion in the 2014 list to have never appeared in the post-2005 series! I suppose it makes sense, as time goes on there's going to be more people who only remember the revived series. I'm one of them, I have seen a few classic series episodes, but I've seen every revived series so far.

For what it's worth, when I've heard people talking about the classic series Sarah Jane, K9 and Ace are the names of companions that seem to come up most often (as well as Adric and Mel, but it's mostly to say how unpopular they were).

River Song seems to be getting more popular, she wasn't in the 2010 poll, then in the 2013 poll she was straight in at 4, and now she's climbed to 3. Captain Jack seems to have gained a lot of popularity in a year, from 7 to 4! Nice to see Rory climb into the top ten.

I know, but the 'face' of Rose was prominent enough in the episode. enough to act as a reminder to people about Rose the companion