There's nout wrong with being working-class (I'm not even a little bit posh myself) but I'm starting to get the impression the doctor doesn't like middle-class folk on his TARDIS.
Looking at the backgrounds of his companions (post 2005) seems to support this theory:

Rose Tyler: Lives in a council flat. Sounds like she was born on Albert Square. (In fact, her, Mickie and Jackie could seamlessly blend into the cast of EastEnders.)

Donna Noble: Despite her name, Donna is definitely not from the nobility. This Chiswick temp worker is from solid working-class stock (as evidenced by her grandfather Wilfred).

Martha Jones: You might think being a physician makes her more 'middle-class' but you can still detect the 'Sauwf London' in her accent.

Amy Pond: Scottish orphan and loveable 'laddette'. Not an ounce of middle-class in her Glaswegian soul.

Rory: Okay, I have to concede here; Rory is totally middle-class... BUT he's always upstaged, overshadowed, and playing second-fiddle to Amy!

Clara Oswald: Cockney barmaid PRETENDING to be middle-class when she's the nanny. Later, she's a Blackpool lass living in a grim London tower-block (see 'Time of the Doctor'). Admittedly, there's something very 'refined' about her but she's unmistakably a working-class character.

I'm not saying the doctor needs a companion who is 'Downton Abbey' posh (though the though of Lady Mary or Dowager Crawley on the TARDIS is an interesting one) but what's wrong with an average, middle-class companion?

Probably. The Doctor used to always be a posh old man, that changed eventually.

Captain Jack?

I always wanted a higher class companion in the show actually.

Before the show used the era too much, I was quite keen on a Victorian-Georgian era companion who came from a wealthy family but really didn't fit in with their view of the world (i.e. think of Rose from Titanic a little bit). They'd travel with The Doctor and struggle adapting to a more risky, less refined lifestyle and would completely change across their story from a rather uppity woman to someone caring and with a broader view of the universe.

I imagined someone like Lucy Brown playing the role - for those familiar with Primeval she played Claudia Brown/Jenny Lewis, and then also played a character in The Village rather recently

^True, but being American, Jack is technically outside the British class system.


^Actually, all the Pre-2005 doctors were varying degrees of 'posh' if you think about it.
Eccleston was the first and only (?) doctor with a working-class accent.


^Interesting idea.

Perhaps RTD and Moffat subscribe to the notion that working-class = 'down-to-earth' and therefore more 'likeable'.

Sorry, but Amelia Pond who grew up in a big house in a little village, born to Tabetha and Augustus Pond, who snacked on apples rather than sweets and read Roman history for fun as a child, is definitely middle class.

And teachers? Middle class. There's nothing working class about Clara at all.

Well done OP - so much of what's wrong with British society packed into just one post. Perhaps that's the point and it's just meant to amuse? I honestly can't tell anymore!

Also, what on earth has accent got to do with class?

She lived in a massive house in the Cotswolds with her parents Augustus and Tabitha!

There is a type, though. There's a default. It's the lack of siblings I find a bit odd. Only Martha, isn't it? Has anyone else had any brothers or sisters?

Captain Jack had a brother (in Torchwood)

This is a great point and got me thinking: why can't we have a couple of siblings on the TARDIS? It would definitely add a new dimension to it.

Cool idea siblings on the TARDIS hasnt ever been done!

Present day Clara seems very middle class. So did Martha come to think about it.

Yeah accent has nothing to do with class... I come from Dudley and sound if I'm not concentrating like I've just walked out of the Grimleys... However both my parents were teachers and my uncle keeps desperatley trying to buy me silverware and fine china for Christmas as if I'm having dinner parties... I am firmly Middle class.

Yeah, just what TV needs more middle class people.

Jack is a lot of things but American isn't one of them

They're underrepresented, dontcha know.

Haven't really thought about this and don't like labelling people, maaannn, but Rose is the only C21 Who companion who I might think of as vaguely working class, tbh. And that's moot. Discounting historical or alien characters, can't really think of many C20 Who companions who could be labelled as such either. Maybe Ben and, at a pinch, Ace?

Yes! And I have the perfect sibling pair, although I don't know what acting experience they have, they could even bring a musical edge to the show, plus they cpuld maybe be the middle-class couple the OP is looking for....

Sean and Sara Smith (aka Same Difference)

The cheeky girls?

Clara is a teacher lived in a homey flat. Martha was a doctor who lived with her parents in a detached house. Donna lived in a semi detached property in suburbia and worked in offices. Amy owned her own detached house in a village and then became a model who owned another house with her nurse husband.

OP I have no idea what your definition of middle class is, but for me, all these characters are middle class.

Rose is the only one I would consider working class, in low level retail and living in a council estate.

After four middle class companions, perhaps we should be asking when the next working class companion will come along.

I went to Blackpool once and Clara definitely sounds middle class by comparison

Best

M

The problem with Rose and Donna was that they were stereotypically working class. Just because you're working class doesn't mean you have to act or dress in some stereotypically working class way.

Of all the companions I think only Donna slipped into depressing class stereotyping. Strange to me that RTD got it so wrong as he is usually even at his most excessive a writer who can surprise and retain a degree of nuance. Donna was anything but. Almost a cartoon character.

Accents have nothing to do with what section of society you come from, only your job does. I have have known 2 sisters whose parents were a teacher and a business manager. They both spoke posh yet the grandparents had strong regional accents, and these were both retired business people. Both the sisters went to an ordinary state school, there was only 2 year age difference and had exactly the same upbringing. Result: The eldest spoke with a posh accent whilst the youngest had a strong regional accent!

Clara is totally middle class, her accent is bland with no distinctive regional accent. She probably bought an ex London council flat because house prices in London are so gastronomical, and middle class professions like teachers are not very well paid. No way could she afford a place in London nowadays, but neither would she qualify for a council flat because teaching is a middle class profession and poorer people are in a higher priority need of being housed.

Teachers are paid a lot more than a large range of other workers in Lonon! Agreed about property prices though. Most of the time she sounds pretty bland but her Lancashire accent comes through a lot, it comes and goes. Presumably she's tried to lose it but can't entirely.

When will we get another working class Doctor?