When Companions Leave the Tardis - Ranking the Exits of Companions on Doctor Who 

I just realized that Adam Mitchell can't go see infinity war or endgame without the doors on his forehead opening.

One could argue that the "Library" story should be considered River's exit

When Wilfred says “But she was better with you” always makes me tear up because it just drives home that all of that growth and development for Donna- her realising how special she is-has gone down the drain. The Donna we’re left with is angry and feels like she’s of no importance or worth like the one we met in ‘Runaway Bride’. Donna didn’t want to go because she didn’t want to be the person she used to be. Still, there’s hope that Donna’s family can help her be more like she was with the doctor.

I find the way Donna just casually says "cya" at the end when the Doctor is leaving her house the most tragic of all

What makes Donna's exit even more tragic is that allot of her personal character arc is about feeling unimportant, she feels pretty worthless, she belittles herself on several occasions throughout her stint, and at the end of her arc she goes right back to thinking that, despite the fact that she was/is one if not the most important person in the universe. As the Doctor says there are entire worlds telling stories of Donna Nobel and she can literally never know or she'll die, it's one of those TV moments that makes you cry just thinking about it.

When I first heard Donna's name, I was ready to throw hands. And then I realised she was on here twice. There's nothing I could write here that will fully surmise how many emotions Donna (well, period) and her exit make me feel. Except for maybe: "Donna? I was just going." "Yeah, see you." 11 years on and I'm still not okay

Council of Geeks: *puts Donna on the top of yet another ranking* We, the audience: yOu DoN't SaY

You’re forgetting the most tragic and perfect ending in New Who, Adams heartbreaking exit in “the long game”

Personally I liked when Jack left The Doctor and Martha by just stating there are people who need him here. Now that's definitely something that's affected by being a Torchwood fan and getting to see the fallout of that decision to return to Torchwood after The Year That Never Was, but also it shows how much he's changed. He's waited centuries to find this man again, only to have 10 talking like he's "wrong", and to walk away from that shows great emotional maturity. He's realised there are people who do need him and that's where he should be - it's not the place he though, but that's OK now. (Again, speaking as a Torchwood fan had probably effected this, though I have to add I love Donna and Martha's exits)

My head cannon had Amy and Rory end up in New York in an alleyway in 1970. Just as a certain little girl finished regenerating. They did raise her afterall....

Well Martha is easily my favourite, because she’s the only one in New Who who left because she wanted to. She didn’t need to get trapped in an alternate dimension or have her memories erased, she just left because she felt like it

I had forgotten how beautiful Micky's departure from the Tardis was. Thank you for reminding me. :)

I actually cried when Rose left in "Doomsday," when Donna left in "Journey's End" and when Amy left in "The Angels Take Manhattan." They were my favourite companions.

I agree that Donnas ending was incredibly heartbreaking and I am sobbing my eyes out every time

I'm so glad you included Mickey. When you set out your criteria at the start I thought he'd be left out, and I was sad because his exit is my favourite.

I always liked that Martha left on her own. Kind of like Tegan from the Classic years. They had fun, they saw many wonderous things, then they got on with their lives.

I always count Face the Raven as Clara's ending. I know she was brought back in Hell Bent, but she still has to return to that moment at some point. Since that is the moment of her death (a moment that is led up to beautifully in the previous scene), I consider it to be her exit. Hell Bent is just an extension of the millisecond prior to the real end.

I think Cpt. Jack's official leave-taking would be the finale to Season 3. It's here that Jack decides that where he belongs is with his friends at Torchwood rather than traveling with The Doctor.

I know it’s limited to Nu Who but everything about Sarah Jane Smith, Elizabeth Slater, brings me to tears.

Donna Noble's exit is the most impactful because, no matter how it would've been written and executed on screen, the *best* companion of *both* classic and Nu-Who left the show.

That was somber. I definitely would've been surprised if your last and first rankings had been anything else. I agree Rory's exit was anticlimactic but appropriate. He really did spend his life in service of others. It's a pity P.S. never got filmed, because it was Rory's "last page", and he really deserved to have it. I was pleasantly surprised to see Mickey's so high. It was a fitting climax to a satisfying character growth arc, I think. Twelve and River Song was beautiful and bittersweet. Donna's exit will always tear my heart out. She finally came into her own and did wonderful things, and it all got taken away from her. The unfairness of it all is heartbreaking. Personally, if I were going to add anyone to the list, it would've been Wilf. Problem is, I can't really think of a definitive end scene for him. Possibly him saluting Ten at the wedding, but that was more a goodbye for the Doctor than Wilf. Captain Jack was also a contender - I tend to think of his "Face of Boe" speech as a proper sendoff, but I can understand why you wouldn't include him.

I cry every time at Donna's departure. But the episode where he comes back and sees her getting married and he gives the money to Wilf... his face kills me every time. I loved Wilf so much

One of the things about Moffat's run that bugs me the most is how hesitant he is to commit to endings. And to me the biggest example of this is The Girl Who Waited. I love Rory. He might just be my favorite companion. And I absolutely loved him telling the Doctor off after he was lied to and had to watch his wife die. The emotion of "THEN WE WILL NOT TRAVEL WITH YOU ANY MORE" is just so powerful. If that had been the exit of Rory and Amy it would top the list for me easily. But then the next episode rolls around and it's as if nothing happened. Back to status quo. It's extremely frustrating. I'm surprised Missy didn't make the list here. She's as much a main companion as Mickey ever was in my opinion, and her death was a fantastic scene.

Although I completely agree with your opinion on Rory's death, I have to say, when it happens its so sudden. I like to relate it to demons run when melody sort of bursts in Amy's arms, its just gut wrenching. And I mean cmon, its rory, you cant not cry when he dies

The Face of Boa they used to call me.

Captain Jack's departure in The Parting of the Ways should be worth mentioning. He started off a con man, ended heroically sacrificing his life for the Doctor and his efforts to save the Earth from the Daleks... "wish I never met ya" was a great set of last words for him to say to the Doctor, and his resurrection-but-missing-the-TARDIS was also a subtle tragic touch.

On the current Who scale, yes, Donna absolutely comes out on top of this list - but for me, the all-time best - and most heart-breaking - exit has to be Jo Grant. That final scene of The Green Death has lived with me ever since I saw it air originally, and cemented Jo as my favourite companion.

I never connected with Donna, but her exit made me love her.

This made me realize how much hell bent messed it up for me. Looking back face the raven would be 2nd (right after Donna of course) best for me. It was the perfect conclusion for her She tried to be like the doctor, maybe even thought she could be better than him, but she wasn't and never could be and eventually she had to face the consequences. I hate Clara with so much passion but when I saw face the raven, not knowing what would come, I fell in love with her arc. She was just a normal girl till the doctor came and took her to all this unbelievable places and there she realized, she could make a change. Then as time past she grew more and more to a point where she saved the doctor more than once but then the doctor regenerated. Clara was left with a new man, some one who wasn't anything like the Doctor she knew and loved. So she was left with this new Doctor, she didn't recognize as her friend but she stick with him cause she had saw what she could change never the less she now has to do it one her own cause the new Doctor wasn't much of a help to her. On her own she noticed that she didn't need the Doctor. (When pink died we can see that she already completely disconnected to the Doctor) In face the raven her arc came to an conclusion. She had reached the point of no return, went one step to far and this was it .... But then I realized the writers never saw her wanting to be the doctor a problem. Nope! Instead she was rescued by the Doctor which made her maybe realize that he was the same person all along but whatever she still thought she's better than him so she outsmarted him, stool a Tardis and learned nothing. Rick and Morty references : Rick is afraid of a Morty with to much self esteem, a Morty who thinks he can be a Rick . Clara is that Morty ....Clara is evil morty

“Goodbye, my Sarah Jane” ????

One thing I dislike about this topic in new Who is that almost all of the companions were FORCED to leave. Rose: Trapped in a parallel world. Martha: Chose to leave after the effect travelling with the Doctor in the TARDIS had on her family. Donna: Mind wiped as the only way to save her. Amy and Rory: Trapped by Weeping Angels. Clara: Chose to left but came back multiple times before being killed by an alien bird. Bill: Turned into a Cyberman.

I always liked mickey he came on board with Sarah janes support and the doctor giving him a chance. Rose seemed to be quite annoyed by it. He improved and took on responsibilities and to a extent grew a pair xD. But after the cyberman 2 parter he gained a lot of respect from me as well as rose and the doctor.

19:19 What are you on about, Cpt. Jack did have a proper sign off, in “Gridlock”.

Please rank companion introduction Xxx

Considering you thought Missy was a companion is series 10 in your opinion where would you think her exit in the doctor falls ranks?

Roses original exit is always my favourite, since the first broadcast back in 2006, tenth's chemistry with Rose makes series 2 the best series in newwho for me and the doomsday ending is always gonna be heart breaking for me, billie pipers and David tennants acting was brilliantly powerful, best scene in s2, possible best New who scene

I was going to travel with you forever.

Donna's story still breaks my heart, even if she got to be happy in the end. She is still my favorite companion.

Donna's exit with the Doomsday Theme would utterly destroy me.

As always, you nailed it.

I love the way you explain your reasons for your choices.Your final and top choice was Donna's exist from the Tardis.So heartbreakingly sad. Your Description made her exist even sadder for me.After all this time, I still well up. You are so good at this.Thank you, once, again.

Donna’s exist shredded me exactly because she did not get to remember. So glad someone else gets just how awful it is. She got to be and do so many wonderful things, her world was so vastly expanded and while she remained the same person in her sassy wit she grew exponentially beyond that temp she once was, to be reduced back to that. I cry every single time, not just for her, but for the Doctor as well who clearly feels that the world is vastly improved by her presence. It is so beautiful but I seldom watch Donna episodes anymore because of how her time ended.

Dang, I know this is an old video, but I love how you describe Donna's exit. It perfectly captured why I also consider it the best, even if it's painful and difficult to watch. She gained so much and had never been happier than when she was travelling with the Doctor, but he just couldn't handle the idea of watching her die because of him. Absolutely the most tragic and heartbreaking ending in Doctor Who.

Never thought of Rory’s exit like that

Your reasoning for why you love Donna's exit has given me a new appreciation for it, especially when it comes to themes of identity and choice and the Doctor taking away that choice. But the reason it never landed with me was not the fault of the moment itself but because of the constant foreshadowing throughout the season that it became another fakeout 'death' which was done very similarly in season two with Rose 'dying valiantly in battle'. Even the musical cue when the mindwipe happened was very similar to 'Doomsday' that I couldn't help but feel like they were trying to replicate the feels of that episode. I do acknowledge that the foreshadowing could've been a warning to the Doctor that if he didn't wipe her mind she will certainly die causing him to take the drastic action that he did. Now had they given more focus to the aforementioned themes of choice and identity, I would say go as far as to say 'cut that music cue and give the scene a moment of silence, and take out at least half of the hamfisted foreshadowing' I think it would've landed with me much harder than it did.

I love Rose's exit because her character means the most to me but at this current point, if I think of the exits objectively, I really love Martha's exit because she made the call to leave and there's no hard feelings or heart break, no one dies, there's no big tragedy element to it. Martha's exit really sticks out to me since now I feel TV in general has moved towards an intent to make viewers cry in big finales. BUT you did give me something to think about when you mentioned Mickey omg. I love his exit so immensely but never thought to rank that in my head lol

Clara had so many exits, she must have been thinking, "Not again!" every time. It was a pity that her barmaid/governess incarnation lasted for only one story.

I knew that Donna would be #1!. Your take on it is so great! I rank Donna leaving as the second most emotional moment of new-who for me. (The first was Eleven leaving, it wreaked me) Love the list, if I had made my own it would be very similar with maybe a few people flip-flopped a little. I love your lists please keep them coming!

Oh my. You really got me when you were talking about how you don't always have the time even when you think you do. Made me think of my mom and how thankful I am for the time I had with her. I'd do it all again, including the really hard personal care stuff, just to be with her one more day.

Spot on and so many points. Really glad you put Mickey up high, I felt the same way! And most definitely Donna as number one. So glad you mention Wilfred’s reaction. It was painful and awesome to watch at the same time. The fact that Dena wouldn’t remember all the wonderful things he had done with the doctor hurt Wilfred! And the second goodbye for the down was also enhanced with Wilfed and Donna’s mother and the mention of the father.

I wish I could give this a 1,000,000 likes. One of my favorite Doctor Who discussion videos of all time. The Donna exit was the most emotional for me and get emotional every time I watch it. Thank for the list.

Best exit: Martha Jones. She left on her own volition without being killed/mind wiped/transformed into an undying god Worst exit: Fucking Clara. Her well deserved death in Face the Raven was postponed indefinitely due to the Doctor pulling her out of her timeline a second before her death. Second worst exit: Donna Noble. Erasing all that she was and sticking her back on Earth was a mistake. The Doctor should've found another way.

Two of Moffat's biggest missteps: undoing Clara's exit in "Death in Heaven" and not letting Amy and Rory's departure in "The God Complex" stand. Both were beautifully done, but their impact was lessened by what came after. Great list!

i know its not new who but one of mine has to be adric who's travels come to an end in Earthshock when he tries to stop a Cyberman-controlled freighter from crashing into Earth. The navigational controls are locked by logic codes, and Adric is entering the solution to the last code when the computer is destroyed by a dying Cyberman. He dies in the crash, while his crewmates watch in horror on the TARDIS viewscreen. His last words before the explosion kills him are "Now I'll never know if I was right." Adric dies not knowing that the freighter he was trying to stop would become the "meteor" that would wipe out the dinosaurs and lead to the rise of mammals and eventually humans, while the episode credits just run silently over a close up of his broken badge. I'm not crying, i just got some dust in my eye!

Wow I should be in bed. I always wake up to notifications, not see em happen.

Great List! 😀

My biggest problem with the Hell Bent exit is that if it didn’t exist, Face the Raven would probably be at the top of my list

every time you do a Doctor Who rankings video, I can count on you to put Donna at the top of the list and that fact brings me great joy.

another great banger

:giggles: I think your failure to snap your fingers is actually more appropriate for Rory's exit 'cause of how often that episode tries to fake you out about how Amy and Rory actually leave.

I did like bill potts two final episodes. I think it was clever how they brought back the terrible looking cybermen. And it really saddened me when everyone was scared of her. But to herself she was the same. That was a very interesting idea for sure

I think there could be an argument made whether or not Wilfred Mott (Donna's grandfather)was a companion...but I will say that his exit--saluting the Doctor at Donna's wedding--was beautiful and made me tear up.

Lolol. “His exit was just like. .... ehh stupid things. ... there we go.” Gold!

This is gonna sound mean but I’m already looking forward to the exits for Graham, Ryan and Yaz. Not for a while of course, but I wanna get my heart broken again.

You know when the amount of words per second goes down to 1 that something sad is happening

I didn’t think Clara’s Hell Bent exist took away from the Face the Raven. It was a last little add on and I thought was quite beautiful.

I think Mickey's exit felt like he'd found his purpose after not really having one while he was travelling in the Tardis, which is why it felt more satisfying than Martha who actually moves on, especially since her purpose was always to help people and be a nurse anyway.

You make me want to binge watch the top five endings again. Wow.

Id put Bill Potts at one: really bill potts was no longer part of the team in her point of view when she was stuck down the ship for 10 years being cyber converted. This was just a mad tear jerker

I love your collection of small figures or dolls behind you, how many series or shows do you have them from?. Regarding the companions, well I think that they are just not handled well mostly, even their exits as well.

A nice list. For me, Bill’s exit ranks higher, but I totally agree with your top 5.

I'm a big Rory fan too, and Rory's lack of exit was what's wrong with his whole run: they never explored what Rory's relationship to the Doctor WAS. By himself, apart from Amy. And they were so close to it! They could have gone into all of that in The Black Spot if Amy had "died" instead of Rory. It could have elevated an aggressively mediocre episode to a great one. It was like they just chickened out. They did a little of that in Vampires of Venice, but Rory was on his first real outing with the Doctor and so it wasn't a very mature discussion, and they did a little more in The Girl Who Waited. But they always circled around it, never really hit it head on. I have no idea why they missed that opportunity.

I think the show-runners need to have a good look not only at Russel's era, but at the classic show, for a better understanding of why companions leave. Moffat in particular seemed to think that companions have to die, and that he was subverting it by not letting them die in properly. Rory and Amy get stuck in the past and live full lives, after several death fake-outs. River Song almost dies but gets uploaded to the Library. Clara dies but gets brought back to life as an immortal Doctor-like being. Bill dies but gets brought back to life as an immortal Doctor-like being. All of them had chances for better exits along the way, but they were all undone in favour of this uncomfortable, unsatisfying non-death. But look at the classic show. Only 3 companions died in its 27 year run, and two of those were in the same story. There were all kinds of reasons, tragic or otherwise, for companions to leave the Tardis. Sometimes they preferred to stay on after a story to help make things better for the society they were in. Sometimes they had to be left behind for their own safety. Sometimes they fell in love and preferred a domestic life to travelling forever (though these admittedly rarely worked - see Leela). Sometimes their hostile home welcomed them back. Sometimes it just stopped being fun. And in Dodo's case, sometimes they just wander off and the writers forget about them.

Donna. Still brings tears to my eyes....

Great shout bringing up Mickey. Completely slipped my mind as I had series finales in my head, but Mickey's exit really is one of the greatest there. I'd actually really struggle to pick a favourite here but put a gun to my head and I'd probably pick Amy

I don't think Jack ever really HAS a companion exit. He never really "leaves" he just kind of goes on to do other things but he and the Doctor are still tight and if s/he ever needed him for something he'd come back in a heartbeat.

I would have included both Forest of the Dead and The Husbands of River Song as River's exits, but I do like your list. I would put Forest of the Dead near the top, just under Husbands.

You realise, of course, that though we saw Face The Raven before Hell Bent, Hell Bent was probably plotted before Face The Raven, so I suspect, given how it is hinted at and seeded throughout the season, Moffat knew how he was ending the season before he worked out the details that occurred on the way. So when he's working out the details of that story he's probably thinking "Okay, so Clara has died somehow (will work out later) and the Doctor tricks the time lords into pulling her out of time at the point of her death, because he's crazed with grief".

You just made me cry 😭.

I agree with your first and last choices. Would reorder most of the others. Martha would top three (along with Rose’s exit at end of season 2) Bill would be far higher. Probably wouldn’t have a second Clara exit. Riversong- still top 5. Mickey... I’d put him on there, but lower. Legit to split Amy/Rory and have Amy’s be higher. Fun discussion. Also, I know not a companion technically, but shoutout to Grace and her loss and how it impacted the other companions and the Doctor. One episode, but awesome character who cast a huge shadow over the rest of the season.

For #11, Rory's exit SHOULD HAVE BEEN the scrapped script where he sends his child and a letter to his dad after he and Amy are long dead.

omg i don't watch for a few months (cause life) and I come back to some absolutely bangin glasses!

i can't tell if i've always feared the memories lost trope or if the donna trauma caused it, but it's 100% the most heartbreaking exit

Donna's departure in Journey's End is, to me, was the perfect example of why we didn't The Doctor to be romantically involved with a companion for their forced separation to be emotionally powerful. As someone who doesn't care for the Rose/Doctor stuff their separation holds no emotional weight for me. Donna's departure however hit me right in the gut. Still does to a point. And hell, it's not even an entirely original departure either (execution is but the memory wipe idea isn't). Not that that's a bad thing of course, but it's worth mentioning. Zoe & Jamie's departure in Old Who has the Time Lords wipe all but their first adventure with The Doctor from their memories and flung back to their proper times. Zoe even has a bit of a Donna moment where she feels like somethings wrong, but quickly shrugs it off. For me personally Donna's version carries more emotional weight (given she gets to keep NOTHING and doesn't have time to come to terms with being separated from The Doctor. Even Jamie & Zoe got a proper goodbye), but the idea behind both is pretty powerful. I'd almost wish they'd done it once or twice more, but only having done a memory wipe the twice as it stands is probably for the better.

Basically 12 & 13 are a warning on the dangers of narrative backpedalling.

When you said Donna further down the list I was boutta Throw Hands but that one's fine I guess

In the end, Rory really was the metal dog.

Could u give us your list of best doctor who speeches? Whether they were given by the doctor or someone else I would love to see which are your favourites

I definitely agree with all these ratings, at least for the exits that I have seen. Would be curious where you would put Jack's "exit" in Gridlock, despite it not technically qualifying.

I honestly feel had they brought back Clara in Hellbent, her exist would have been up there next too or in front of Donna, the way she approaches her death, her words almost talking to that of a child, man it hurt.

I keep running into your videos from 3 years or so ago. I want to know, knowing now what we didn't know then, that Donna will feature heavily in the 60th with David Tennant as the 14th Doctor, do you think that will belittle her exit from the 4th series?

In response to your Donna bias. Who doesn't have a Donna bias. She was brilliant.

Martha’s exit is my favourite. That was such a great scene by Freema where she decides to leave the Doctor.

Love the scarf hands.

I agree 100% with you on Donna!

Hi you made me cry so at your number 1 Donna it always gets me 😢😢😢😢

Husbands of River Song, totally in my top 4 Who episodes.

Best Departures: Victoria, Teagan, Martha, Donna, Lucy Miller, Jo Worst Departures: Clara, Leela, Clara, Peri, Clara, Clara again

You can tell from the thumbnail how much he likes each companion lol

My top 3 rankings (best to worst...duh): 1 - Donna (Journey's End) - Donna's arc from annoying loud mouth to best friend of the Doctor who saves billions of lives just to have it snatched away wrecks me always. And the co-host on my podcast constantly teases me about how I became a blubbering mess when he screened it with me for his first watch (my fifth or sixth?). Still. Years later. Even got misty with your description. 2 - Amy & Rory (The Angels Take Manhattan) - Whilst there is much love for Amy on my part, it was when Rory became part of the Whoby crew that the two of them combined became a favorite companion. Less of that 'the companion loves the Doctor' vibe that new Who had been relying on for many series. And when Rory got 'Angeled' again and Amy chose to follow him after her 'goodbye raggedy man', beautiful poignant ending to their saga. 3 - River Song (The Husbands of River Song) - The character of River Song was brilliantly established back in Tenant's era and given several years to grow and develop even further during Smith's reign. And when she was brought back to play with Capaldi's Doctor, Alex Kingston had so obvious love for her character and so much chemistry with the Doctor that the tears her exit pulled from me were well earned. And Moffat's call back to her description of their last date before her death show why he can be a masterful writer when he puts his mind to it. And Happy Pride from Chicago!