"So many of my highs and lows in Doctor Who are encapsulated by John pulling his pants down."

TV Today's The Guardian Weekend Magazine has a massive celebration of Doctor Who companions. Well massive, ish. It's not everyone and there's no surprise appearance from Jackie Lane or anything like that. McGann's represented by Daphne rather than India or Sheridan, but it's a fun old rattle through some of the same old stories, some you might not have heard before.

The illustrative fashion photos are hilarious, mainly screaming or action poses.  Page twenty-five has a shot of Bonnie going Queensbury on a column of text.  Page thirty-one has massive photo of Freema with an agate crystal dangling around her neck.   Much to my surprise during the rewatch I've realised Martha my favourite of the nuWho companions.

The gist of some of the interviews are in this accompanying video.  Billie never meets "anyone else" at conventions?  Is she going to the right conventions?  Bald Karen is still difficult to get used to.  It's a good pallet cleanser for what's presumably to come on the BBC in November - the tone is celebratory but not without some historical perspective.

The whole thing's introduced by Jenny Colgan, who encapsulates exactly what it was like when the show returned to television in 2005, how as the series went on, we weren't just pleased that it existed, but that it was good.  If that hadn't happened would The Guardian still have bothered with a piece like this on the last Saturday in September?

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