Doctor Who Reveals What Happened To 9 Companions After Leaving The TARDIS

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Tales of the TARDIS.

Doctor Who has had several spinoffs since its initial release in 1963, but its most recent addition, Tales of the TARDIS, sees the return of multiple companions from previous years. Airing exclusively on BBC iPlayer, Tales of the TARDIS reunites several characters from the Whoniverse to retell stories from Doctor Who‘s classic era. Six Classic Doctor Who stories are re-edited, with some of their main characters meeting to share their memories.

Tales of the TARDIS is significantly different from previous Doctor Who spinoffs, such as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood. Unlike these, Tales of the TARDIS reprises existing Doctor Who stories rather than bringing brand-new adventures to the screen. Each episode finds a pair of travelers meeting inside the memory TARDIS, filled with the Doctor’s trinkets over the centuries. As the Doctor’s oldest friends reunite, they share the details of their lives following their TARDIS exits.

RELATED: All 12 Doctor Who Characters Returning For Tales Of The TARDIS

Tegan Jovanka – Experienced Shock & Started Campaigning

Traveled With The Fourth And Fifth Doctors

“Earthshock,” one of Tegan’s best episodes, finds her and the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) reuniting. Following Tegan’s (Janet Fielding) departure from the TARDIS, she finds herself stuck on Earth with no money. She eventually makes her way back to her home in Brisbane, Australia. Tegan tells the Doctor that she struggled with shock after leaving him, finding it difficult to readjust to living on Earth again.

After leaving the TARDIS, Tegan is unsure about what she wants to do with her life. As she sruggles to decide, she concludes that, no matter what it is, it has to be something that would make the Doctor proud of her. Tegan is happy to share with the Doctor that her life took her down a path of campaigning, specifically for the protection of the environment, something the Doctor makes sure to tell her he is indeed proud of.

Jamie McCrimmon And Zoe Heriot – Found Families And Careers

Traveled With The Second Doctor

Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Zoe’s (Wendy Padbury) time on the TARDIS is spent traveling with the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). However, Doctor Who’s audio adventures show Jamie briefly reuniting with the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker). Following their run-in with the War Lords, the Doctor decides to send his two companions back to their own time streams and wipes their memories of him.

As the two reunite in the memory TARDIS, they’re gleeful to talk about their lives. Jamie is excited to share he has five daughters and 19 grandchildren, having married Kirsty McLaren (Hannah Gordon) after the two met in the Doctor Who adventure “The Highlanders.” Following Zoe’s exit from the TARDIS, she returned to The Wheel, the space station where she first met the Doctor. At some point after this, Zoe returned to Earth and met her husband in Australia, and the two had a son. It’s only as Zoe tells Jamie about her son James, that she realizes she had named her child after her old friend.

Much like herself, Zoe’s son James is a scientist. Zoe also shows off her outfit, a glitzy set of robes, and announces that she is now a president and has just had her third inauguration. Although there is no confirmation as to what nation she’s the President of, it’s safe to assume she returned to The Wheel and took over the space station.

Peri Brown – Married A King & Became The Warrior Queen

Traveled With The Fifth And Sixth Doctors

Peri Brown’s (Nicola Bryant) time aboard the TARDIS finds her as a companion to both the Fifth and Sixth Doctors. She reunites with the Sixth Doctor in Tales of the TARDIS, and he can’t be more proud of what the American woman has done with her life. Following her departure from the TARDIS, Peri marries King Yrcanos (Brian Blessed) and becomes the Warrior Queen, the two ruling over the Krontep species together.

At some point later, Yrcanos passed away, and Peri managed to return to Earth. Heartbroken, Peri tells the Doctor she sees the similarities between Earth and Varos, and the Time Lord offers to take her away on a journey. Before they leave, she tells the Doctor that she wants to return to Yrcanos’ memorial once a year, as she has regularly done since his death.

Jo Grant – Married, Had 13 Children, & Became Friends With Sarah Jane Smith

Traveled With The Third Doctor

Since Jo Grant’s (Katy Manning) departure from the TARDIS, the character has made several notable returns to the Whoniverse. She develops a close friendship with Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and meets the woman’s children and companions in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Reuniting with Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony), he makes a point to offer her his sympathies, hearing that she had lost her husband Cliff, who she shared seven children and 13 grandchildren with.

Although heartbroken at losing Cliff, Jo makes sure to emphasize that they are not like the Doctor and that their lives are short. Finding herself alone in the memory TARDIS, Jo comes across a blue crystal from Metebelis III that the Doctor gave her as a wedding present. As she reminisces on her time with Cliff, she is overjoyed to find that, through the power of the memory TARDIS, she gets the chance to see her late husband one more time.

Clyde Langer – Became A Successful Comic Writer

Crosses Paths With The Tenth And Eleventh Doctors

Despite not being a companion aboard the TARDIS, Clyde Langer crosses paths with both the Tenth and Eleventh (Matt Smith) Doctors in The Sarah Jane Adventures. After Sarah Jane’s death, the kids of Bannerman Road go their separate ways. Luke (Tommy Knight) marries and works for UNIT, and Rani (Anjli Mohindra) protests for climate change, taking on large, greedy corporations. However, there is no mention of Sarah Jane’s youngest child, Sky.

Since last seeing the Doctor, Clyde has become a successful comic book writer and is in the process of having one of his projects turned into a television series. Despite his success, Clyde misses his days on Bannerman Road, feeling that he’s still missing something. Having seen them when they were young, Jo encourages Clyde to track down Rani and tell her how he feels about her.

Steven Taylor And Vicki Pallister – A King And An Oliver Farmer

Traveled With The First Doctor

Steven (Peter Purves) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) were companions of the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and the only characters to feature in Tales of the TARDIS who left on separate occasions. After landing on an unknown planet in the future, similar to Earth, Steven decides to stay behind. This results in him becoming King of the planet, where he teaches the inhabitants about their pasts in an attempt to avoid history repeating itself. As Steven reunites with Vicki, he tells her that he’s still King and shares that he has children and grandchildren.

Much like Steven, Vicki also has children and grandchildren. The two recall her departure from the TARDIS after she’d fallen in love with Troilus, a member of Trojan royalty whom she’d met in Troy. After the birth of their children, the two became olive farmers and lived up in the hills together. Despite having not seen the Doctor again, Vicki is adamant that she reunite with him, so she can thank him for the life he gave her.

Ace – Stayed With Her Grandmother

Traveled With The Seventh Doctor

Ace (Sophia Alred) also returns to the Whoniverse over the years, and she’s seen opposite the Seventh Doctor in “The Power of the Doctor.” She reunites with the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), and the two are overjoyed to see each other. Their interaction gives a rather sweet nod to Sarah Jane, as Ace tells the Doctor that he hadn’t dropped her off in London, England, but rather London, Ontario — a reference to the Doctor leaving Sarah Jane in Aberdeen in the Doctor Who season 2 episode “School Reunion.”

Ace tells the Doctor that his bad piloting made it difficult for her to get home, as she didn’t have her passport. Ace eventually made it back to the UK and visited her grandmother Kathleen Dudman (Cory Pulman). Ace believes that her grandmother eventually remembered meeting her in the adventure “The Curse of Fenric.” She’s emotional but overjoyed to tell the Doctor that in her final moments, Kathleen realized how Ace had helped her all those years previously. She also makes a point to tell him that her leather jacket is now on display but had been retired along with her Doctor Who adventures.