Comment by hnlmorg

The literal reason for including companions from day one was so that the husbands had something to watch. The BBC have never hidden the fact that the companions were always there for eye candy.

When you look at the pre-UNIT episodes (before Dr Who went colour), the actors often left after only one season because they were fed up with their role just being there for the doctor to rescue. It’s something they’ve commented on in interviews since.

And you can see that when you watch them.

There’s also the the running joke of bringing in a female character who was supposed to be a computer programmer yet she never seemed to use a computer.

And there was another companion who used to talk pseudo-science with the doctor but they slowly dumbed her down as the show went on.

Unfortunately back then, female roles weren’t written to be strong and independent like they are now. Not just in Doctor Who, but in TV in general. And while things did improve in the 80s, you’re still greatly overstating things.

To talk more about that last point, let’s look at Ace. She really wasn’t written any differently to modern companions.

That all said, one thing I absolutely hate about the modern era, or Russel T Davis, specifically, is all the Doctor and Companion romantic plots. There was absolutely no need for any of that.