BB2 - The War Machines 2

No companion has ever looked more out of place than Dodo in The War Machines. Clinging to the heels of hip and swinging Polly while being shown around the equally hip and swinging Inferno night club, Dodo, with her conservative dress and scaled back Cockney, is a snapshot of what the programme was like as recently as a few weeks before in the eyes of new producer Innes Lloyd. Whereas the BBC heads forbade Dodo's Cockney accent, soon-to-be-new companion Ben's Cockney stylings are full on from the start. And poor Dodo has no hope of taking the spotlight away from the dazzling Polly, either.

Dodo - the most aptly named companion in Doctor Who history. Created as another replacement for the granddaughter character left vacant by Susan and Vicki before her (indeed, The Doctor mentions how much Dodo looks like Susan upon their first meeting) by an outgoing producer, there was never much hope for Dodo. As such, the much mocked exit of the character (or lack of) is the best thing she could have hoped for. To have The Doctor and Dodo share a (supposedly) touching farewell scene would have felt empty and ludicrous. Dodo's gone - forget her like she should have been forgotten in the first place.

Ben and Polly are stepping into the roles of new companions rather nicely, though (as new companions often do in their debut stories). The Doctor places a remarkable amount of trust in Ben early on, going so far as to send him to the WOTAN warehouse to spy. The Doctor also sends Ben straight into danger, all the while hanging out in Sir Charles's house and answering obscene phone calls from supercomputers. Yeah, if I was Ben, I'd join up at the end of this adventure, too.