Future plans for Companion Showdown

With planning Companion's Companions, @companion-showdown is now talking about a tournament that is more than two weeks away more than the one thats coming up this weekend. I think this is kind of confusing, so I'm putting the majority of stuff thats planning for the future here now. You can still send suggestions into @companion-showdown, but I would prefer it to be sent here

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

all tournaments run from @companion-showdown, this blog is for planning and organisation only, as I felt the main one was getting clogged

Current future tournament ideas (full bracket)

green - actively being polled for the next tournament (provided we're not currently doing mini tournaments)

Best companion for a Time War

Best Leaving Story

Best at Poker

Should've had a spinoff

best entrance

most underrated companion

most like their doctor

least like their doctor

AU companions

Best Time Aboard the TARDIS

Most Stereotypical Companion

Most important companion

Current mini tournament ideas (smaller brackets, usually 16 people)

animated companions

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

anyone fancy proof reading the 2k26 nomination/propaganda form?

Showdown 2k26 - Nominate or Propagandise

Welcome to Companion Showdown 2k26, where we will be finding a new favourite companion! Nomination rules: Anybody who could reasonably be ca

you can take it as a chance to submit early if nothing else

probably will try to post it on the main blog tomorrow to give people plenty of time, and start publishing lists of nominees in about a week

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

specifically I want to know if this is too annoying to deal with and makes you not want to submit at all. I have added more questions so I dont have to do research and I want to know if that was worthwhile or if i'll just end up submissionless

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

posting properly today, literally any opinions on the form would be helpful

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

anyone fancy proof reading the 2k26 nomination/propaganda form?

Showdown 2k26 - Nominate or Propagandise

Welcome to Companion Showdown 2k26, where we will be finding a new favourite companion! Nomination rules: Anybody who could reasonably be ca

you can take it as a chance to submit early if nothing else

probably will try to post it on the main blog tomorrow to give people plenty of time, and start publishing lists of nominees in about a week

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

specifically I want to know if this is too annoying to deal with and makes you not want to submit at all. I have added more questions so I dont have to do research and I want to know if that was worthwhile or if i'll just end up submissionless

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

anyone fancy proof reading the 2k26 nomination/propaganda form?

Showdown 2k26 - Nominate or Propagandise

Welcome to Companion Showdown 2k26, where we will be finding a new favourite companion! Nomination rules: Anybody who could reasonably be ca

you can take it as a chance to submit early if nothing else

probably will try to post it on the main blog tomorrow to give people plenty of time, and start publishing lists of nominees in about a week

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

Given my current (and future) inability to post rounds anywhere close to daily...

starting 2026, should I make polls a week long? (this probably would not apply to mini tournaments)

yes - make them a week long

no - keep to a day

don't care

Voting ended onNov 28, 2025

Worth baring in mind I will randomly forget to press the right button, but hey ho.

Also if a round were split across multiple parts, I would still try to post those closer together where I find the time

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

Most important companion?

given how the doctors favourite when, that sounds dreadful

I'll put it on the list

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

hello! first of all, thank you for all the work you do running the tournaments - it truly brightens my day and is a super fun way to engage with my favourite thing and learn about companions I'm less familiar with. second of all, please don't take this as a demand for More Now Please! I would just like to make a gentle pitch for the next tournament (whenever it happens) to invite discussion around 'the best' or 'favourite' rather than 'the worst'. personally I'd get a kick out of 'best entrance' as a follow-up to 'worst exit', but tbh I'd be delighted with anything that creates a space to celebrate what we love about the show 💙

I am always wary of doing tournaments centered on negativity, i'm farely certain this was the only one, and I was only comfortable with it because it was about something very specific and somewhat divorced from the characters themselves. all this to say you don't have to worry about this turning into an ultra negative zone of complaining about and dwelling on things we don't like, I do not want that either.

poll for the next tournament will be out in probably the next few minutes

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

oh thank god, my files did back up properly, I don't have to start from scratch! I'm now much more confident about achieving Monday

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

I want to do something different for the anniversary in late november, like with the story tournament I did last year. I'm thinking biggest influence on doctor who, originally I was thinking just with companions (which I might add to the list anyway) but I think it might be better with real people as a celebration of everyone who got the show where it is today. Obviously it would be a lot of nominations, which I might open up way in advance to give a really long nomination phase, I'm also going to put a starting list below. Idk, any thoughts on this as an idea I guess

Actors

all numbered doctor actors

Carole Ann Ford (i'm not going to start with all companion actors, I'm just going to focus on companions I think had a big influence on the show)

William Russell

Jacqueline Hill

Frazer Hines

Nicholas Courtney

Liz Sladen

John Leeson

Janet Fielding

Sophie Alderd

Billie Piper

Alex Kingston

Nicholas Briggs

Roger Delgado

Writers/Script Editors

David Whitaker

Terry Nation

Terrance Dicks

Robert Holmes

Douglas Adams

Eric Saward

Andrew Cartmel

RTD

Steven Moffat

Chris Chibnall

Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis (Tenth Planet)

Producers

Verity Lambert

Barry Letts

Philip Hinchcliffe

Graham Williams

JNT

Other

Sydney Newman

Delia Derbyshire

Michael Grade (this is a joke this is a joke this is a joke, well sort of, what would doctor who be if it hadn't been cancelled)

Peter Brachacki (production designer for unearthly child and therefor original tardis)

Raymond Cusick (dalek designer)

Waris Hussein (if more directors are nomintaed I'd happily give them a category, but Hussein is the only one I'm putting on the starting list)

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

one thing that does make me nervous about doing this is that I don't want to undervalue anyone's contributions, you know, I would want it to be a celebration of everyone, not just those who do well. I think I have a plan for that, but I will keep it to myself for now in case I can't follow through

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

okay, actually I'm not going to keep it to myself, I think I'm going ot try and make everyone who gets nominated their own post about their individual contributions. Unfortuantely for me and for the potential quality of these posts is I have not taken an english lesson or written more than a couple of paragraphs on a single topic since in the 5 years since I passed my GCSEs, but I'm going to try

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

okay so this task is, uhh, going guess (although I have taken some people off the list (specifically companion actors)), but today I have discovered that I don't think I can write one for Liz Sladen, because, uhhh writing about her appears to be bringing me to tears, so thats good

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

I want to do something different for the anniversary in late november, like with the story tournament I did last year. I'm thinking biggest influence on doctor who, originally I was thinking just with companions (which I might add to the list anyway) but I think it might be better with real people as a celebration of everyone who got the show where it is today. Obviously it would be a lot of nominations, which I might open up way in advance to give a really long nomination phase, I'm also going to put a starting list below. Idk, any thoughts on this as an idea I guess

Actors

all numbered doctor actors

Carole Ann Ford (i'm not going to start with all companion actors, I'm just going to focus on companions I think had a big influence on the show)

William Russell

Jacqueline Hill

Frazer Hines

Nicholas Courtney

Liz Sladen

John Leeson

Janet Fielding

Sophie Alderd

Billie Piper

Alex Kingston

Nicholas Briggs

Roger Delgado

Writers/Script Editors

David Whitaker

Terry Nation

Terrance Dicks

Robert Holmes

Douglas Adams

Eric Saward

Andrew Cartmel

RTD

Steven Moffat

Chris Chibnall

Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis (Tenth Planet)

Producers

Verity Lambert

Barry Letts

Philip Hinchcliffe

Graham Williams

JNT

Other

Sydney Newman

Delia Derbyshire

Michael Grade (this is a joke this is a joke this is a joke, well sort of, what would doctor who be if it hadn't been cancelled)

Peter Brachacki (production designer for unearthly child and therefor original tardis)

Raymond Cusick (dalek designer)

Waris Hussein (if more directors are nomintaed I'd happily give them a category, but Hussein is the only one I'm putting on the starting list)

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

one thing that does make me nervous about doing this is that I don't want to undervalue anyone's contributions, you know, I would want it to be a celebration of everyone, not just those who do well. I think I have a plan for that, but I will keep it to myself for now in case I can't follow through

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

okay, actually I'm not going to keep it to myself, I think I'm going ot try and make everyone who gets nominated their own post about their individual contributions. Unfortuantely for me and for the potential quality of these posts is I have not taken an english lesson or written more than a couple of paragraphs on a single topic since in the 5 years since I passed my GCSEs, but I'm going to try

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

I want to do something different for the anniversary in late november, like with the story tournament I did last year. I'm thinking biggest influence on doctor who, originally I was thinking just with companions (which I might add to the list anyway) but I think it might be better with real people as a celebration of everyone who got the show where it is today. Obviously it would be a lot of nominations, which I might open up way in advance to give a really long nomination phase, I'm also going to put a starting list below. Idk, any thoughts on this as an idea I guess

Actors

all numbered doctor actors

Carole Ann Ford (i'm not going to start with all companion actors, I'm just going to focus on companions I think had a big influence on the show)

William Russell

Jacqueline Hill

Frazer Hines

Nicholas Courtney

Liz Sladen

John Leeson

Janet Fielding

Sophie Alderd

Billie Piper

Alex Kingston

Nicholas Briggs

Roger Delgado

Writers/Script Editors

David Whitaker

Terry Nation

Terrance Dicks

Robert Holmes

Douglas Adams

Eric Saward

Andrew Cartmel

RTD

Steven Moffat

Chris Chibnall

Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis (Tenth Planet)

Producers

Verity Lambert

Barry Letts

Philip Hinchcliffe

Graham Williams

JNT

Other

Sydney Newman

Delia Derbyshire

Michael Grade (this is a joke this is a joke this is a joke, well sort of, what would doctor who be if it hadn't been cancelled)

Peter Brachacki (production designer for unearthly child and therefor original tardis)

Raymond Cusick (dalek designer)

Waris Hussein (if more directors are nomintaed I'd happily give them a category, but Hussein is the only one I'm putting on the starting list)

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

one thing that does make me nervous about doing this is that I don't want to undervalue anyone's contributions, you know, I would want it to be a celebration of everyone, not just those who do well. I think I have a plan for that, but I will keep it to myself for now in case I can't follow through

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

I want to do something different for the anniversary in late november, like with the story tournament I did last year. I'm thinking biggest influence on doctor who, originally I was thinking just with companions (which I might add to the list anyway) but I think it might be better with real people as a celebration of everyone who got the show where it is today. Obviously it would be a lot of nominations, which I might open up way in advance to give a really long nomination phase, I'm also going to put a starting list below. Idk, any thoughts on this as an idea I guess

Actors

all numbered doctor actors

Carole Ann Ford (i'm not going to start with all companion actors, I'm just going to focus on companions I think had a big influence on the show)

William Russell

Jacqueline Hill

Frazer Hines

Nicholas Courtney

Liz Sladen

John Leeson

Janet Fielding

Sophie Alderd

Billie Piper

Alex Kingston

Nicholas Briggs

Roger Delgado

Writers/Script Editors

David Whitaker

Terry Nation

Terrance Dicks

Robert Holmes

Douglas Adams

Eric Saward

Andrew Cartmel

RTD

Steven Moffat

Chris Chibnall

Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis (Tenth Planet)

Producers

Verity Lambert

Barry Letts

Philip Hinchcliffe

Graham Williams

JNT

Other

Sydney Newman

Delia Derbyshire

Michael Grade (this is a joke this is a joke this is a joke, well sort of, what would doctor who be if it hadn't been cancelled)

Peter Brachacki (production designer for unearthly child and therefor original tardis)

Raymond Cusick (dalek designer)

Waris Hussein (if more directors are nomintaed I'd happily give them a category, but Hussein is the only one I'm putting on the starting list)

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

best entrance is doing well for the next tournament (it was winning when i started but not anymore) so i've tried to summarise everyone's that I can. i've attempted to do their first scene on the show. i wasn't able to do everyone, and some of them are probably not quite right as I mostly did it off memory so suggestions welcome

Ian and Barbara - flirting, then talking about their one weirdo student who lives in a junkyard

Susan - being that one weirdo student who lives in a junkyard

Vicki - waiting for rescue

Steven - being the lone captive of a bunch of chumblies is perhaps not great for the mind

Katarina

Sara

Dodo - im just going to have a look in this police box, oh its bigger on the inside, yeah that seems normal

Polly - evil computer's inventor's secretary, invites dodo to a club

Ben - sad and drunk, beats the shit out of someone being threatening to a woman he just met

Jamie

Victoria

Zoe - Jamie's babysitter

Brig - why are all these people running around the london underground

Benton - generic unit soldier

Liz - brigadier, aliens aren't real

Mike - generic unit soldier

Jo - unfortunately your new assistant is too endearing for you to hate

Sarah - stealing your aunt's identity is good investigative journalism

Harry - newly regenerated 4's babysitter

Leela - banished for herasy

K9 - just a robot dog

Romana I - one of the most poerful beings in the universe says the doctor needs a friend

Romana II - is regeneration supposed to be difficult

Adric - no adric you can't join our group of rebel outsiders, you're too much of a nerd

Nyssa - your dad's getting married and you're getting your step-mother's job

Tegan - just so excited to start her new job as an air stewardess

Turlough - steal the brigadier's car, crash the brigadier's car

Kamelion - king john

Peri - this holiday is boring, im going on a different one and nobody can stop me

Mel - already travelling with the doctor, also making him exercise

Ace - begging to join in on the adventure

Grace - opera performance interupted by emergency heart surgery

Lee - gang shoot out interuppted by the TARDIS

Charley - crossdressing so she can work aboard a doomed airship

C'rizz

Evelyn - stop disturbing my lecture on my favourite historical figure with that incessant beeping

Lucie

Liv

Helen

Hex

Benny

Chris

Fitz

Compassion

Anji

Sam

Alison - fed up bartender in mysterious town

Iris

Izzy

Frobisher

Rose - montage of her normal life

Mickey - i get that your workplace just exploded but i really want to go to the pub

Adam - look at all my weird trinkets

Jack - clearly not from the 1940s, but more importantly, bisexual

Martha - family drama phone call

Donna - just materialises on the tardis

Wilf - no amount of danger could get me to leave london

River - wait she knows the doctor

Amy - praying to santa

Rory - nutty nurse thinks coma patients are faking it

Kate - if i don't let the soldiers storm someones house every once in a while they get sad

Clara - its the one from contemporary earth whos sticking around

Handles - the doctor has a pet cyberhead now

Bill - meet this woman the doctor's taken an interest in

Nardole - river's sidekick

Yaz - resolving parking disputes is so boring

Ryan and Graham - ryan can'r ride a bike, but he is going to learn

Dan - this man gives tours of museums he doesn't work for

Ruby - so ruby, give us your backstory

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

hello, i have just entered my own personal hell, my document with all of the group stage images (and all the images for this current tournament but thats less frustrating) just glitched out and became unusable and i can't fix it so im having to slowly copy everything over to a new document one companion at a time and i think i want to kill someone

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

okay new system (anyone can be eliminated in the group stage), new regulars, new groups for the regulars. There will be one elimination in each of these groups, a further 8 slots will be filled by nominations on a tournament be tournament basis, the structure of the nominee groups and the eliminations per group could potentially be very different to those of the regulars and will be highly dependant on the number of nominations.

Here is the new list of regulars, dashes indicate where the groups change. As always, constructive criticism is welcome.

Classic Who

Ian Chesterton

Barbara Wright

Susan Foreman

Vicki Pallister

Steven Taylor

--------------------

Katarina

Sara Kingdom

Dodo Chaplet

Ben Jackson

Polly Wright

--------------------

Jamie McCrimmon

Victoria Waterfield

Zoe Heriot

The Brigadier

Sergeant Benton

--------------------

Liz Shaw

Mike Yates

Jo Grant

Sarah-Jane Smith

Harry Sullivan

--------------------

Leela

K9

Romana I

Romana II

--------------------

Adric

Nyssa

Tegan Jovanka

Vislor Turlough

Kamelion

--------------------

Peri Brown

Mel Bush

Ace McShane

Grace Holloway

Chang Lee

NuWho

Rose Tyler

Mickey Smith

Adam Michell

Jack Harkness

--------------------

Martha Jones

Wilfred Mott

Donna Noble

River Song

--------------------

Amy Pond

Rory Williams

Kate Stewart

Clara Oswald

Handles

--------------------

Bill Potts

Nardole

Yasmin Khan

Graham O'Brien

--------------------

Ryan Sinclair

Dan Lewis

Ruby Sunday

Belinda Chandra

EU

Charley Pollard

C'rizz

Evelyn Smythe

Lucie Miller

--------------------

Liv Chenka

Helen Sinclair

Hex Schofield

Bernice Summerfield

Chris Cwej

--------------------

Fitz Kreiner

Compassion

Anji Kapoor

Sam Jones

--------------------

Alison Cheney

Iris Wildthyme

Izzy Sinclair

Frobisher

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

okay, I have a very annoying problem right now

with the new system for the group stages new characters are automatically included in every tournament, one of those is Anji. unfortunately the only official image of her I can find is her lying on the ground unconscious

which, I don't want to use that, here's all these normal looking characters, and here's someone who could easily be mistaken for a corpse. doesn't seem fair to me, and it also doesn't seem fair for her to be the only tournament regular without an image.

there is also this image, but apparently this is a character from a different show who an editor was asked if anji was based on her, so I don't really want to use that one either.

I don't want to look anywhere other than tardis wiki for fear I will end up accidentaly stealing somebody's fan art. If this were a one off tournament where I felt everyone should have an image then I might try and find some fan art and get permission to use it for that tournament, which I have done in the past. it seems to me to be a much bigger ask to use someone's fan art indefinitely, so I've tried to come up with another option

namely, I've attempted to trace over that first image and, with my limited artistic abilities and ms paint, change it slightly so that she doesn't look, um, dead. the end result looks like this (but tbh I might still fiddle with it

um yeah, thoughts, suggestions, does it look alright, anyone have any alternatives

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

i've sort of nebulously been thinking that I wanted help, but I couldn't figure out like how, because everything is working fine, but I tihnk I've figured it out, in that my knowledge of the eu is incredibly superficial, I've dipped my toes but not much more, but I still have to make decisions on those characters, leaving me 1. being very permissive in the nominations stage, short of a made up character anyone can make it in because I don't know how well they fit, and 2. in group stages I can keep tv groups balanced so in a given group everyone is on as even a footing as I can manage, I am very limited in doing that with the eu groups, most of the time I don't bother at all because its too difficult

what I think would be good is to have people who are knowledgable in areas of Doctor Who that I am not, who can actually make those decisions in a more informed way.

I'm not like, expecting everyone to have any kind of insane comprehensive knowledge, just like a bit better than me in one medium. Beyond that I am happy for people to be involved to any extent they want to be, just having people to consult would be good, but provided I don't have reason not to trust you I'm also happy to give people access to the blog, to the spreadsheet, whatever

I'm also not expecting any kind of massive commitment, whatever people are willing to do will be gratefully recieved

also if you like me are also only really familiar with tv stuff, an extra opinion on stuff to do with that is always welcome

umm yeah, if any of whatever I just said is something that you would like to do let me know, any method you want, message/ask/reply, whatever

also rest assured even without help I am capable of continuing the tournaments alone, I have no issue doing that so don't feel pressured