If Doctor Who is clear about one thing, it’s that death is not necessarily the end. After all, what else is regeneration but a way for the Doctor to cheat death? But he’s not the only person who’s done such a thing. Some of his friends and companions have died in tragic and dramatic circumstances, only to return later on.
In truth, Doctor Who doesn’t really like permanently killing off its characters. It’s a family show and children hate it when a favorite character is taken away from them. And that’s fine — there are other shows for that. So plenty of the most loved people on Doctor Who have lived to fight another day after their supposed final moments.
10 Jenny Sacrificed Herself For Her Father
- Played by: Georgia Moffett
Jenny was created from the Doctor’s DNA in the episode “The Doctor’s Daughter” and, though he had doubts at first, the Doctor quickly grew to love her. But then, just as things were looking bright for the future, Jenny took a bullet for the Doctor and died in his arms. The Doctor was devastated. He left the planet shortly afterward, so he didn’t see Jenny return to life.
Jenny could not regenerate because she was not a full Time Lord like her father. But the emissions from the planet’s terraforming machine eventually saved her, and she jumped up all excited to go adventuring in time and space. Unfortunately, she hasn’t appeared in the show since, but her story was continued in the Doctor Who Big Finish audios.
9 The Master Refused to Regenerate
- Played by: John Simm
After the traumatic events of the Year That Never Was, the people hurt by the Master want nothing more than revenge on him. First, Martha’s mother, Francine Jones, pulls a gun. The Doctor talks her down… but then another gun comes out. This one is wielded by the Master’s wife, Lucy Saxon, and she shoots.
The Doctor begged the Master to regenerate, but the Master chose instead to die to spite the Doctor. The Doctor lost the only other Time Lord in the world, and he was devastated. But he didn’t actually have to be, because before long the Master was back. Some of his followers resurrected him using his ring and DNA from Lucy. You can’t keep a good villain down.
In the opening minutes of the episode “Empire of Death”, the god Sutekh turns the universe to dust. Among the first to die is Kate Stewart, who goes out while telling the Doctor about how one day there might be birds again. But after the Doctor defeated Sutekh, he was able to bring everyone back to life, including Kate.
To be fair, no one expected Kate to remain dead because the entire universe died alongside her, and the Doctor can’t continue to have adventures if the universe is gone. Still, it was a shock to see such a well-loved character dissolve into nothing, and a happy moment when she and everyone else returned none the worse for wear.
7 Amy Pond Was Shot by Auton Rory
- Played by: Karen Gillan
Amy Pond has one of the most complicated stories in the Whoniverse, and her manner of death was complicated too. After her fiancé Rory died, he was brought back to life as an Auton Roman soldier created from Amy’s memories. Just as Amy began to understand what had happened, Auton Rory was activated and, against his will, fatally shot Amy.
But luckily, there was something around that could reverse Amy’s death. This was the Pandorica, and Amy would have to be in there for two thousand years to bring her back to life. Rory volunteered to guard the Pandorica for those two thousand years since he could not die. He became the mythical figure of the Last Centurion.
6 Ruby Lived a Whole Extra Life
- Played by: Millie Gibson
Ruby’s story in the episode “73 Yards” is a fascinating one. She and the Doctor broke a fairy circle, the Doctor disappeared, and Ruby was from that point on followed by a woman who always stood 73 yards away from her. Ruby was able to use the woman to stop a tyrannical politician in his tracks, but she continued to follow Ruby as she grew old and nearer to death.
Eventually, Ruby died of old age… and the last thing she saw was the woman. It turned out she was herself the woman, sent back in time to warn her past self and the Doctor not to disrupt the fairy circle. The exact mechanics of the episode weren’t really explained, but it was a tour de force for Ruby Sunday actress Millie Gibson.
- Played by: Pearl Mackie
During the events of the Doctor Who season ten finale, Bill became a dead-eyed Cyberman. This was effectively her death… yet she was able to maintain her memories and sense of self, seeing herself as a human being regardless of what she actually was. At the end of the episode, with the Doctor almost dead himself, all hope seemed lost. Enter Heather, the girl Bill formed a connection with in her first episode.
Heather, who now had god-like powers, kissed Bill and turned her into a water creature like herself. Bill was no longer a Cyberman, and could go anywhere in the universe she pleased. But one resurrection alone wasn’t enough for Bill’s story. In “Twice Enough And Time” Bill had lived her life and died, but returned as an avatar with all her memories and personality.
4 Donna Noble Went to an Alternate Timeline
- Played by: Catherine Tate
The episode “Turn Left” placed Donna in a world where one small decision of hers — not turning left at an intersection — left the planet without a Doctor. Things got worse and worse for the people of Earth, and gradually Donna came to realize she was the most important woman in the whole of creation. Everything revolved around her and that one decision.
So Donna ended up sacrificing herself to prevent her past self from turning right, and the last thing she saw was Rose Tyler leaning over her, giving her a message from the Doctor. Then she woke up in the correct timeline, bewildered by what had just happened. And when she repeated Rose Tyler’s words to the Doctor, it was clear that something terrible was going on.
- Played by: Jenna Coleman
Clara Oswald got too overconfident, and it led to her death. She got her friend Rigsy to transfer his death sentence to her while she and the Doctor worked to save him, but then it couldn’t be taken away from her. A raven would come for Clara and kill her where she stood. So Clara could do nothing but accept her death bravely.
The Doctor watched Clara die… but then later on, the Doctor was able to pull Clara away from her death and attempt to have her live on with him. In the end, though, the Doctor’s memories of Clara were wiped and Clara, now living on in her last seconds of life, ran away with the immortal Ashildr to have new adventures. She would die eventually because the Doctor had seen it, but she was taking the long way around.
2 Rory Died Multiple Times
- Played by: Arthur Darvill
Poor Rory Williams had a reputation for dying. His first death came in the episode “Amy’s Choice”, but that turned out to have been an illusion caused by the Dream Lord. Then a couple of episodes later, in “Cold Blood” he not only died for real but was erased from existence entirely.
Luckily, that wasn’t the end for Rory! Amy’s memories brought him back as an Auton in “The Pandorica Opens” and the Doctor’s reboot of the universe turned him human again. Rory died once more in “The Curse of the Black Spot” but was brought back to life with CPR, and then finally his gravestone was seen in his last episode, “The Angels Take Manhattan.”
1 Jack Harkness Became Immortal
- Played by: John Barrowman
Jack Harkness died fighting the Daleks in the episode “The Parting of the Ways” but that wasn’t even remotely the end of his story. When Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS and became the Bad Wolf, she brought Jack back to life… but he was no longer able to die. This formed a huge part of Jack’s spin-off show, Torchwood.
Jack continued to die in the main show whenever he was brought back. It became an integral part of his character. However, it’s possible audiences have already seen his final death. Jack Harkness was once nicknamed “the Face of Boe” and the Doctor once met an ancient being called the Face of Boe, who died. But whether or not the two are the same remains one of the many aspects of Doctor Who that will never be fully explained.
