Doctor Who: 10 Saddest Guest Character Deaths

After an action packed, fast paced, and somewhat divisive six-week run, Doctor Who: Flux has reached its conclusion. The Doctor reunited with Yaz and Dan, Bel reunited with Vinder, a Sontaran Master Plan was thwarted, the titular Flux was stopped, and Earth, along with whatever else remained of the universe, was saved. The Doctor gave up the chance to learn more about her past lives, hiding the chameleon arch containing her memories deep in the Tardis.

Doctor Who: Flux introduced a high number of supporting characters over its six episodes, with many of them playing a role in the finale episode, 'The Vanquishers'. As the main cast of The Doctor, Yaz, and Dan are already confirmed to appear in next year's specials, many fans expected at least one member of Flux's supporting characters to meet a sad end during the finale. They were proved right whem Professor Eustacius Jericho, introduced in the episode 'Village of The Angels', was engulfed by the Flux after failing to escape a Sontaran ship in time.

Jericho is not the first guest character to meet an untimely death while on an adventure with The Doctor. Former Eleventh Doctor companion Rory Williams once commented on this unfortunate phenomenon, stating that whenever The Doctor grew close to a new person, he felt an unfortunate urge to inform their next of kin.

Here are the ten saddest guest character deaths in Doctor Who.

1. Lynda Moss

The Ninth Doctor first meets Lynda when he becomes trapped in the Game Station's version of the Big Brother house. Lynda is the only one of the housemates to kindly welcome The Doctor upon his arrival, and the pair soon bond. When The Doctor escapes the Big Brother house, he takes Lynda with him, and intends to take her travelling aboard the Tardis. When the Daleks begin attacking the station, Lynda has full confidence that The Doctor will get them out in one piece.

Sadly, this was not to be. During the Dalek attack, Lynda helps by using the station's sensors to track the Daleks. Unfortunately, she is eventually discovered, and exterminated before The Doctor can reach her. He is left saddened and angry at her death.

In the alternate universe short story LINDA United, released during the Doctor Who: Lockdown! event, Lynda was resurrected by Bad Wolf in place of Jack Harkness.

2. Pete Tyler

In 'Father's Day', the eighth episode of NuWho's first series, The Ninth Doctor, quite reluctantly, takes Rose back in time to see her Father, Pete Tyler, shortly before his death. However, Rose saves Pete from the Hit-and-Run accident that was supposed to kill him. Pete's survival creates a paradox, causing creatures called Reapers to attack The Doctor, Rose, and all the guests at a Wedding Rose's parents were attending. The only way to stop them is for time to be set back on it's proper path.

Pete ultimately chooses to sacrifice himself, stepping into the path of the car so that time can be restored. However, he no longer dies alone- this time, Rose is by his side. 'Father's Day' serves as a painful lesson to Rose, and the viewers, that fixed points in time cannot be changed. Another version of Pete exists in a parallel universe, but this does not take away from the sacrifice of the original.

3. Astrid Peth

Soon after crashing the Tardis into the starship Titanic, named and designed after the ill-fated cruise liner, The Tenth Doctor meets Astrid Peth, a waitress aboard the ship. Astrid took the job in the hope of seeing other planets, and is overjoyed when The Doctor takes her on a brief trip to Earth. Later, Astrid is one of only a few to survive when asteroids hit the ship, and the robotic Heavenly Hosts malfunction and begin attacking passengers. While she is helping him lead the other survivors to safety, The Doctor asks Astrid to come travelling on the Tardis with him, and she accepts.

Unfortunately, these plans are ruined when, while attempting to foil Max Capricorn's plan to crash the Titanic into Earth, Astrid suffers a fatal fall into the ship's storm drive. Though The Doctor tries to revive her through her teleport bracelet, the attempt fails. The Doctor kisses Astrid goodbye, and scatters her atoms to grant her final wish of being among the stars.

4. Madame de Pompadour

Finding themselves on an eerie abandoned spaceship, The Tenth Doctor, Rose, and Mickey begin to investigate, and discover the ship riddled with time-windows leading to the 1700s, at various points in the life of a little girl named Reinette, who grows up to become Madame de Pompadour, Mistress to the King of France. Peeping through the time-windows, The Doctor befriends Reinette.

After saving her from Clockwork droids who wanted to use her brain to mend the ship, The Doctor invites Reinette to travel with him aboard the Tardis, however, first he leaves to get Rose and Mickey to safety. Though he is gone only two minutes, when he returns for Reinette, years have passed, and he discovers that she has recently died. She had left a letter for him, in the hope that they would meet again.

My dear Doctor: the path has never seemed more slow, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love: my days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak. Godspeed, my lonely angel.

Before departing, The Doctor, heartbroken once again, deactivates the final time window. As all fans know, this was not the last tragic Doctor Who love story penned by Steven Moffat.

5. Miss Evangelista

'Silence In The Library', the first episode to introduce the iconic River Song, also includes her team of fellow archaeologists joining her to investigate The Library. One member of the team, Miss Evangelista, the assistant of expedition funder Strackman Lux, was often made fun of by the others for her perceived low intelligence. However, Miss Evangelista does strike up a friendship with Donna Noble.

When her shipmates fail to listen to her after she discovers a hidden passage, she goes to investigate it herself, leading to her death when she steps in a swarm of Vashta Nerada. By the time the group finds Miss Evangelista's remains, all that is left is her Data Ghost. Donna comforts her as she fades, while the rest of the group is left guilt-stricken by one repeated statement:

"Don't tell the others. They'll only laugh."

Donna describes Evangelista's death as the most horrible experience of her life.

6. Adelaide Brooke

When arriving at Bowie Base One, The Tenth Doctor is delighted to meet Adelaide Brooke and her crew, the first human colonists on Mars. However, he has arrived shortly before they are all due to die in the mysterious destruction of the base. Adelaide's death is meant to inspire her granddaughter, Susie, to become a space traveller.

When the Flood begins to infect the colonists, Adelaide initiates the destruction of the base. The Doctor whisks Adelaide and the surviving colonists away in the Tardis, successfully altering a fixed point in time, or so he thinks. When Adelaide expresses concern over what such a large change could do to the timeline, The Doctor, going a little mad with power, dismisses her, declaring himself the Time Lord Victorious.

Adelaide kills herself to restore the timeline, startling The Doctor out of his delusions of grandeur. It serves as a chilling reminder to him, and the oudience, of why The Doctor should not be alone for too long.

7. Lorna Bucket

As a child, Lorna Bucket once met The Eleventh Doctor in her home, the Gamma Forests, running together from an unknown threat. When we meet her in 'A Good Man Goes To War', Lorna has joined the Cleric army, more out of a desire to meet The Doctor than to fight him. Lorna is the only cleric seen to show discomfort at Amy Pond having her baby girl taken away, and it is she who gifts Amy with a hand-stitched prayer leaf with her daughter's name.

Lorna soon betrays the clerics, staying behind to warn The Doctor that the Headless Monks are still hiding within Demon's Run. She is fatally shot in the ensuing battle, and The Doctor comforts her as she dies. After, he asks Madame Vastra who she was.

"I don't know, but she was very brave."

Lorna's death is a sad reminder of how big an impact The Doctor has on some people's lives, even when meeting them only briefly.

8. Tricey

The episode 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: The Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory, Rory's Dad Brian, and a couple of specially chosen extras end up trapped on a ship full of dinosaurs that has moved into Earth's airspace, and must find a way to save the creatures before Earth authorities fire on the ship. To help transport themselves through the ship, The Doctor, Rory, and Brian befriend Tricey, a Triceratops that enjoys playing fetch with Brian's golf balls.

Solomon, a Trader/Pirate who stole the ship from Silurian refugees, later has Tricey shot to prove a point to The Doctor about what he is capable of. The Doctor is both saddened and angry by the innocent dinosaur's death, with the event colouring the rest of his actions with Solomon throughout the episode.

9. Grace O'Brien

Suffering amnesia after her recent regeneration, The Thirteenth Doctor soon meets married couple Grace and Graham O'Brien, their grandson Ryan, and Ryan's old school friend, Yasmin Khan, when she falls through the roof of their train while they are being attacked by a gathering coil belonging to the Stenza Hunter, Tzim-Sha. As she struggles to regain her memories, the unlikely group must help The Doctor foil Tzim-Sha's attempts to hunt down his chosen target, construction worker Karl.

Sadly, Grace is eloctrocuted while trying to destroy the gathering coil, and falls to her death, leaving Graham and Ryan heartbroken. Graham chooses to travel with The Doctor in his Wife's memory, to experience all the adventures she never got to have. Throughout his time with The Doctor, Graham occasionally experiences visions of Grace, most notably in the episode 'It Takes You Away', in which the sentient universe uses Grace's likeness in an attempt to trap Graham.

10. Prem Barsar

After her Grandmother, Umbreen, gifts her with a mysterious watch after claiming to be the first woman married in Pakistan, Yaz convinces a reluctant Doctor to take her to Umbreen's past. Once there, Yaz is stunned to discover Umbreen preparing to wed a man named Prem, who is definitely not her Grandfather. The Doctor soon realises they have arrived on the day of the partition of India and Pakistan, and Prem is destined to die shortly after his wedding.

The Doctor is unable to intervene in what is to come, as she cannot risk altering history lest Yaz cease to exist. She and her companions are forced to watch as Prem, a Hindu, is murdered in the road for marrying the Muslim Umbreen. He is just one of thousands killed during the Partition, giving a painful look into real-life history.

As hard as The Doctor may try, they can never save everyone.