Most of us already figured this when he was announced back in February, but it’s official now that Danny Pink, the character played by The History Boys star Samuel Anderson who will be introduced on this week’s episode “Into the Dalek”, will be a proper companion on Doctor Who this series. Pink will be a new teacher at Coal Hill School, where Clara teaches and where the show’s very first companions also worked/went to school. A new report and interview by TV Guide tells us, though, that he’ll not only join the cast but also the TARDIS crew at some point.
Pink is evidently a good guy with a dark and troubling background (join the club) and he will clash with the Doctor because of this past. For a little bit, he’ll just be Clara’s friend (and I’m betting love interest) but eventually he’ll figure out Clara’s extracurriculars and board the time and space machine himself. Here’s what the stars have to say about the character of Danny Pink becoming a fixture:
He wants to make sure Clara is always taken care of,” star Peter Capaldi says. “And he’s not really sure that Danny’s the right person to be doing that because of his past.”
Danny’s so lovable,” says Jenna Coleman. “He’s so laid-back. He’s a good counterpart to her uptight, control-freak nature. He brings her back to earth, literally and theoretically.”
“I thought, ‘That’s great; that’s easy money for me,'” [Samuel Anderson] says. “I’m the specialist at one-off roles. I texted Jenna when I got the job, and she texted back, ‘A-A-A-A-A-ugh, this is big,'” the actor says. “And I didn’t really know what she meant. Then she wrote, ‘I’ll call you in five minutes.’ And when she called, I heard just a big scream and ‘You’re in the whole story!'”
Coleman and Anderson co-starred together on the U.K. soap Emmerdale, so they’re pretty much BFF.
So, now we know it’ll eventually not be just one companion in the TARDIS. How does this strike everyone? A little too close to Mickey and Rory? I’m a little concerned about that. Need all of our female companions have romantic interests, be they the Doctor or another companion? Having not yet seen the character in action, I’ll reserve judgment but I thought maybe we didn’t need to go down this road again.
At any rate, we can see the first episode featuring Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink, “Into the Dalek,” this Saturday at 9/8c on BBC America.
Images: BBC
This was so hard to read. Can someone start proofreading these articles?
Moff like it when the Doctor has more than one companion.
I like when the Dr has a couple for his companions. I find it silly for the companion to be in love with him.
Danny Pink’s background as a troubled war veteran who has done something questionable in the past mirrors the Doctor’s own, as recently revealed. I hope that, rather than just a companion for a Companion, the writers will explore this a bit more, and the Doctor will see Danny as a counterpart to himself, where he sees Clara as his counterpoint. As if the Doctor is travelling with two consciences resting on his shoulders. I would hope that, like this episode with the good Dalek, the Doctor wonders whether he must help Danny come to terms with himself as a good man in order to do the same for himself.
I’m just like, there doesn’t ALWAYS need to be a male hottie involved for folks (read: young women) to watch Dr. Who. But I do appreciate the equal-opportunity pandering.
Actually, I for one would GLADLY watch an entire season of the Doc and someone like Donna’s gramps having adventures, like Grumpy Old Men in space (and time). Say, Ian McKellen being whatever the opposite of a spaceGandalf is, or Morgan Freeman, starring as himself; but NOTHING like Old Dogs or whatever old people nightmare movies he and Jack Nicholson insist on making all the time. Or two old biddies, like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, just trolling the Doctor nonstop.
I genuinely want this now.
Now that you’ve mentioned it, this will be my new wishful-thinking-companion-option. And it doesn’t even have to be someone as high profie as Ian McKellen or Judi Dench, there are sooooo many less popular British elder actors who would be amazing as companions!
I am curious as to what will happen when Clara decides to leave? I would rather there not be a romantic storyline between the two so, if popular, Danny remains post-Clara.
I agree! Would love a male companion or an older companion. Donna was my favorite because there was no sexual distraction, and she (the actress) actually could have made an excellent female Doctor Who… but that’s a whole different topic!
I’m thinking more Jamie or Adric, really. What can I say? And who said there’s a romance between Danny and Clara? They’re coworkers and friends as I read it. After all, the first two teachers didn’t actually have a romance that I recall. Oh! And this also could mean that Jennie’s coming and for a while at least she’ll be like Susan! Coming full circle in so many ways, it feels right to me.
Sooo, once again, we’re only given a male companion when he’s romantically connected to a female one? Was that necessary? I hope he’s more Mickey than Rory, in that the series won’t revert back to being focused around the romantic relationship. And I’m already excited about the tensions between him and the Doctor, hopefully they will be more complex than just whether he’s the right guy for Clara.
Man, the person who cast The History Boys must be feeling very pleased with themselves. James Corden, Russell Tovey, Dominic Cooper, Samuel Anderson have all hit it big. ( And Jamie Parker and Samuel Barnett are excellent onstage.). Whenever we see a British actor of a certain age and wonder where we know them from it’s usually The History Boys.
Is anyone else bothered that the romance between Clara and the Doctor is suddenly dead because he changed bodies? Talk about teaching kids superficiality…
Well, he more broke it off with her. And his personality completely changed as well. It’s not superficial if it’s his personality too!
There was a romance?
But yes I hope there is a “kiss” between the Doctor And Clara. It has now become Tradition that there is a kiss between the companion and the Doctor. Even Rory had a kiss . With Martha it was a Genetic Transfer so it does not have to be romantic. If there is no kiss then THAT is ageist.
“Has now become a tradition”? Sorry, but the “tradition” is no romance, certainly no kiss! The kiss is *breaking* tradition, and good riddance to it.
Rory and Mickey were fairly passive characters in the beginning whereas Danny sounds a little more alpha so I think it will be a different dynamic especially since the Doctor is more impatient and less tolerant now.
The Doctor will have issues with him being a soldier.
My guess is that Clara and Danny will eventually marry and leave in the Xmas episode.
This is great news. They haven’t had a tin dog on the show for so long.
I’m reserving judgement. To me, Mickey and Rory are world’s apart. Between the two of them everyone complained about a lack of male companions. I think the dynamic is different enough even if they are love interests.
I agree, Rory and Mickey have two things in common, they are male and they had a relationship with a female character on Doctor Who. That pretty much sums up their similarities. That’s not to say I liked one more than the other, but I really don’t think they are the “same.”
He’s background is that he was in the war (recent one I assume), so he could be a bit of a bad-ass!!