Bring Back… Jenny, the Doctor’s Daughter

Guest contributor Liam Catterson on why the original Jenny should return.

One of the most missed characters I would love to see return on Doctor Who would be the Doctor’s own daughter, Jenny. When I watched 2008’s The Doctor’s Daughter, I loved the interaction between David Tennant and his soon to be wife, Georgia Moffett. Funny isn’t it? Anyways I should talk about that another day. Today, I am talking about why now is the right time for Jenny to come back with Capaldi’s era on the horizon. I am going to explain my reasons why Jenny should come back in Series 8 or hopefully in future series.

Déjà Who

It seems like the upcoming run will feature the Doctor and not one, not two but possibly three companions. Now that is not only reason for a sense of familiarity, we also have two of these characters – Clara and Danny Pink – working at Coal Hill School. Now I wonder what era that reminds me of. Not only that, but this is the first incarnation on the new cycle of regenerations for the Doctor and Peter Capaldi’s first on-screen appearance was at the age of 55, the same age William Hartnell first appeared on the show. Now I don’t have a problem with actress Ellis George playing a potential third companion named Courtney, but I feel Jenny would have tied in so much better. Instead of Jenny being the Doctor’s granddaughter, she is the child of the Doctor, so we would have two teachers, an older Doctor and a relative of the Doctor. Maybe it will happen in Series 9 should Clara stick around for more Who. I very much doubt it but we’ll just have to wait and see. For me though, this would be a nice reference to the classics.

Moffat SAVED Jenny

So initially, Russell T Davies didn’t propose having Jenny brought back to life. In the original script, Jenny was to be shot and die. No revival, nothing. However, it was Steven Moffat who suggested the character come back to life at the end. Now, my question is, if Moffat really wanted her alive, why hasn’t he brought her back? I am sure that question is rattling on everyone’s minds as of this second. Being the genius he is, Moffat might not want her back for him but for his successor. However, I do feel that with Moffat, we’d have more of a chance for Jenny to make a comeback since he insisted on saving her. Moffat said last year that the door is indeed still open for Jenny to come back, so I guess this is down to Georgia Moffett herself. Yeah it gets a bit puzzling here, to see if she wants to return as Jenny, but I will clarify why that might be a problem further on. If Jenny is roaming the universe and trying to emulate her father’s legacy by saving universes, one would assume they would potentially cross paths and be reintroduced in a big ball of emotion, what with the Doctor assuming she was dead. But the question would be, how would Jenny react to the Doctor in his new incarnation?

The Right Doctor

I wouldn’t imagine the Eleventh Doctor and Jenny would have made for a great father/daughter relationship as they would seem more like a brother and sister. Jenny was someone who looks to be in her 20s and Eleven looked a similar age too. People could say the same about Tennant but his face looked like one that could get away with this more being slightly older, Matt Smith’s did not. So with Capaldi filling in the shoes as the Doctor now we have someone more mature and fatherly. What kind of relationship could we expect from the 12th Doctor and Jenny? Probably a stricter and serious relationship, one that would probably be similar to the Doctor in the Doctor’s Daughter but since we’re getting someone who is supposedly ‘fierce’, the level of intensity could be raised a notch. So if Capaldi is bringing back the more severe personality of the Doctor, the chance to return is there. A suitable age gap with a bit more of a mature attitude for the Doctor. It would possibly work very well, wouldn’t you agree?

Regeneration

Why regeneration? I say this is because I found out that Georgia Moffett is not really an actress anymore. She has instead been pursuing screenwriting, so we may require a new actress. So can the character regenerate? We don’t know. In the TV Movie, Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor was shot by a Chinese gang and taken to hospital. However, he didn’t die because of the gunshots, but rather the operation to remove them. The medical staff were not aware of the Doctor’s different biology and Grace was the one who actually caused the regeneration. Jenny has two hearts and she did appear to die from the wounds, however she was later revived by The Source. Whether or not she possesses the ability to regenerate is therefore unclear as of this point. One would assume she could if she was fully cloned from the Doctor and since this was the Tenth, maybe she has only two regenerations in her and not the thirteen because she was not born as a natural Time Lord but rather, was born from a piece of tissue from the Doctor. Maybe that question will be answered or maybe it never will. Maybe Jenny won’t come back and if so, I’ll be distraught but I hope the chance for Jenny to come back emerges. We’ll have to see what the future holds for us.

Conclusion

Personally I love Jenny. She is a character I’m desperate to have back on Doctor Who because how she was used was excellent to me. Others may have a different opinion about her but I was happy when she was revived. Heck, a part of me wanted to see the Doctor shoot General Cobb but that would be very out of character and dark for the Doctor and for Doctor Who in general. But since I am wrapping things to a close, I would like to hear your opinions and if you have any more reasons on why Jenny should come back. I would be grateful to hear from you and alternatively, you can give your view on why she should NOT come back. As of now, hope you had fun reading.