Why I Love Martha Jones
Mark McCullough celebrates Freema Agyeman’s companion.
Back in 2007 Doctor Who returned for its third series of the revival, however things were different this time. For many fans this would be the first time they watched the show without Rose. Naturally this left a gap, and the woman tasked with filling it was the wonderful Freema Agyeman. This is a rather unusual way to celebrate a character, however I feel it is something that need established from the off. Rose’s boots were big ones to fill, and sadly both narratively and in the eyes of the fandom, Martha struggles to emerge from beneath Rose’s shadow. For me this is a real pity as she was undoubtedly one of the greatest characters the show has produced.
“What people call you the Doctor?” “Yeah” “Well, I’m not. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve got to earn that title.”
We actually learn an awful lot about Martha from the first few minutes of Smith and Jones. In the opening scenes, we see her juggle her complex family life. Rather adorably she tries to keep everyone pleased despite that being impossible. This is a perfect example of her kind hearted nature, desire to avoid conflict and determination to protect those she cares about most. WE get another insight into her personality as the hospital is taken to the moon. Whilst we see the patients and staff overcome with panic and devolving into weeping messes, Martha is filled with awe. She immediately tries to take leadership and help others and immediately puts her mind at work to figure out what is happening. What this means is that by the time the Doctor meets her properly, we already know she had what it takes to be a companion.
“Just one trip to say thanks. You get one trip, then back home. I’d rather be on my own.”
Despite Martha’s ability to prove herself worth of a spot aboard the TARDIS, she doesn’t actually get a permanent one by the end of her first episode. Instead she is promised one trip as a thank-you for her contribution in saving Earth. Perhaps even more insulting is the fact that she doesn’t get to choose for herself where they go. As it transpired Elizabethan England was their location for an encounter with Shakespeare himself. Again early in the episode Martha shows her defining characters of always thinking about others first and her unique adaptability to the situation. Where most people would be filled with awe, she immediately focuses on how the situation could harm others. Her personality leaves the audience begging for the Doctor to take her on, on a more permanent basis.
“I don’t want to be just a passenger anymore. Someone you take along for a treat. If that’s how you still see me, I’d rather stay here.”
In fact this doesn’t happen until The Lazarus Experiment’s final scene where Martha tells the Doctor that she has had enough of being second best and is only going to continue to travel with him if it is on her terms. Thankfully he agreed and we got more Martha. Prior to this the Doctor had been dragging out the one trip idea, offering her one to the future as she had already seen the past and then an unexplained trip to New York. Eventually the Doctor did take her home and had actually left her, if it had not been for Professor Lazarus attracting his attention enough to make him come back, who knows what would have happened to Martha Jones. Thankfully he did, and by the episode’s denouement, we finally had Martha on the TARDIS on a permanent basis.
Her first trip as a proper companion involved the Doctor taking her to a spaceship mining a sun, were naturally her life ends up in danger. 42 was a highly enjoyable episode, but I’ve decided to mention it for another reason, again it demonstrates Martha’s exceptional selflessness. When faced with imminent death, instead of wallowing in self-pity, she thinks of her family and the fact that they will never know what happened to her. This is in fact one of my favourite characteristics she displays.
“My name isn’t important. There’s someone else. The man who sent me out there. The man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor.”
Another interesting thing about 42 is the fact that it is the only televised story where Martha is a full time solo companion. Before you ask what sort of drugs I have been taking, look at it logically. Up until this point she was only a guest on the TARDIS. In the immediate next episode the Doctor has made himself human so the Doctor-companion dynamic is compromised due to the absence of the Doctor. Then in the following episode both her and the Doctor are taken out of the bulk of the narrative in the hugely successful Blink. The series then concludes with a three-part story and the re-addition of Jack to the team. My point is that Martha’s time in the TARDIS was short lived anyway given she only had one series, but it was shorter than most would think. In retrospect she was probably the companion who spent the least time with the Doctor, particularly as the narrative always seemed to separate the two, (as per Gridlock, Evolution of the Daleks, 42, and Human Nature/The Family of Blood.) Perhaps it would not be too much of a stretch to suggest that the reason for this was that Martha was his intellectual and emotional equal and didn’t need as much attention as his previous companion.
“Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex. This one’s useless”
Speaking of Rose, even the Master points out the fact that Martha will always be second best to her in the eyes of the Doctor. As the above quote shows, he too dismisses Martha’s values, but ultimately ends up falling to what she had accomplished in the year that never was. Again, her action whilst simplistic epitomise all that is good about her character. The ability to inspire others, the intelligence to know when someone is not what they seem, and the courage to do what has to be done. As it happens all of these are some of the qualities that will make her an excellent doctor. It is ironic that Series Three presents Martha as a better doctor than the Doctor himself.
“Yes. Because he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him. Years of her life. Because while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said, get out. So this is me, getting out.”
Martha’s exit came as a shock to me, after seeing her survive the events of the year that never was, it was the last thing I expected. Granted I was pretty annoyed at the time, but now I can see that it was the perfect ending for the character. Recently I have also come to realise that it was directly foreshadowed by the final moments of The Lazarus Experiment. Once again Martha is unhappy at how the Doctor is treating her, and once again she points it out to him. Personally I think she really wanted to stay, but unlike in the first instance the Doctor refuses to change his stance. This leaves Martha with a decision to be true to herself and give him up for her own good. It is an ending which brings her character full circle, but the real beauty of it was that it left her open to a return.
“Doctor it’s Martha, and I’m bringing you back to Earth”
Her return came about a lot sooner than expected as she returned for another Helen Raynor two-part story. There has been a lot of change in Martha’s life since we last saw her, as she is now fully qualified and working for UNIT. However some things never change as she is once again separated from the Doctor and replaced by a clone. We also learn that her decision to stop chasing the Doctor paid off as she seems to have a man who makes her just as happy. What was Davies thinking undoing this to pair her up with Mickey? Following the Sontaran incursion, Martha stayed for one more story before making another return in the Series 4 finale. This wasn’t even the end for her as she made one further cameo in the main show and featured heavily in the second series of Torchwood.
Conclusion – “Oh, do you think? Bones of the hand. Carpal bones, proximal row. Scaphoid, lunate, triquetal, pisiform. Distal row. Trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metacarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges. Proximal, middle, distal.”
Martha is undoubtedly one of my favourite companions, partly because of how well written she was, and party due to how relatable to me she is. Without question though, the best aspect is how Freema Agyeman wonderfully brings her to life, making Martha one of the most believable characters of the revival. So now seems like a perfect opportunity to wish her a very happy birthday and to congratulate her on a wonderful character. I’d honestly have Martha back in a heartbeat and hope to one day see Freema bring her back to our screens. Maybe now Martha is a fully qualified Doctor, she’ll know the Carpal Bones are the wrist, not the hand? Who knows?
