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Sam Jones (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
Samantha Angeline Jones, or simply Sam, is a fictional character
in the Eighth Doctor Adventures
novels based upon the British
science fiction
television series Doctor Who
. The Eighth Doctor
first met her in the novel The Eight Doctors
by Terrance Dicks
, and she went on to become one of his companions
. The canonicity of the novels with respect to the television series, like other Doctor Who spin-offs
, is open to interpretation.
, the same school the First Doctor
's granddaughter Susan
attended in 1963. She is described as being thin and wiry, with blue eyes and close-cropped blonde hair. She is a clean-living person, not drinking or taking drugs, and a vegetarian. She is also a supporter of Greenpeace
and gay rights. In The Eight Doctors the Doctor rescues her from drug dealers, after which she travels with him for many adventures. The novel Seeing I
is deliberately ambiguous as to the possibility that Sam is bisexual
.
Alien Bodies
by Lawrence Miles
introduces the idea of "Dark Sam". It is revealed that Sam has two sets of biodata — the information that defines a person's personal history. One set, "Blonde Sam", is the one who travels with the Doctor. The other, "Dark Sam", never travelled with the Doctor and became a drug user.
The four novels Longest Day
by Michael Collier
, Legacy of the Daleks
by John Peel
, Dreamstone Moon
by Paul Leonard
and Seeing I by Jonathan Blum
and Kate Orman
form a story arc. Initially, Sam flees from the Doctor after she finds herself kissing him passionately when giving him CPR
and the two became separated. Although the Doctor eventually tracks her down, he is arrested and imprisoned for espionage
. After three years, Sam discovers the Doctor's imprisonment and helps him to escape, realising that her relationship with the Doctor will never be anything other than platonic
.
In The Janus Conjunction
by Trevor Baxendale
, Sam dies when she becomes poisoned by radiation on the planet Janus Prime. The Doctor puts the TARDIS
into a temporal orbit, devises a serum, then returns to a time before she dies and administers the serum. In The Taint
by Michael Collier, Sam and the Doctor meet Fitz Kreiner
. In the same story, Sam also survives having an alien leech implanted in her head by a robot called Azoth, who notes Sam's special DNA
, due to the Blonde Sam/Dark Sam duality. The Dark Sam storyline reaches its conclusion in Unnatural History
by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman.
When the Doctor, Sam and Fitz travel to San Francisco in the year 2002, they find a dimensional scar, a remnant of the events in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie
. When Sam is drawn into the rift, the Doctor seeks out Dark Sam, whom he finds living in a London bedsit
. He brings her to San Francisco, but Dark Sam realises what the Doctor's plan is — if she were to fall into the rift, Blonde Sam can be restored.
When the Doctor is trapped by an extradimensional entity, Griffin the Unnaturalist, Dark Sam saves him by sacrificing herself to the rift, restoring Blonde Sam. One of Griffin's specimens, a Faction Paradox
agent, reveals that Blonde Sam was created when Dark Sam touched the Doctor's biodata in the rift, causing a paradox and thus playing into the Faction's hands. During this novel, Dark Sam also has sex with Fitz, even though Blonde Sam had shown no interest in him. Dark Sam also flirts with and kisses the Doctor, but without his interest.
Sam finally departs the TARDIS after the events of the two-novel story Interference
by Lawrence Miles
, staying hidden in 1996 with the Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith
until her younger self first leaves with the Doctor. In a possible future glimpsed in Interference, Sam lives to a ripe old age, although the Doctor is evasive about her destiny in the novel The Bodysnatchers
by Mark Morris
.
Eventually, Sam becomes a political activist is shot and killed in 2002 in the novel Sometime Never...
by Justin Richards
when a group called the Council of Eight eliminates the Doctor's previous companions from the timeline. Although the Council is defeated and several companions are restored to history, the Doctor finds what appears to be Sam's grave in a London
churchyard in 2005 during the last Eighth Doctor Adventures novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles
by Lance Parkin
.
However, the grave is bait for a trap for the Doctor, and the name on the grave is "Samantha Lynn Jones", a name used briefly by an alternative version of Dark Sam seen in Unnatural History. Accordingly, the grave's authenticity, and Sam's ultimate fate, becomes open to question. Jonathan Blum theorised that perhaps the Council undid the event that turned Dark Sam into Blonde Sam and then arranged for Dark Sam to die instead. However, although referencing Blum's theory in another forum
post , Parkin notes in his Doctor Who chronology book AHistory that, despite the reversing of several of the Council's actions, it is "clear that Sam died in 2002 and 'stayed dead'."
audio play
Minuet in Hell
(2001), a litany of the Doctor's previous companions includes the name "Sam". At the time, fans believed that this was an intentional reference to Sam Jones and therefore placed the books and the audios in the same continuity. However, producer Gary Russell
in the behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who - The New Audio Adventures later denied that "Sam" referred to Sam Jones.
The 2005 play Terror Firma
introduces two previously unknown companions for the Eighth Doctor, a brother and sister pair named Samson and Gemma Griffin. This now provides the possibility that "Sam" was a reference to Samson, although the Doctor never calls Samson this to his face.
The description of an unnamed character that appears in the short story Repercussions by Gary Russell
(in the Big Finish-published anthology Short Trips: Repercussions
) resembles Sam. This character is a passenger on board an airship travelling through the time vortex
that is carrying various people whom the Doctor had placed there to stop them from being a danger to the Web of Time. If that was Sam, it may indicate that, as far as the Big Finish continuity is concerned, she was written out of history.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Eighth Doctor Adventures
Eighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall...
novels based upon the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. The Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
first met her in the novel The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Terrance Dicks and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures range and features the Eighth Doctor and introduces his new companion, Sam Jones.The novel...
by Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
, and she went on to become one of his companions
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
. The canonicity of the novels with respect to the television series, like other Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
, is open to interpretation.
Character history
Sam is born on April 15, 1980, making her 16 years old when she first meets the Eighth Doctor in 1997. She attends Coal Hill SchoolCoal Hill School
Coal Hill School is a fictional school in the television series Doctor Who. It is a comprehensive school located in the Shoreditch area of London....
, the same school the First Doctor
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
's granddaughter Susan
Susan Foreman
Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter and original companion of the First Doctor, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season...
attended in 1963. She is described as being thin and wiry, with blue eyes and close-cropped blonde hair. She is a clean-living person, not drinking or taking drugs, and a vegetarian. She is also a supporter of Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
and gay rights. In The Eight Doctors the Doctor rescues her from drug dealers, after which she travels with him for many adventures. The novel Seeing I
Seeing I
Seeing I is an original novel written by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
is deliberately ambiguous as to the possibility that Sam is bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
.
Alien Bodies
Alien Bodies
Alien Bodies is an original novel written by Lawrence Miles and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor and Sam. This story marks the first appearance of Faction Paradox, a time travelling Gallifreyan voodoo cult...
by Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles is a science fiction author known for his work on original Doctor Who novels and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox...
introduces the idea of "Dark Sam". It is revealed that Sam has two sets of biodata — the information that defines a person's personal history. One set, "Blonde Sam", is the one who travels with the Doctor. The other, "Dark Sam", never travelled with the Doctor and became a drug user.
The four novels Longest Day
Longest Day
Longest Day is an original novel written by Michael Collier and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Michael Collier
Michael Collier (author)
Michael Collier is the author of the Doctor Who novels Longest Day and The Taint, both in the BBC's Eighth Doctor Adventures series, and of the short story "Vigil" on the Doctor Who audio release Out of the Darkness.-External links:...
, Legacy of the Daleks
Legacy of the Daleks
Legacy of the Daleks is an original novel written by John Peel and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by John Peel
John Peel (writer)
John Peel is a British writer, best known for his books connected to several television series. He has written under several pseudonyms, including John Vincent and Nicholas Adams. He lives in Long Island, New York and his wife is a U.S...
, Dreamstone Moon
Dreamstone Moon
Dreamstone Moon is an original novel written by Paul Leonard and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor and Sam.-Blurb:...
by Paul Leonard
Paul Leonard (writer)
Paul J. Leonard Hinder, better known by his pseudonym of Paul Leonard and also originally published as PJL Hinder, is an author best known for his work on various spin-off fiction based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.Leonard has acknowledged a debt to his...
and Seeing I by Jonathan Blum
Jonathan Blum
Jonathan Blum is an American writer most known for his work for various Doctor Who spin-offs, usually with his wife Kate Orman although he has also been published on his own...
and Kate Orman
Kate Orman
Kate Orman is an Australian author, best known for her books connected to the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who.-Biography:...
form a story arc. Initially, Sam flees from the Doctor after she finds herself kissing him passionately when giving him CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure which is performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest. It is indicated in those who are unresponsive...
and the two became separated. Although the Doctor eventually tracks her down, he is arrested and imprisoned for espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. After three years, Sam discovers the Doctor's imprisonment and helps him to escape, realising that her relationship with the Doctor will never be anything other than platonic
Platonic love
Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...
.
In The Janus Conjunction
The Janus Conjunction
The Janus Conjunction is an original novel written by Trevor Baxendale and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor and Sam.-Blurb:...
by Trevor Baxendale
Trevor Baxendale
Trevor Baxendale is a novelist who has penned several Doctor Who tie-in novels and audio dramas.*The Janus Conjunction *Out of the Darkness *Coldheart *Eater of Wasps *Fear of the Dark...
, Sam dies when she becomes poisoned by radiation on the planet Janus Prime. The Doctor puts the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
into a temporal orbit, devises a serum, then returns to a time before she dies and administers the serum. In The Taint
The Taint
The Taint is an original novel written by Michael Collier and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The work features the Eighth Doctor and Sam. This also marks the introduction of a new companion, Fitz Kreiner.-External links:*-Reviews:*...
by Michael Collier, Sam and the Doctor meet Fitz Kreiner
Fitz Kreiner
Fitzgerald Michael Kreiner, or simply Fitz, is a fictional character in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels based upon the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. The Eighth Doctor first met him in the novel The Taint by Michael Collier — the character was co-created by Stephen Cole...
. In the same story, Sam also survives having an alien leech implanted in her head by a robot called Azoth, who notes Sam's special DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
, due to the Blonde Sam/Dark Sam duality. The Dark Sam storyline reaches its conclusion in Unnatural History
Unnatural History (Doctor Who)
Unnatural History is an original novel written by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman.
When the Doctor, Sam and Fitz travel to San Francisco in the year 2002, they find a dimensional scar, a remnant of the events in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie
Doctor Who (1996)
Doctor Who is a television movie based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Developed as a co-production amongst Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the American network FOX, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton,...
. When Sam is drawn into the rift, the Doctor seeks out Dark Sam, whom he finds living in a London bedsit
Bedsit
A bedsit, also known as a bed-sitting room, is a form of rented accommodation common in Great Britain and Ireland consisting of a single room and shared bathroom; they are part of a legal category of dwellings referred to as Houses in multiple occupation....
. He brings her to San Francisco, but Dark Sam realises what the Doctor's plan is — if she were to fall into the rift, Blonde Sam can be restored.
When the Doctor is trapped by an extradimensional entity, Griffin the Unnaturalist, Dark Sam saves him by sacrificing herself to the rift, restoring Blonde Sam. One of Griffin's specimens, a Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox is a fictional time travelling cult/rebel group/organized crime syndicate, originally created by the author Lawrence Miles. The Faction's belief-system as portrayed has some similarities to voodoo, and is sometimes described as such...
agent, reveals that Blonde Sam was created when Dark Sam touched the Doctor's biodata in the rift, causing a paradox and thus playing into the Faction's hands. During this novel, Dark Sam also has sex with Fitz, even though Blonde Sam had shown no interest in him. Dark Sam also flirts with and kisses the Doctor, but without his interest.
Sam finally departs the TARDIS after the events of the two-novel story Interference
Interference: Book One
Interference: Book One is an original novel written by Lawrence Miles and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles is a science fiction author known for his work on original Doctor Who novels and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox...
, staying hidden in 1996 with the Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....
until her younger self first leaves with the Doctor. In a possible future glimpsed in Interference, Sam lives to a ripe old age, although the Doctor is evasive about her destiny in the novel The Bodysnatchers
The Bodysnatchers (Doctor Who)
The Bodysnatchers is an original novel written by Mark Morris and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Mark Morris
Mark Morris (writer)
Mark Morris is an author known for his series of horror novels, although he has also written two novels based on the BBC Television series Doctor Who. He currently lives in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, with his wife . He has used the pseudonym J. M...
.
Eventually, Sam becomes a political activist is shot and killed in 2002 in the novel Sometime Never...
Sometime Never...
Sometime Never... is a BBC Books original novel written by Justin Richards and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Justin Richards
Justin Richards
Justin Richards is a British writer. He has written science fiction and fantasy novels, including series set in Victorian or early-20th-century London, and also adventure stories set in the present day...
when a group called the Council of Eight eliminates the Doctor's previous companions from the timeline. Although the Council is defeated and several companions are restored to history, the Doctor finds what appears to be Sam's grave in a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
churchyard in 2005 during the last Eighth Doctor Adventures novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles
The Gallifrey Chronicles (2005 novel)
For the John Peel book of the same name, see: The Gallifrey Chronicles The Gallifrey Chronicles is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular Doctor Who and Emmerdale...
.
However, the grave is bait for a trap for the Doctor, and the name on the grave is "Samantha Lynn Jones", a name used briefly by an alternative version of Dark Sam seen in Unnatural History. Accordingly, the grave's authenticity, and Sam's ultimate fate, becomes open to question. Jonathan Blum theorised that perhaps the Council undid the event that turned Dark Sam into Blonde Sam and then arranged for Dark Sam to die instead. However, although referencing Blum's theory in another forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
post , Parkin notes in his Doctor Who chronology book AHistory that, despite the reversing of several of the Council's actions, it is "clear that Sam died in 2002 and 'stayed dead'."
Other appearances
In the Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio play
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
Minuet in Hell
Minuet in Hell
Minuet in Hell is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Unlike the other Eighth Doctor audio plays from this "season", Minuet in Hell was not broadcast on BBC 7 in 2005, primarily due to story references that were...
(2001), a litany of the Doctor's previous companions includes the name "Sam". At the time, fans believed that this was an intentional reference to Sam Jones and therefore placed the books and the audios in the same continuity. However, producer Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
in the behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who - The New Audio Adventures later denied that "Sam" referred to Sam Jones.
The 2005 play Terror Firma
Terror Firma
Terror Firma is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The story follows on directly from the previous Eighth Doctor audio drama The Next Life and flashes back to scenes that takes place before the first Eighth Doctor...
introduces two previously unknown companions for the Eighth Doctor, a brother and sister pair named Samson and Gemma Griffin. This now provides the possibility that "Sam" was a reference to Samson, although the Doctor never calls Samson this to his face.
The description of an unnamed character that appears in the short story Repercussions by Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
(in the Big Finish-published anthology Short Trips: Repercussions
Short Trips: Repercussions
Short Trips: Repercussions is a Big Finish original anthology edited by Gary Russell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The collection explores the theme of unforeseen consequences.-Stories:...
) resembles Sam. This character is a passenger on board an airship travelling through the time vortex
Time vortex (Doctor Who)
In the science fiction television series Doctor Who, the time vortex is the medium that the TARDIS and other time machines travel through...
that is carrying various people whom the Doctor had placed there to stop them from being a danger to the Web of Time. If that was Sam, it may indicate that, as far as the Big Finish continuity is concerned, she was written out of history.