Bill Potts (Doctor Who)
Bill Potts is a fictional character created by Steven Moffat and portrayed by Pearl Mackie in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the show's tenth series, starting with the first episode, Bill served as a companion of the Twelfth Doctor, an incarnation of the alien time traveller known as the Doctor (portrayed by Peter Capaldi).
Bill Potts
"The Pilot" (2017)
"Twice Upon a Time" (2017)
Appearances[edit]
Television[edit]
Bill Potts is introduced in the tenth series premiere, "The Pilot".[1][2] In their first encounter, Bill is discovered by the Doctor, who is hiding out as a university professor. Noticing her untapped potential, he offers to privately tutor her. However, when Bill's love interest Heather (Stephanie Hyam) is turned into a water creature that can travel anywhere in space and time, the Doctor reveals to Bill his alien nature and takes her on as his travelling companion, much to the chagrin of his assistant Nardole (Matt Lucas), who urges the Doctor to stay in Bristol and keep watch over a strange safe below the university.
In subsequent episodes, Bill learns about the Doctor's Time Lord nature and the rules of time travel, averting alien invasions and ending conflicts on faraway planets and deep space, growing closer to the Doctor all the while. In the series finale, "World Enough and Time" / "The Doctor Falls", Bill is shot through the heart after the Doctor's crew reacts to an alien distress call aboard a spaceship, and is carried away by menacing scientists to a lower deck where time moves much more rapidly. Bill's life is saved, but ten years pass before the Doctor is able to reach her, during which time she is converted into a Cyberman. Though Cybermen are normally emotionless and hellbent on converting humans to their ranks, Bill retains her humanity and sense of identity as a result of particular experiences she has had travelling with the Doctor. When the Cybermen are defeated, Bill is entirely alone: the Doctor appears dead, Nardole has taken Mondasian refugees to safety, and she is a horrific monster. She is rescued, however, by Heather, who transforms her into a creature like herself and offers Bill the choice of travelling space and time together, or being returned to her life on Earth as a normal, living human again. Bill returns the Doctor's body to the TARDIS, and bids him a sad farewell, before taking off with Heather to explore the universe.
Mackie makes a final appearance in "Twice Upon a Time" as a living avatar of Bill's memories, collected on her death by the Testimony Project. Recognising herself as a continuation of Bill, she is delighted to see the Doctor again, and helps him on his journey to accept he must regenerate again.
In the 60th anniversary special story "The Giggle", The Toymaker depicts Bill as a marionette alongside Amy Pond and Clara Oswald, taunting the Fourteenth Doctor by reminding him of companions who died while travelling with him.[3]
Other media[edit]
In April 2017, three new novels were released, featuring new companions Nardole and Bill Potts. They are titled The Shining Man, Diamond Dogs and Plague City.[4] Before her premiere episode was broadcast, Bill made a cameo appearance in a Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, titled "The Daft Dimension", alongside Nardole in Issue #511 (May 2017).[5]
Paul Cornell's novelisation of "Twice Upon a Time" reveals more details about Bill's experiences following the events of "The Doctor Falls". It states that Bill and Heather explore the Milky Way together for a time, until Bill suggests they try being human again. As they spend time together on Earth – magicking up enough money to rent a flat and adopting cats – Bill grows to know and love Heather as a person. Years later, they decide to live by the sea and grow old as humans. On her deathbed, Bill tells Heather to leave her and resume her astral form. After accepting a human death, Bill finds herself part of Testimony. When it encounters the Doctor, Testimony temporarily restricts Bill's access to some of her memories so that she can interact with the Doctor as he knew her, to test his trustworthiness; this limitation is lifted at the end of the story.[6]
Reception[edit]
Before the episode was broadcast, an advance screening was given for critics. General reviews for Mackie's character were mixed. Following the broadcast of her first episode, the character was received more positively.
Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times described Pearl Mackie as "instantly winning as fledgling companion Bill".[18] Den of Geek's Simon Brew also gave a positive review of Mackie, praising the humour in Mackie's performance.[19] Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club said Mackie brought "an energy distinct from any previous new series companion" and called her first appearance a "solid introduction". Wilkins also commented, "that she is gay, black, and working class is another welcome step in Doctor Who's ability to reflect the entire spectrum of [those] who enjoy the show and identify with its characters".[20]
However, Catherine Gee of The Telegraph gave a more negative review, saying that Mackie in her premiere episode "lacked the charismatic spark of Jenna Coleman" and that Mackie's character was a "muddle", but praised the fact that Bill was not middle-class.[21]