Melanie "Mel" Bush is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A computer programmer from the 20th century who is a companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1986 to 1987. Mel appeared in six stories (20 episodes), and is the penultimate companion of the classic series.
Character biography
Mel first appears in the serial Terror of the Vervoids, part of the 14-part story The Trial of a Time Lord. At this point, she and the Sixth Doctor have been travelling together for some time. The events of Vervoids are shown as part of a Matrix projection of future events being shown by the Sixth Doctor to the court, so, from his point of view, he is seeing an adventure he will have with Mel even before he meets her in his own timeline. She is subsequently summoned to the courtroom herself. At the end of Trial, the Sixth Doctor leaves with this future Mel, intending to return her to her correct time. (This scenario is portrayed by The Trial of a Time Lord screenwriters Pip and Jane Baker in their novelisation of the final segment of that season, The Ultimate Foe.)
Mel is at present the only one of the Doctor's companions never to have her actual first adventure with the Doctor chronicled on screen. Series producer John Nathan-Turner indicated his intent to chronicle this adventure in Season 24, which would have followed Trial of a Time Lord. However, the subsequent departure of lead actor Colin Baker prior to production of the new season made this impossible.
Mel is a computer programmer from the 20th century who originates from the village of Pease Pottage in West Sussex, England. She has an eidetic memory, and a cheery, almost perky personality. She greets most situations with a warm smile and good humour, and is an optimist whose views extend to believing the best of people's natures, but can also scream with the best of them. She is a health enthusiast and a vegetarian, often encouraging the slightly portly Sixth Doctor to exercise more and drink carrot juice. She is present (albeit unconscious at the time) when the Sixth Doctor regenerates into his seventh incarnation, and continues to travel with him. In the serial Dragonfire, she reunites with the galactic confidence trickster, Sabalom Glitz, whom she met in The Trial of a Time Lord and decides to travel with him aboard the Nosferatu II, leaving the Seventh Doctor with new companion Ace.
Langford reprised her role as Mel in the 2022 special, "The Power of the Doctor", alongside several other former companions who have gathered together as a support group to talk of their experiences with the Doctor. In October 2023, it was revealed that Langford would appear in the 60th anniversary specials alongside David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor. This followed on from an announcement in June 2023 when it was announced that she would return again to the role in 2024 in the fourteenth series alongside Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor.