ESEAs of Doctor Who - Bel

What the Flux , we have a winner

She beats up Sontarans, Cybermen, Luparis and is into stealing spacecrafts. She outruns Daleks and the Azure. And she is the most formidable pregnant mum and wife you will ever find in sci fi.

If ever there was a universe of the coolest DW characters, Bel would be amongst the elite.

Introduced to us in Thirteenth’s Flux, Bel played by the fantastic Thaddea Graham was a force to be reckoned with. Praise goes to Chibnall for bringing this one woman army and tracker to our screen, which took us on a tour of a bleak world in the Flux where enemies of the doctor dominated the galaxy. It was the season that may have been a better option to start the 13th era — the storyline was impressive and the plot just kept giving and giving. And it had Karvanista. It’s difficult not to adore our armoured giant and grumpy terrier.

Bel’s story was very simple. She was on a search party determined to find her husband, Vinder, played by the one and only Jacob Anderson. She always made it clear that Love was worth fighting for. Their’s was a romance story of missed moments but our couple got there in the end, which the audience needed considering how grim Flux was at certain points. Let’s also not forget the conversations on DW forums, alluding the Doctor’s parentage to Bel and Vinder which had a varied reaction within the Whovian community. Also this was one of the very few global majority mixed race relationships onscreen and makes a number in said relationships feel seen as we hardly get any coverage. To top it off, Bel was the first Irish Chinese character on Doctor Who, and Graham spoke in her Irish accent which I find a Godsend, as ESEAs with regional accents hardly appear on TV and this contributes hugely to our limited portrayal.

Bel had the markings of a great companion for the Doctor and there’s absolutely still time to make this happen. There is no reason why she and Vinder shouldn’t be in the Tardis, occasionally leaving the Doctor to babysit while she and hubster hijack a ship from Skaro or hack the Sontaran network. Much of the universe can be saved by Bel and family and we need to see this N O W.