Doctor Who's latest episode brought back one of the series' original stars, breaking a major record 62 years after her debut. Despite only just becoming a Disney+ original in recent years, the British sci-fi mainstay has been running for over six decades. Recent seasons have brought back many familiar heroes and villains from various eras opposite Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor, including '80s companion Mel Bush, ancient villain Sutekh, and, most recently, the Fugitive Doctor.
Doctor Who Season 2, Episode 6, "The Interstellar Song Contest," delivered one of the series' biggest shocks in years as Carole Ann Ford returned as Susan Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter and first-ever companion. In her return, the British star stole the record for the longest tenure on the sci-fi series.
The classic Doctor Who star comes to Ncuti Gatwa's Time Lord in a series of visions (more on what they mean later) where she looks to be inside his TARDIS while the chaos of "The Interstellar Song Contest" unfolds.
Ford was just 23 when she boarded Doctor Who and she is now reprising the role at 84, giving her a record-breaking tenure of almost 62 years on the sci-fi series, beating out the previous holder's just under 59-year run.
The record was previously held by William Russell, who similarly debuted in the 1963 series premiere, "An Unearthly Child," as Ian Chesterton. Introduced as one of Susan's school teachers who discovered her alien origins and joined her and the Doctor on their travels, Russell reprised Chesterton briefly in 2022.
The O.G. TARDIS traveler returned in "The Power of the Doctor" for a cameo as a member of a support group of the Doctor's former companions. The elderly companion was left stunned by the notion of a female Doctor after John Bishop's Dan mentioned Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor, saying, "Sorry, did you say her?"
Sadly, Russell passed away in June 2024, almost two years after his Doctor Who comeback, leaving Ford as the last surviving cast member from the pilot.
Since departing Doctor Who with "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" in 1964, Ford has only reprised Susan twice. She returned to play The Doctor's granddaughter in 1983's "The Five Doctors" and once again for the show's 30th anniversary in 1993 with "Dimensions in Time," an absurd crossover with the British soap Eastenders.
Who Is Carole Ann Ford's Susan in Doctor Who?
When Doctor Who began in 1963 with "An Unearthly Child," Susan Foreman was attending Cole Hill School as any other child. At least that was until her teachers, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, followed her home to the junkyard she was living at with her grandfather, The Doctor, inside the TARDIS.
Despite being The Doctor's granddaughter, the show never introduced Susan's parents nor grandmother, meaning her origins are still shrouded in mystery.
It was seemingly alongside Susan that The Doctor stole his TARDIS from Gallifrey, kickstarting a lifetime of adventures across time and space.
The Doctor hasn't seen Susan since he was played by William Hartnell in 1964, making her last regular appearance in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth."
While fending off the Dalek occupation of 22nd-century Earth, Susan met the freedom fighter David Campbell and quickly fell in love. David would propose to Susan later in the story but she was left torn between him and her grandfather.
That decision was ultimately forced upon her when The Doctor double-locked the TARDIS and told her "your future lies with David," dematerializing from the far-future Earth never to return and reunite with Susan (perhaps until now).
Doctor Who's 'Find Me' Tease Explained: Will Susan Return Again?
Fans were first stunned by Carole Ann Ford's Susan after The Doctor was jettisoned from the Intergalactic Song Contest stadium and appeared to be on the verge of death as he froze up from the cold of space.
It was here that the Time Lord hero was met with a vision of his granddaughter in his TARDIS telling him, "Go back" and "Find me:"
SUSAN: "Go back. Go back. Grandfather, go back. Find me."
Next week's Doctor Who episode, "Wish World," will be the first of the two-part Season 2 finale, to be followed the next week in "The Reality War." As the British sci-fi series has long been known for its blockbuster finales with grand reveals and action spectacles, this year ought to be no different.
Susan's pleas for The Doctor to "Find me" may well be answered, finally reuniting the grandfather-granddaughter duo for the first time in decades. But what's tougher to tell is how Susan's return would play into the show's bigger mystery regarding the newly revealed Rani and the imminent destruction of Earth.
Teasing "The Reality War" on the Doctor Who site, showrunner Russell T. Davies hinted at the TARDIS crew being in turmoil as "the Unholy Trinity rule supreme," and one has to wonder if Susan may be the key to stopping it all:
“The Doctor is doomed, Belinda is lost, Ruby is trapped, UNIT is powerless, the Unholy Trinity rule supreme and the Underverse is rising."
Read more about the "titanic" finale in The Direct's exclusive interivew with Russell T. Davies, where he also debunked one theory about Belinda Chandra.
The Doctor previously thought he was close to reuniting with his granddaughter last season in "The Legend of Ruby Sunday." When the mysterious Susan Triad started popping up everywhere he went, he quickly made the connection to his granddaughter, only to discover the two were unrelated.
Interestingly, actress Susan Twist will reprise Susan Triad in the two-part finale, so perhaps they may be connected after all. The Doctor's people are famous for their ability to regenerate and Susan has, so far, only had one body, meaning she could be in for a new face after Carole Ann Ford spends some time back in the spotlight.
The Doctor caught more visions of Susan in the TARDIS throughout "The Interstellar Song Contest," most notably in the episode's climax. As The Doctor took things too far in torturing Kid, the young Hellian plotting genocide against three trillion song contest viewers, she pleaded with him, "Stop. Grandfather."
Ultimately, explaining his torturous actions to Belinda, The Doctor revealed that Kid's genocidal plan "triggered [him]" after his own people, the Time Lords, were similarly wiped out in an instant. Here he caught on last "image" of Susan going through a door in the TARDIS but dismissed it, saying, "It can't be:"
"I scared myself. The death of three trillion people triggered me. It made me think of my home planet. 'Cause they all died, in a single second. Every last Time Lord. But I got this image... It can't be."
There's no doubt it won't be long before The Doctor discovers, as he often does, that it absolutely can be as Ncuti Gatwa and Carole Ann Ford finally come face to face, most likely in "Wish World" or "The Reality War."
In terms of how Susan could convey these messages to her grandfather, Time Lords have been known to form telepathic links for communication, so this may be her way of calling out to him, either in a desperate plea or to help him.
After "The Reality War" premieres on Friday, May 31, the Whoniverse will next return in The War Between the Land and the Sea, a UNIT-centric spin-off that will be more mature than Doctor Who and introduce new characters.
