Craig Owens

Craig Owens
Place of origin:	Earth
Appearances:	DW: The Lodger
Main actor:	[[actor::James Corden|James Corden]]

Craig Owens lived in a downstairs flat of a supposedly two-storey building on Aickman Road at the time he met the the Doctor. He was secretly in love with his friend Sophie, who he often invited over for a night of pizza, beer, and television.

Biography

Craig placed an advert for a flatmate in a local shop window and The Doctor turned up on his doorstep later that same day due to a helpful note from Amy Pond in the future. Since Amy was stuck in the TARDIS without a way to land it on her own, and the Doctor found the source to be in the upstairs flat of Craig's building, he applied to live there.

The Doctor turned up with a paper bag full of £3000 and no luggage. Craig said he was "weird", but after trying one of the Doctor's impromptu omelettes, which he found to be delicious, he decided to let him stay. Craig learned to live with his strange habits and quirks, but became somewhat irritated at the Doctor's success at football and his interruption of a moment with Sophie.

Craig then defied the Doctor's recommendation not to touch the dry rot forming on the ceiling of his living room. He was severely affected by it but was saved by the timely intervention by the Doctor. By the time he woke up, Craig was shocked to learn that the Doctor went to a planning meeting at his workplace and was working in his place. His suspicions of the Doctor grew after he then looked in his room and found a strange spinning contraption made out of bits of garbage. After seeing the Doctor talk to a cat about the upstairs flat, he confronted the Doctor on the past three days and how he was resentful at his gaining popularity, especially with Sophie. In order to explain, the Doctor shared information with Craig via Telepathy (and two headbutts) to explain his predicament immediately and gain assistance in confronting the enemy upstairs. Among the facts Craig learned about the Doctor were his origin from Gallifrey, his previous incarnations, Amy Pond, that the contraption was a scanner, that he had a TARDIS, and that the upstairs flat was actually a disguised time ship.

While this was occurring, Amy informed them that someone was upstairs, and they soon realised it was Sophie. After having saved her, and learned of the ship's intention, the Doctor was chosen as its pilot. The Doctor made Craig realise that the ship had refused his help because it needed someone to pilot it away, but he wanted to stay. He put his hand on the ship's control and at the Doctor's request remembered what made him want to stay, blurting out his love for Sophie in the process. Sophie told him she loved him too, and they kissed.

Following their escape from the ship, Craig and Sophie decided to visit Paris and begin a serious relationship. The Doctor tried to leave quietly, but they noticed and stopped him to say goodbye. Craig gave him his keys to the flat, and the Doctor said he would visit them. Having been inside his head, he knew the Doctor would never visit them again, but wanted him to keep them as a memento.

After the Doctor left, Craig became fond of his time with him, and kept a photograph of him on his fridge and spelled out "THE DOCTOR ROCKS" with magnets.

Behind the fridge was one of the cracks, which then began to emit the mysterious Time Field and expand. Craig's ultimate fate following this is unknown, as with it expanding, it could erase him and events from history. (DW: The Lodger) The subsequent closing of the cracks has rendered this possibility moot.

The telepathic exchange he shared with the Doctor is implied to have imparted some advanced technological knowledge. This may mean Craig has become one of the lucky few people, such as Donna Noble and Bayldon Copper, whom the Doctor meets and respects enough to leave with some manner of becoming incredibly wealthy.

Behind the scenes

• James Corden has noted he would like to return as Craig.
• Since Craig has seen the Doctor's mind, he may know his real name.