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Doctor-lite or companion-lite is a classification of stories in which the Doctor and/or his companions are deliberately de-emphasised in the narrative. Though most commonly associated with the production necessities of the BBC Wales version of the programme, there have been non-televised stories which have elected to tell Doctor-lite stories purely for dramatic purposes.
TV stories
Doctor-lite television stories
Companion-lite television stories
Usage in Doctor Who
Doctor-lite episodes are not usually considered to be parts of serials of the 1963 version in which the Doctor or his companions do not appear. This often happened in the 1960s as a way to give an actor a week off. Nor are they stories in which are set in the Whoniverse, but not released as a Doctor Who story, such as Torchwood, the Doctor Who Magazine backup comics, or any of a number of Big Finish Productions ranges. Rather, they are entire stories in which the Doctor makes only a brief or incidental appearance. Companion-lite stories are likewise not those in which the Doctor is travelling entirely without a companion. Rather, they are ones in which a companion is established as being an ongoing resident of the Doctor's TARDIS, but sidelined from the main action of a story.
The term came into vogue with the broadcast of Love & Monsters, the first intentionally Doctor-lite episode of the televised programme. Monsters was followed by Blink and Turn Left and the companion-lite episodes, Midnight and The Lodger. All of these were deliberately written to allow for double banking, a process which enables two separate stories to be recorded simultaneously because of the reduced need for the main cast. Neither Series 1 nor Series 5 of the revived series featured a Doctor-lite episode, as the previous Christmas did not have a special episode starring their respective Doctors as the main Doctor. Series 6 likewise didn't have a Doctor-lite or companion-lite, as the double-banked The Girl Who Waited limited the Doctor's scenes to one place while still giving him a lot of screentime and Closing Time featured single-episode companion Craig Owens prominently after the departure of the Doctor's regular companions from the TARDIS that series the previous episode.
Though the term may have been a product of the BBC Wales version of the television programme, the concept certainly pre-dates the 2005 series. Three prose examples of Doctor-lite stories are the novels Who Killed Kennedy, Birthright and The Face of the Enemy. In comics, Happy Deathday is ultimately revealed to be a Doctor-lite story, in which the Eighth Doctor is never actually seen, but the entirety of the story is revealed to be something that happened on a video game Izzy was playing on the TARDIS' Time-Space Visualiser.
Companion-lite stories are comparatively rarer in other media, but there's at least one example that, however narrowly, predates the introduction of the concept to television. The comic strip The Lodger gave readers a Rose-lite, Mickey-heavy story at a time well before Mickey joined the TARDIS crew in TV: School Reunion. PROSE: The Banquo Legacy was a Doctor-lite with supporting characters centred by their retelling of the narrative.
A Doctor-lite and a companion-lite story occurs in COMIC: Rory's Story. Rory Williams becomes the central character with the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond in the TARDIS for the comic.
The two short stories Amy's Escapade and Rory's Adventure in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2012 are Doctor-lite stories starring each companion, set simultaneously.
Usage in spin-off shows
Torchwood followed this model in its episode Random Shoes in Series 1, portraying the main cast other than Gwen Cooper only through those glimpses seen by Eugene Jones. Series 2's Adrift mostly centred on Gwen and Andy Davidson.
The Sarah Jane Adventures uses this model in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (series 1), The Mark of the Berserker (series 2), Mona Lisa's Revenge (series 3) and The Empty Planet (series 4).