Jo Grant
Josephine "Jo" Jones (née Grant), was a civilian employee of UNIT. When Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart decided that Jo could serve as the Third Doctor's research assistant during his exile on Earth, she became his companion.
Biography
Early life
Jo took an A-Level in general science, though she apparently did not pass. Nevertheless, she was accepted into employment at UNIT largely because of the influence of her uncle, who had a connection to the United Nations. (DW: Terror of the Autons)
Life with the Doctor
Jo met the Doctor when the Master was using the Nestene Consciousness to conquer Earth. Though the Doctor initially rejected Jo as scientifically incompetent, the Brigadier was correct in his assertion that what the Doctor needed was "someone to pass you your test tubes and tell you how brilliant you are". Jo proved her worth to him and she and the Doctor quickly became almost inseparable. (DW: Terror of the Autons)
The Doctor and Jo investigated some "ghosts" at Auderly House. They were attacked by guerrillas from an alternate future ravaged by World War III and Dalek occupation. While attempting to break one of their time travel devices, she was taken to an alternate 22nd century. Through her talks with the Controller, she unwittingly drew the guerrillas and the Doctor back to this era. The guerrillas helped the Doctor and Jo return to the 20th century and prevent World War III, which was originally started by the guerrilla Shura's misguided assassination of Sir Reginald Styles. At the Second World Peace Conference at Auderly House, she helped evacuate the delegates, undoing the damage. (DW: Day of the Daleks)
One particular evening, Jo was dressed up, ready for a night on the town with Captain Mike Yates. Her outfit proved to be fortunate when the Doctor and she landed on the planet Peladon. Jo was introduced as an Earth princess and she was dressed appropriately. Only those of royal blood were allowed in the conference chamber. King Peladon was smitten and proposed marriage. In the time the Doctor and she were on Peladon, Jo grew to like the King, but decided to return to her own planet. (DW: The Curse of Peladon)
Jo helped the Solonians in their persecution. She alerted the crew of the Hyperion as to the Marshal of Solos' misdoings. (DW: The Mutants)
Jo learnt well with the Doctor. When he was unwilling to execute the time ram, she completed the action. She realised why the Doctor was reluctant, but saw the risk of not completing it. (DW: The Time Monster)
She was also one of the first people to witness a meeting between different incarnations of the Doctor. At the conclusion of the adventure in which this took place, as thanks to him, the Time Lords rescinded the Doctor's exile on Earth (DW: The Three Doctors). By the time of her next meeting with the Master, she had learnt to resist his direct attempts at hypnotism. (DW: Frontier in Space)
Departure
The Third Doctor had gone to visit Metebelis III without her. Jo went to the Welsh village of Llanfairfach to meet with the activist and mycologist Professor Clifford Jones, whom she much admired from afar. Cliff lived at Wholeweal, an alternative community where he pursued his studies of mushrooms. Jo's show of independence had caused the Doctor to behave in a rather childish and hurt manner.
In the short time that UNIT were in Llanfairfach, Jo and Cliff fell in love. He reminded her of a younger version of the Doctor. Jo agreed to marry him and left UNIT. The Doctor was devastated by Jo's departure, drinking his champagne in one gulp. He left on his own after giving Jo a blue crystal from Metebelis III. Before Jo and Cliff left for the Amazon, she asked her uncle to get UN status for Wholeweal. (DW: The Green Death)
Later life
A few months later, the couple, who were already on their trip up the Amazon River, returned the crystal by mail, as the expedition felt it brought them bad luck. (DW: Planet of the Spiders) Jo later tried to call the Doctor at UNIT to keep in touch, but was told that he had left, presumably after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation. Jo waited to see the Doctor again, but he never came. Jo lived with the Nambikwara tribe in Mato Grosso, Brazil for six months in 1983. The Doctor was aware of incidents where she lived in huts, climbed up trees, tore down barricades, flew kites on Mount Kilimanjaro and sailed down the Yangtze River in a tea chest. (SJA: Death of the Doctor)
There are two conflicting accounts of the Joneses' life after their last contact with the Doctor. One states that they had a son named Matthew and became estranged by the 1990s. (EDA: Genocide).
Another presented them as still happily married as of the late 2000s. (BFA: The Doll of Death) A later account showed Jo and Cliff still married with seven children, twelve grandchildren and expecting a thirteenth. The Joneses led a life of environmental and political activism, including an incident in which Jo handcuffed herself to Robert Mugabe. (SJA: Death of the Doctor)
Reunited with the Doctor
Jo was told of the Doctor's death. She brought her grandson Santiago with her to the funeral at UNIT Base 5. There, she met and bonded with Sarah Jane Smith, another former companion of the Doctor. She displayed some sadness on learning the Doctor had returned to visit Sarah, but never her after she had left. Both doubted that the Doctor was truly dead. They found that the Doctor had not died, but had been stranded on a deserted planet by the Shansheeth. Although knowing from her past experiences that the Doctor could change his appearance, she was initially taken aback to see how young he now appeared. She learned the Doctor had indeed kept track of her life, even though her constant "on the move" lifestyle had made it difficult for the TARDIS to pinpoint her. Reunited with the Doctor at last, Jo and Sarah Jane stopped the Shansheeth from stealing his TARDIS. Santiago and she set off to Norway by hovercraft. (SJA: Death of the Doctor)
At Christmas 2010, Jo encountered an alien narrator called Huxley from Verbatim Six, who believed that her past adventures had been as the companion of Iris Wildthyme, another renegade Time Lord. To work out the truth, Jo and Iris travelled back to the 1970s. After finding the truth from the Third Doctor, Jo and Iris set off to have adventures of their own. (CC: Find and Replace)
Death
Jo died in a house fire in 2028 aged 77. (ST: Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet)
Personality
Jo's first meeting with the Doctor didn't bode well. She mistook an important experiment for an accidental fire and ruined it by dousing it with a fire extinguisher. Despite this initial clumsiness, her failures fueled her enthusiasm. She was determined to prove people wrong about her. When she recovered from the Master (UNIT years)|the Master's hypnosis, she disobeyed orders and followed the Doctor to Luigi Rossini's Circus. There, she proved her competence by rescuing the Doctor. (DW: Terror of the Autons)
Having been hypnotised by the Master once, Jo was able to resist his future attempts at hypnosis by reciting nursery rhymes. (DW: Frontier in Space)
Jo claimed to be a qualified agent, but she may have exaggerated this the same way she exaggerated her A-Levels. After saying she took an A-Level in science, she later admitted, "I didn't say I passed." That said, there can be no doubt of Jo's abilities. She could ride a motorbike, use karate, pick locks, abseil and even pilot a helicopter - all of which came in very useful as the Doctor's assistant. These abilities combined with her enthusiasm proved Jo to be an asset to UNIT.
Jo did not initially believe the Doctor when he said he was a time traveller. For much of her time with him, she thought his tinkering with bits of TARDIS was pointless. She may have been with the Doctor for as much as a year before she even stepped foot into the TARDIS. She was tentative during her first trip away from Earth. She repeatedly begged to be taken home before she realised that the Doctor could not do so. After the Doctor coaxed her, she did step out of the TARDIS and into her first adventure on another world. (DW: Colony in Space)
Whilst Jo was certainly a member of the team, her individualism made her stand out in UNIT and her desire to follow her own instincts and speak her mind made her and the Doctor close. Near the end of her time with UNIT, Jo told the Brigadier that she was going to Llanfairfach even if it meant resigning. (DW: The Green Death)
Despite being told of the Doctor's ability to regenerate, she was sceptical when meeting his eleventh incarnation during the faux funeral the Shansheeth held for him. She came to accept the Doctor's new form after confirming all that he knew everything that "her" Doctor had told her and knew about her. (SJA: Death of the Doctor)
Jo accepted a gun when it was offered to her, even after the Doctor declined it. (EDA: The Eight Doctors)
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