Mel Bush

Played by Bonnie Langford

"I don't need anyone to speak up for me; I'm quite capable of defending myself!"

Melanie Bush's experiences with the Doctor have been more timey-wimey than most! Pulled from the Doctor's future, she joins his adventures with abundant enthusiasm, and faces the universe with a youthful energy that even the old Time Lord struggles to keep up with. Traveling with him over a regeneration, Mel is no stranger to the Doctor changing their face, and loves every incarnation of her friend equally.

A computer programmer with a cheery disposition, Mel has found purpose and success on present-day Earth as an operative at UNIT, reporting directly to Kate Lethbridge-Stewart as a Technical Officer. However, her experiences in the TARDIS (and her inability to keep still) also make her an ideal field agent for the organisation.

Character Bio

Snatched out of the Doctor’s future and deposited as a witness into his trial, Mel’s travels in the TARDIS didn’t run smoothly or even chronologically! Mel faces the Vervoids and the Valeyard alongside the Sixth Doctor – while trying desperately to get him to lose weight. When the Rani attacks the TARDIS, prompting the Doctor’s sixth regeneration, she assumes Mel’s identity to bamboozle the confused new Doctor. After the Rani’s defeat, Mel fights the cannibal old ladies of Paradise Towers and the deadly Bannermen, hell bent on destroying the beautiful Chimeron Queen Delta. After helping the Doctor and Ace find the Dragonfire treasure, she opts to remain on Iceworld and help reform the mercenary Glitz.

Flash-forward, Mel stays with Glitz until he lives to 101, then grabs a lift off a zingo and returns to Earth in the 21st century. Finding herself without purpose, she ended up meeting Kate Lethbridge-Stewart at a meeting of several companions at the time of the Thirteenth Doctor’s regeneration. She quickly joins UNIT where her computer skills, adventures with the Doctor and melodic pattern-spotting prove invaluable.

With the Fourteenth Doctor she faces off against the Toymaker’s nefarious scheme using the Giggle embedded into all television screens, and is a first-hand witness to the Doctor’s bi-generation into the Fourteenth AND Fifteenth Doctors!

Mel joins the Doctor and Ruby Sunday in the Remembered TARDIS as they escape the attack of Sutekh, the God of Death. As they devise a counter-plan, Mel succumbs to Sutekh’s influence and temporarily becomes one of his Harbingers of Death. Thankfully, when the Doctor and Ruby defeat Sutekh, Mel is restored – along with the rest of the universe!

When freed from the influence of Conrad Clark’s Wish World, Mel is reunited with her old nemesis the Rani. Eager for some payback, she joins UNIT in the fight against the Rani and her allies – including the Bone Beasts that seek to destroy UNIT Tower.

When not working in UNIT, she can often be seen popping over for lunch with the Nobles and a kind of Time Lord-y uncle. Mad Auntie Mel!