Mel Bush

Character
Name:	Melanie Bush Mel Bush
Occupation:	computer programmer
Relationships:
Fandom:	Doctor Who
Other:	Mel Bush by jossujb (2016)
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Melanie "Mel" Bush is a companion to the Sixth and Seventh Doctors in Doctor Who. She is played by Bonnie Langford who joined the cast of Doctor Who for the second half of the 1986 season arc, Trial of a Time Lord, in the serial, Terror of the Vervoids. She departed at the end of the following season in the story, Dragonfire.

Much like Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Bonnie Langford's real opportunity to expand and explore Mel's character came with Big Finish Productions' full-cast audio plays.

After appearing briefly in the Thirteenth Doctor's final story, The Power of the Doctor, Mel returned for the episode "The Giggle" during the 2023 60th anniversary specials.

Canon

A human from planet Earth, Mel traveled with the Sixth and Seventh Doctors. Bubbly, enthusiastic, resourceful, and compassionate, Mel has a warm bond with the Sixth Doctor. Startled by the Doctor's regeneration and his inital amnesia, Mel had difficulty accepting the Seventh Doctor to begin with. He assured Mel that he'd grow on her, and this proved to be true. Although frequently separated during their adventures, they became a strong team for the remainder of their time together.

Mel parted company with the Seventh Doctor shortly after they met Ace, choosing to travel onward with space rogue Sabalom Glitz.

Fandom

The pre-internet fandom had mixed reactions to Mel. During a time when Doctor Who was struggling with low budgets, behind-the-scenes upheaval, and variable script quality, there seemed to be a sense from some fans that Mel's introduction was incoherent—we first meet her in a flash forward courtroom video, before the Doctor himself had met her—and her chipper personality grating. Others appreciated Bonnie Langford's valiant efforts to do good work with patchy scripts and one-dimensional, inconsistent characterization.

Mel's infrequent appearances in Big Finish Productions' range of full-cast Doctor Who audio dramas meet with a much warmer welcome. Fleshing out what little backstory the TV episodes provided, Big Finish have woven a complex, multi-era time travel epic for Bonnie Langford to sink her teeth into as a masterful voice-artist. A handful of audio fans crafted fanworks based on those audio appearances.

Fanworks featuring Mel in a main role are relatively scarce compared to other Classic Era companions, most of whom feature in hundreds rather than thousands of stories on AO3. At the time of writing, Mel is tagged in just under 240 fanworks there, including a flurry of new ones posted since Mel's cameo appearance in the 2022 season finale of Doctor Who. Predominant ships include Mel/Ace and Mel/Hebe, with a handful pairing Mel with the Sixth Doctor or fellow Big Finish Audio companion, Charley Pollard.

Example Fanworks

• Beautiful Stranger by Nym - Her feet itch. Before she met the Doctor, Mel thought that was a metaphor, or at least an extreme exaggeration. She knows better now. Her feet itch when there's nothing to run towards or away from.

Links

• Melanie Bush works on AO3
• Mel Bush, ^{Archived version} (BBC Doctor Who guide)
• Melanie Bush on TARDIS wiki