The Sixth Doctor and Mel

Once again, there’s a gap of undetermined length between the last section and this one. Somewhere in that gap, in a story we haven’t seen yet, the Doctor meets Mel for the first time from her perspective, and takes her along as a companion. Mel now goes from being the Doctor’s second young female companion to being one in a chain, on the older side of average, really. Her energy and enthusiasm make a contrast with even Flip and Charley, which can make her seem cartoonish, but Big Finish has fleshed out her character. The Sixth Doctor never got a proper regeneration story, so Big Finish eventually saw fit to provide him with one, which means Mel has to be present for it, so this is the last segment of his tenure.