Craig Owens

Craig Owens (born 1983) lived and worked in Colchester, England. In 2010, he rented a room to the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The Lodger) In April 2011, Craig helped him defeat the Cybermen. (TV: Closing Time)

With the Doctor's help, Craig was able to confess his feelings to his friend Sophie. She moved in with him and they had a son, Alfie. Craig was valued as a friend so much by the Doctor, that he forwent a literal once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the Alignment of Exodor, on his farewell tour, to clean up the damage he caused to Craig's home on their second adventure.

Before meeting the Doctor
Craig shared a flat at 79A Aickman Road with his friend Mark, and worked in a call centre. By 2009, he met Sophie, whom he was romantically attracted; they build up a friendship and spent Fridays together, usually consisting of "pizza, booze, telly." Craig wanted to confess his feelings, but could never find the courage to tell Sophie.

First adventure with the Doctor
When Mark received an inheritance from a previously unknown uncle and moved out, Craig placed an advert for a flatmate in a local shop window. The Doctor turned up on his doorstep later that day, thanks to a helpful note from a future Amy Pond. Since Amy was stuck in the TARDIS with no way to land it on her own and the Doctor knew the trouble was in the upstairs flat of Craig's building, he wanted to live there.

The Doctor turned up with a paper bag of cash and no luggage. Craig said he was "weird", but after trying one of the Doctor's impromptu omelettes, agreed to let him stay. Craig learned to live with his strange habits and quirks, but was irritated at the Doctor's success at football and his interruption of an evening with Sophie.

Craig defied the Doctor's recommendation not to touch the dry rot on his living room ceiling. It knocked him out but he was saved by the timely intervention by the Doctor. When he woke, Craig found the Doctor had gone to a planning meeting at his workplace and was working there.

He looked in the Doctor's room and found a strange, spinning contraption made of trash. After seeing him talk to a cat about the upstairs flat, Craig confronted the Doctor on the past three days and his resentment of his popularity, especially with Sophie; ordering him to leave. The Doctor headbutted Craig to telepathically explain his predicament and gain Craig's help confronting the enemy upstairs. Craig learned about the Doctor's origin on Gallifrey, his earlier incarnations, Amy Pond, that the strange spinning contraption was a scanner, his TARDIS and that the upstairs flat was really a disguised time ship.

Amy told them that someone was currently upstairs and they realised it was Sophie. After saving her and learning the ship's intention, the Doctor was chosen as its pilot. Craig realised the ship had refused his help because it needed someone to pilot it away and he wanted to stay. He put his hand on the ship's controls and said what made him want to stay, blurting out his love for Sophie. Sophie told him she loved him too and they kissed.

After their escape from the ship, Craig and Sophie decided to visit Paris and begin a serious relationship. The Doctor tried to leave quietly, but they noticed and stopped him to say goodbye. Craig gave him his keys to the flat and the Doctor said he would visit them. Having been inside his head, Craig knew the Doctor would never visit them again, but wanted him to keep them as a memento.

After the Doctor left, Craig remembered their time together fondly. He kept a photograph of him on his fridge and spelled out "THE DOCTOR ROCKS" with magnetic letters. (TV: The Lodger)

Return of the Doctor
Some time later, Craig and Sophie had moved into a new house (after checking both the top floor and the neighbours) and had a child, Alfie, although they had not wed. He also suffered nightmares about the Doctor's "noticing face", as a side-effect of having the Doctor's memories forced into his head. (TV: Closing Time)

Because Sophie was exhausted from constantly taking care of Alfie, she took a holiday with a friend. This meant Craig would have to care for their son alone. Sophie left emergency numbers in case he had trouble and Craig called them all, saying he didn't need their help. By this point Craig had put Alfie to bed. Craig answered a knock at the door to find the Doctor outside. He thought Sophie had called him. Once the Doctor cleared up his confusion, Craig tried to keep him quiet. However, he was unable to prevent him from waking Alfie.

Craig told the Doctor about his doubts and the Doctor told him he could speak "baby" and Alfie preferred to be called "Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All". The Doctor said he was off to see the Alignment of Exodor and that he was on a farewell tour. Before he could question the Doctor further, Craig was shushed. He spent the entire night singing to Alfie to try getting him to sleep; Alfie thought he was crying and neither got any sleep.

The next day, Craig found the Doctor working in a local shop. Realising he was investigating, Craig insisted on helping. They discovered Cybermen had been kidnapping people and converting them with power stolen by a Cybermat. Craig entered a life-and-death battle with the little Cybermat once it stopped playing possum and subdued it with the Doctor's help. Though the Doctor tried pushing him away by explaining how dangerous he is, Craig comforted him by explaining how Earth would be in ruins if he didn't help.

The next morning, Craig found the Doctor had left to find the Cybermen without his help. Following "the idiot" back to the department store, Craig learned the Doctor had gone to the changing rooms to search. Finding the tunnel the Doctor uncovered, Craig followed it to the Cybership. The Cybermen tried turning him into their Cyber-Controller, but when Alfie began to cry, the upsurge of emotions allowed him to overcome the conversion. The emotional feedback made the Cybermen and their ship explode. He escaped with the Doctor via a teleport.

Craig learned one of the staff had mistaken himself and the Doctor for a gay couple. Before he could clear up her confusion, the Doctor had left. Craig returned home to find the Doctor used what was left of his time to clean up the mess created by their fight with the Cybermat. As a parting gift for the Doctor, Craig gave him a Stetson. When Sophie returned, both were shocked by Alfie's first word: "Doctor". (TV: Closing Time)

At some point, Craig was taken to the Black Archive by UNIT to have his record as a companion of the Doctor taken. His memories of the visit were subsequently erased and he was sent on his way. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Personality
The Eleventh Doctor stated that Craig possessed a strong will, and he was able to resist the Cybermen's upgrading process, albeit only because he heard his son crying. Despite the difficulties of being a father, Craig loved Alfie very much. He was initially nervous about revealing his feelings for Sophie but during his first meeting with the Doctor they admitted their feelings for each other in a dangerous situation. Like the Doctor, Craig sometimes used the word "Geronimo", saying it just before slamming his hand onto the control panel of the fake upstairs apartment. (TV: Closing Time)

Craig was uncomfortable about the Doctor's presence during their first meeting, considering him to be a laugh but also weird, and was jealous about the Doctor's superior football abilities and Sophie's apparent interest in him. However, after the Doctor allowed him to see inside his head using his telepathic abilities, Craig, although initially shocked, grew to trust and respect him. (TV: The Lodger) During their second meeting, Craig was much more comfortable around the Time Lord, considering him to be a friend and trusting him enough to bring his son on their mission to stop the Cybermen since he believed that the Doctor would keep them both safe. One of the staff members in a shop thought that the Doctor and Craig were a gay couple because they got along so well. (TV: Closing Time)