When I mention the Doctor’s Companions, who’s the first person who pops into your head? Is it the current or a recent Companion: Clara, or maybe Amy? Is it the first one you ever saw: Rose or Nyssa or Liz Shaw or even Susan? What about your all-time favorite (if it’s not one of those I’ve already named): Sarah Jane, Jo, Ace, Barbara…?

When I say “Companion,” how often does a guy come to mind?

Even if we restrict the Companion count to television, there have been a great many folks who’ve traveled with the Doctor over the years. Using the fairly generous selection criteria on the relevant Wikipedia page, we get a total of fifty individuals, including such outliers as Kamelion and Adam Mitchell. Of those, seventeen are men (eighteen, if you count the male-presenting Kamelion; or nineteen if you include male-voiced K-9). That’s roughly 35%.

More strictly, if one doesn’t include those who were only on one adventure (like Sara Kingdom or Jackson Lake) or didn’t have their names in the opening credits (like Adam), but does include regular UNIT staff (the Brigadier, Sgt. Benton, and Capt. Yates), the Companion count comes in closer to thirty-seven or thirty-eight. Eleven or twelve of those are men (depending on whether or not you count Jack Harkness), or about 30%.

Either way we count, men are relatively uncommon TARDIS travelers. And yet some of the Doctor’s longest-lasting, most intriguing relationships have been with these male Companions. There are two in particular that I’m thinking of: the Brigadier and Jamie.

The Brigadier had perhaps the longest association with the Doctor of anyone outside his own species (barring Handles, who hardly counts in my book, as hundreds of years of their time together were compressed into a matter of minutes on screen). Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart first met the Doctor’s second incarnation while still holding the rank of Colonel, but he worked with the Doctor extensively afterward. The Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Doctors all had televised adventures with the Brigadier, and the Sixth Doctor teamed up with him on audio. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart has also been referenced by the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors.

Although the Doctor and the Brigadier didn’t always see eye to eye—the Doctor frequently complaining about the Brigadier’s “military mindset”—the respect they had for each other was plain to see. I think one of the reasons fans have always loved the Brigadier so much is that the Doctor did; it made it a joy to watch them together.

In a similar vein, Jamie was a Companion to the Second Doctor for almost the entirety of Two’s tenure. They went through a helluva lot together, and though the Doctor teased Jamie from time to time about not being very bright, they were about as tight a pair as could be.

There’s something really special about the Doctor and Jamie together. The vibe is partly buddy-cop-movie, and partly something deeper. Although Jamie is known to be, shall we say, slightly flighty from time to time—brave as all get-out, but not one to think things through before acting—the Doctor trusts him with his life. They get on each others’ nerves on occasion, but they love each others’ company, too. These days, we’d characterize their relationship as a “bromance.”

Now I’m not saying I don’t like—even love—having the “primary Companion” be a woman. Having the audience-surrogate character be female is awesome. But another thing that I don’t believe we see enough in modern storytelling (whatever the medium) is healthy, non-competitive relationships between or among men.

One of the reasons the Doctor is a great character as a man is that he can show a way to win the day without being violent at every turn. I’d love to see that extended to the way he relates to a male Companion. Thinking only about the past ten years’ worth of the show, we’ve seen the Doctor be competitive with quasi-Companions Adam and Mickey—and even Capt. Jack, to an extent—over Rose, while poor Rory was always kind of a third wheel even once he signed onto the TARDIS team for real.

And if you want to explore the romance angle (common in this era when talking about female Companions, so why not throw the guys into the mix, too), there’s no denying that Jack would’ve been into that. While I would love to see more queer representation on TV, I’ve grown to a place in my viewing where I’m ready for something other than romance and/or attraction between the Doctor and his Companions, regardless of any of their gender identities.

So let’s bring back some good ol’ fashioned bromance. (Yes, bromance is old-fashioned! It’s just the word that’s new. ~grumble~) The best stories are about characters and relationships instead of about plot anyway. I’m ready to explore some complicated people who actually trust and talk to each other. Wouldn’t that just blow some minds.