Obscure trivia question about "Doctor Who"

Cafe Society
1

It’s a glum, rainy Saturday afternoon and I’m idling away watching a marathon of last year’s “Doctor Who” episodes (in preperation of the new series tonight) as well as aimlessly net surfing on my laptop.
Anyway, I just thought of an odd trivia question to which I don’t know the answer, but am curious about: When, during the original series, were the good Doctor’s fellow travellers first labelled his “companions”?

As die-hard fans of the series know, the show was originally more an ensemble. In fact, despite being the “title” character, the Doctor wasn’t even the main character. School-teachers Ian & Barbara who were shanghied in the first episode were the real stars of the show, and the true heroes whom the audience was meant to root for. The Doctor was actually a lot like Dr. Smith on “Lost In Space” - selfish, irresponsible and the cause of most of the travellers’ problems, rather than the hero.

At what point in time did the Doctor become the problem-solving, moral-compass hero…and the fellow travellers his mere assistants? Well, actually that answer is obvious - it occurred when Patrick Troughton, a slightly younger but considerably more spry actor who didn’t have to be written out or sidelined due to ill health, took over the role. But when was a fellow TARDIS traveller first actually addressed onscreen as the Doctor’s “companion”?

2

By strange coincidence I was watching some Netflix streaming episodes of Doctor Who last night and started reading Wiki about Who while I was waiting for it to reload. One of the wiki articles is on Companions. It says that the press always referred to them as assistants. The term companion was rarely used in the original series, mostly the Doctor just introduces his traveling companions as his friends. However the term companion is used more often in the revived series

There’s a little more detail here. But I can’t really find a definitive “first time the term was used”.

3

It happened fairly quickly as I recall. The character archetypes employed today were firmly set by the time Patrick Troughton came along, so it must have happened during those first 2 or 3 series. I can’t recall any one episode which definitively stands out as the episode in which the Doctor became the unambiguous hero of the series. I think it was more of an incremental change and, as more of the early companions left the series, responsibility gradually shifted over to the Doctor.

4

From what I understand, it was a fan-created term that the creators eventually adopted.

5

The term ‘Companion’ was absolutely in common use in the American fandom during the Tom Baker era; there was actually a fanzine (amateur press publication featuring fanfiction) titled ‘Travelling Companion’. I haven’t been involved in nuWho fandom or even watched the show since the revival so I know for sure the term isn’t new.

6

I believe they were originally called his “assistants” and that’s how some of the British fans still refer to them.

7

Here’s my question. In the first episode, Susan has obviously told her teachers that she lives on Totter’s Lane with her grandfather, who is some sort of scientist. When Ian and Barbara sneak into the TARDIS, Ian addresses him by his presumed title of doctor, which prompts the Doctor to absentmindedly mutter, “Eh? What’s that? Doctor who?” Since he doesn’t correct him, though, Ian and Barbara continue referring to him as the doctor.

At what point does he actually introduce himself as “The Doctor”? Does he introduce himself to Marco Polo, or does Ian introduce him? And when is it first suggested that that’s actually his name rather than just a sobriquet?