Graham O'Brien is a fictional character created by Chris Chibnall and portrayed by Bradley Walsh in the long-running British sci-fi television series Doctor Who. A retired bus driver from Essex who is in remission from cancer, the character is portrayed as an everyman. In the show's eleventh series, starting with the first episode, he served as a companion of the thirteenth incarnation of the alien time traveller known as the Doctor (portrayed by Jodie Whittaker) until the 2021 New Year's Special "Revolution of the Daleks". Character biography Early life Graham was born in Essex, during either the late 1950s or early 1960s, saying he was "only a toddler" in 1962. As a child, Graham attended Sunday School in Chingford, and sometimes spent summer holidays at Margate and Whistable. After his mother passed away, Graham's father "got rid of all her things super quick", unable to keep hold of them, telling Graham that "she's gone now and that's the end of it". Graham worked as a bus driver, once having a supervisor who he would recall as behaving similarly to Thomas Edison. After he retired, Graham still kept in contact with his friends who also worked as bus drivers. Marriage with Grace Graham developed cancer and met his wife Grace, a chemo nurse, while undergoing treatment. When he told Grace that he was a bus driver, she remarked that he ought not to be like James Blake, who she called "Blake the Snake." He learned of her appreciation of Rosa Parks and that she owned a t-shirt that said "The Spirit of Rosa". Once the cancer was found to be in remission, Graham married her and had become her second husband by 2015. Meeting the Doctor Whilst returning home after an unsuccessful session of teaching Ryan how to ride a bike, despite his insistence that he was "doing it, mate", Grace and Graham were trapped when a swarm of gathering coils attacked their train in search of Karl Wright, a fellow passenger. He, along with Grace, Ryan and Yasmin Khan, helped the Doctor battle both the coil and its controller, Tim Shaw. Whilst the Doctor recovered at his and Grace's home, he went around Sheffield to ask if anyone had seen anything unusual. Later, Grace and Graham followed the Doctor's orders to pose as construction managers and evacuate the construction site Karl worked at, so the Doctor, Ryan and Yasmin could