Star Wars can write more personality into a robot that talks in beeps than Doctor Who can write into a female character.
BB-8: super cute, trusting?, dutiful???
River Song: freedom incarnate, intelligent, adventurous, powerful, impossible to restrain, damaged and healing, witty, brave, likes wine, dramatic, always reckless but more responsible as she ages, gains power from trust, openly emotional in youth but hides her pain later, technologically savvy, historically knowledgeable, learns compassion, ruthless in need, wreathed in stories, wise.
Amy Pond: full of faith, fear of abandonment, brittle and abrasive young, commitment issues, bravado, learns how to live an ordinary life, learns social skills, artistic, snarky, enjoys history, violent until she decides to not be, devoted in love, decent cook, defines her reality by her memories, psychically powerful, perceptive, difficulty functioning under extreme emotional stress, fairy-tale to story-teller.
Clara Oswald: adorable, terrifying, good with kids, sentimental, thirst for travel initially buried under sensible responsibility, strengthening impulsivity, eventually embraces her bossy-control-freak abilities, fantastic liar, lies to project normality while afraid of her adventure-addiction, eventually embraces adventure-addiction, strong conventional streak young, likes tea, aspiring story-book heroine, successfully rewrites herself as heroine.
um ok
Rose: allowed to be deeply selfish, for better or for worse, in a way that female characters often aren’t; immature but loving; wears her emotions on her sleeve, gains a love of adventure and danger; is always compassionate to those she meets who are of lower social status (see: Raffolo, Gwyneth, the Ood) because she knows how that feels; warm and friendly
Martha: very intelligent and dedicated; gives a lot of herself even in situations where this is unhealthy for her; is the glue that holds her family together; is far more forgiving than she needs to be (Joan did not deserve her magnanimity); is not afraid to call people out on racism; learns to take control of her life
Donna: puts on a mask of bravado but has no self-esteem whatsoever due to her emotionally abusive mother; shouts at the world and at herself; hates injustice and cruelty; is not afraid to tell people what she thinks; loves her grandfather and even her mother; takes up space