Peter Capaldi: News of Jenna Coleman’s Doctor Who replacement will come “soon”

And the Twelfth Doctor says he's looking for more diversity in his companions

Published: Monday, 7 March 2016 at 5:00 pm

While we still have a long wait until the debut of Doctor Who’s next series, one of its revelations can’t come soon enough – the identity of Jenna Coleman’s replacement as companion, who RadioTimes.com understands will be picked from a shortlist of actresses including EastEnders’ Rakhee Thakrar.

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Now however, the Doctor himself has opened up on the subject – and from what Peter Capaldi has told us, the announcement of his new Tardis playmate sounds imminent.

“[The search has] gone pretty well,” Capaldi exclusively told RadioTimes.com. “I think you’ll know fairly soon, where we are with all that.”

However, the Scottish actor also cast doubt on whether we’d be seeing the new star in action before the 2017 series, with the planned 2016 Christmas special possibly including a one-off companion instead.

“I don’t know whether they would be involved in the Christmas special,” Capaldi continued, “because it’s so specific, the story we’re doing with the companion.”

Rumoured Doctor Who auditionee Rakhee Thakrar

And having previously said he’d prefer a Doctor Who companion with “a working class voice,” Capaldi went on to speak about his hopes for greater diversity in the series, which may or may not reflect the eventual choice of actress.

“I think it’s a good idea that the programme should reflect Britain,” he said, hastily adding “I don’t think Jenna didn’t do that – for God’s sake, Jenna’s from Blackpool!

“It’d be good if the show was more… that we saw more of how Britain is now in the show.”

And so could it be time for (as Thakrar’s rumoured involvement implies) a Muslim companion to join the Doctor on his travels?

“It could easily be, yeah,” Capaldi said noncommittally.

Sounds like the Doctor will keep us waiting for the full truth a little bit longer.

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Doctor Who series 9 is now available on DVD and the BBC Store

Authors

Radio Times commissioning editor Huw Fullerton. He sits in front of a shelving unit, looking at the camera and smiling. He wears glasses and has a moustache

Huw FullertonCommissioning editor

Huw Fullerton is a commissioning editor for Radio Times magazine handling comedy, entertainment and specialist drama. In a previous regeneration, he covered all things sci-fi and fantasy for RadioTimes.com.

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