Jenna Coleman to leave Doctor Who

It's official. Today it was announced that Jenna Coleman will leave Doctor Who after Series Nine.

Assuming she leaves in this year's finale, the actress will have three entire series, and assorted specials, under her belt which makes her easily the longest-running companion of the modern series - and also gives such prolific classic series companions as Sarah Jane and Jamie McCrimmon a run for their money.

It's clearly the end of an era for Doctor Who. Jenna first arrived in the whoniverse all the way back in 2012 but, without any disrepect meant to the character or the actress, I'd say it is a good time to draw Clara's tenure to a close. Personally, I like a new dynamic in the TARDIS every year (a new Doctor or companion) so I was bit skeptical about keeping the Twelfth Doctor with Clara for a second series but it looks like they are following the example of Series Six with the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory and shaking the relationship between them up. After the character's many farewells so far, hopefully Clara will bow out with her best yet.

The next exciting step is to guess who the new companion will be. Presumably they will be introduced in Series Ten, after the Doctor reunites with River in the Christmas special, so we may have a lot of time to have fun speculating. Many are calling for something different from the typical modern-day 'girl next door' companion so perhaps we'll see one from the past or the future or even an alien. And, even more out-there, what about a man? Sherlock certainly gets a lot of heart from the friendship between two men so Doctor Who could do the same...

In the mean time, only one more day to wait until Clara's swansong series begins!