Jenna-Louise Coleman is the Doctor's new companion

The BBC have today announced that the Doctor's new companion will be Jenna-Louise Coleman.

Here is part of the press release (which you can read in full here)

Jenna-Louise Coleman has beaten hundreds of hopefuls to become the new companion to Doctor Who, it was announced today by Steven Moffat.

Twenty-five year old Jenna from Blackpool will star alongside the 11th Time Lord, Matt Smith, to mark the biggest year in the show's history.

Best known for her roles in Emmerdale (Jasmine Thomas) and Waterloo Road (Lindsay James), Jenna will replace Karen Gillan when she and Arthur Darvill bow out of the show in a heartbreaking departure after one final series of rollercoaster voyages later this year on BBC One.

Jenna says: "I'm beyond excited, I can't wait to get cracking; working alongside Matt I know is going to be enormous fun and a huge adventure."

The Doctor will meet his new friend in a dramatic turn of events as the show builds towards its enormous, climactic 50th anniversary year - full of thrills, adventures and big surprises. Series seven is currently filming and comprises 14 big, blockbuster-movie episodes - each a brand new epic adventure featuring new monsters and some familiar foes as you've never seen them before.

Lead writer and Executive Producer, Steven Moffat, says: "It always seems impossible when you start casting these parts, but when we saw Matt and Jenna together, we knew we had our girl. She's funny and clever and exactly mad enough to step on board the TARDIS.

Jenna-Lousie's character will appear for the first time in the 2012 Christmas Special.

Congratulations Jenna-Louise & welcome to the show.

Spanish Shooting Updates

With last months revelation of filming for Doctor Who in Spain, this week has brought around some extra tidbits. Episode 3, which is being penned by Being Human creator Toby Whithouse, is set to be a Western themed story with a half human-half cyborg villain.

Filming on location has been taking place just north of Almeria in a place called Oaseys Theme Park, which is an area set up to look like the old American West and has been used for numerous films in the past.

Adrian Scarborough

Ben Browder

Casting confirmed for the episode included Ben Browder, known to many for his role in Farscape, Rob Cavazos, Dominic Kemp and Adrian Scarborough, start of Upstairs Downstairs, Miranda and Gavin and Stacey.

Not much is known about what characters they will play but Scarborough and Kemp have listed on their CVs the names Kahler Jax and Kahler Mas respectively.


If you were hanging around our Forum yesterday then you may have seen some of the updates from this weeks filming in Spain. A full collection can be seen on the forum, but a sample few are below.

For more season 7 information and regular updates, be sure to check out The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

Series 7: What We Know So Far

There has been lots of updates this week, so here is a roundup of what we know so far.

Filming on Series 7 began on Monday in Penarth for scenes inside the Ponds home. On set were Arthur Darvill, Karen Gillan and guest star Mark Williams. Filming then moved to Dunraven Bay in Southerndown, which has previously been used as Bad Wolf Bay and the scene of the crash of the Byzantium in The Time Of Angels.

Pictures courtesy of Wales Online

Guest stars announced for the series include Mark Williams, who is well known to many for his roles in Harry Potter and The Fast Show, David Bradley, who has also appeared in the Harry Potter films amongst many others, Rupert Graves, most recently seen as Lestrade in Sherlock, Rudi Dharmalingham (Casualty, New Tricks) and Rob Cavazos.

As we reported about a month ago, filming will indeed be taking place in Spain this year, as confirmed by the CV of Rob Cavazos this week, who will be guest starting in the story. It is unknown when filming there will be taking place, but it is rumoured to be in the next few weeks.

The official BBC Press Release had this to say:

Series 7 will then see a dramatic turn of events when the Doctor meets a new friend. Prepare yourselves for thrills, adventures and dramatic surprises as the show builds towards its enormous, climactic 50th anniversary year. Fourteen big, blockbuster-movie episodes - each a brand new epic adventure featuring new monsters and some familiar foes as you've never seen them before. 

Above photos credited to @Ryanfarr

It is specuated that the episode being filmed currently is episode 2 of the run. Filming is expected to continue throughout the week in and around the Cardiff area.

For even more news and updates, check out The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

Some guest stars announced as filming begins

Filming on Series 7 of Doctor Who started this week, and to celebrate the BBC have released this pic of the show's 3 main stars - Matt Smith, Karen Gillan & Arthur Darvill.

Alongside the pic they have released the names of three guest stars for the new series. They are David Bradley (probably best known as Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films), Mark Williams (another Harry Potter star - this time Ron's father Arthur Weasley) & Rupert Graves (most recently seen as DI Lestrade in 'Sherlock').

You can read the BBC's full report here.

What do you think of the guest stars so far?

First Director Announced

The BBC have today updated their official Doctor Who site with news of the first person to sit in the directors chair for Series 7, and the lucky man is Saul Metzstein.

Metzstein has previously directed for Upstairs Downstairs, Late Night Shopping and Micro Men and has even picked up a Scottish Bafta for his work along the way.

Filming is due to begin on February 20th in Cardiff.

For more news about series 7, check out The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

More Series 7 Writers Confirmed

Two new writers have been confirmed for Series 7 in this months DWM, which you can pick up in stores today.

The first is Chris Chibnall, who has written loads of early Torchwood episodes as well as the Doctor Who stories '42' and 'The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood'.

The second is Toby Whithouse, who has previously written 'School Reunion', 'Vampires of Venice' and 'The God Complex' as well as being head honcho for BBC 3's Being Human.

According to the magazine, Chibnalls story will have the 'biggest ever Doctor Who set', while Whithouse told SFX Magazine that his story is currently planned to air 3rd in the run.

Other writes confirmed so far are Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and John Fay.

To discuss all the latest news and spoilers from Series 7, come on over to The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

Gatiss, Fay, Confirmed Writers For Series 7

In last weeks newly released Doctor Who Magazine, Mark Gatiss, who had taken over the Production Notes feature, revealed that he would be penning a script for the upcoming seventh series of Doctor Who. While talking about pitching his story to Moffat, he gave three clues as to what it might be about. “Meat”, “Klaxon” and “Vienna”. A story set abroad, perhaps?

Gatiss has previously written The Unquiet Dead, The Idiot's Lantern, Victory of the Daleks and most recently, Night Terrors, as well as appearing in different roles in some episodes including The Lazarus Experiment and The Wedding Of River Song.

This news, although late being posted here, has been on our forum for nearly a week, and response to the news of him writing for the show again has been mainly negative. His previous stories seem to have very much divided opinion.

Gatiss is the third confirmed writer for Series 7, alongside Steven Moffat and John Fay. John Fay has previously written for Torchwood, but this is his first Doctor Who outing. He recently penned episode 9 of Miracle Day as well as two episodes of Children Of Earth, including the now infamous Day 4.

Q&A With Simon Fisher-Becker

We are pleased to announce that the very generous Simon Fisher-Becker has agreed to share some of his time with us and come to the forum to answer your fan questions, in what is hopefully the first of many Q&A sessions with the stars of Doctor Who that we will be holding on the forum over the coming months.

Simon Fisher-Becker is of course best known to Doctor Who fans as Dorium Maldovar, but has also featured in Doctors, Game Of Thrones and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, amongst others.

If you have a question for Simon about his career or time on Doctor Who then please pop along to the forum HERE, start a new thread within the section with your question included in the body of the post and a brief description in the title, and be sure to check first to see if your question has already been asked.

Questions should be posted and ready by Sunday January 15th.

BBC reveals Christmas Special 2011 info

The BBC have this morning released some information about the 2011 Christmas episode of Doctor Who.

Firstly they have given us a few of the guest stars. They are:

Arabella Weir (The Fast Show, Posh Nosh)

Alexander Armstrong (voice of Mr Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures)

Bill Bailey (Black Books, Spaced)

Claire Skinner (Outnumbered, Life Begins)

They have also revealed the following outline of the plot of the episode:

The special, set during World War II, sees Madge Arwell (Skinner) & her two children, Lily & Cyril, evacuated to a draughty old house in Dorset, where the caretaker is a mysterious young man in a bow tie, & a big blue parcel is waiting for them under the tree. They are about to enter a magical new world & learn that a Time Lord never forgets his debts ...

You can read the full BBC article HERE

Filming continues on this episode til mid October, so as soon as there are any more updates we will bring them to you.

So, what do you think of the casting so far for this year's Christmas special? And are you excited about the story's setting?

Amy & Rory Confirmed For Christmas Special

Filming on this years Christmas Special has been continuing in Wales, with scenes being filmed yesterday in Bute Esplanade, where Amy and Rory's new home is situated, with Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill both seen on set.

DoctorWhoSpoilers has got their hands on some photographs, which you can see has the houses decked out in Christmas lights with the TARDIS prop situated on the opposite side of the street.

This filming comes after last weeks reports of filming at Stradey Castle in Llanelli. It was previously unknown whether or not the due would be a part of this year's special, though Karen Gillan has previously confirmed that they will make appearances throughout series 7.

To keep up to date with all the latest spoilers and news from the Christmas Special and Series 7, remember to check out The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

Karen Gillan Confirms Return For Series 7

Karen Gillan has this evening confirmed to Zap2it that she will be returning to Doctor Who as Amy Pond for series 7 of the show. It isn't stated whether she will be appearing in all episodes, though a return is definate. This should put an end to some of the speculation that has been doing the rounds in recent months about whether or not she will be returning.

New Exec Producer revealed

In an interview with the official BBC Doctor Who website Steven Moffat has revealed who will be taking over as one of the show's Executive Producers following the departures of both Piers Wenger & Beth Willis.

The new Executive Producer will be Caroline Skinner who has previously worked as a producer on 'Five Days' & 'The Fades.' She has also worked as a script editor on a number of other shows as you can see on her IMDB page.

It seems as if outgoing Executive Producer Piers Wenger was somewhat instrumental in Caroline's appointment. Asked how he met her, Moffat had this to say:

It's a funny thing about this show: the people who work on it, get so attached and so passionate about it, they can't just leave - they have to make sure it's going to be okay after they're gone. Just as when Russell was leaving, he sounded me out about taking over, Piers had strong views on who should be his successor. And as soon as I met Caroline, I knew exactly why. It takes a particular kind of person to work on this show - you have to be prepared to work every day of the week, laugh in the face of holidays, and above all, understand that Doctor Who is completely impossible to make and then make it anyway. I could see all that in Caroline - so off we go!

Caroline will be taking up her post almost immediately, working alongside Piers on his last episode as Executive Producer, this year's Christmas Special.

We would like to welcome Caroline to the world of Doctor Who & wish her all the best in her new role.

You can read the full interview with Steven Moffat on the BBC Doctor Who site.

Beth Willis is leaving Doctor Who

The BBC have announced today that Beth Willis, one of the Executive Producers of Doctor Who, is leaving BBC Wales, so will therefore no longer be working on the show.

In a statement on the official Doctor Who site they said:

It's been confirmed that Doctor Who Executive Producer Beth Willis is leaving BBC Wales.

Beth commented, 'Working with Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Matt Smith on the last two series of Doctor Who has been the most fantastic experience and I will miss them hugely... The plans taking shape for the next series of Doctor Who and for the 50th Anniversary are beyond exciting - and with Steven Moffat at the helm, this incredibly special time for the show is in very safe hands."

Beth joined Doctor Who in 2009, shortly after producing the first two series of the iconic drama, Ashes to Ashes. She was onboard for the beginning of the Eleventh Doctor's era and her contribution was noted by Ben Stevenson, BBC's Drama Controller, who said, 'Much of its [Doctor Who's] current success is down to her vision and ambition for the show. She has been an inspiring and instrumental force and I know will be much missed by all of us, and especially Matt Smith and Steven Moffat.'

During her years with BBC Wales, Beth also co-exec produced the hugely popular series of, Doctor Who Confidential and the BAFTA-winning Eric and Ernie.

Lead Writer and Executive Producer, Steven Moffat, commented, 'We couldn't keep her forever, though God knows I tried. She is off to be brave and brilliant in brand new ways, and the sad news for Doctor Who is that it will be somewhere else.'

Beth will be returning to Kudos Film & Television and everyone on the Doctor Who team wishes her the very best of luck for the future.

This news, of course, follows closely on the heels of the announcement that Piers Wenger would also be leaving for pastures new, & I have no doubt that this will cause all manner of speculation in some quarters. However, we here would like to thank Beth for all that she has done for the show & wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

The search will now be on for new Executive Producers for the show.

Let's Kill Hitler Casting Update

Over on the forum a few days ago, two updates were revealed for the casting of Let's Kill Hitler, which will be the first episode aired after the summer hiatus.

The first was revealed in this months Doctor Who Magazine as Albert Welling, who has been cast in the role of Hitler for the story. Welling has had supporting roles in shows such as Cemetry Juntion, Heartbeat and Holby City.

The second casting comes in the form of Ella Kenion who according to our member Saber, has been cast in the possibly dual role of Margeret/Harriet. Kenion is probably most widely known for her various roles in a 3 series stint in The Catherine Tate Show as well as four series of The Green Green Grass.

For more on whats to come from the remainder of series 6, visit The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

More Evidence To Suggest The Companions Are On The Way Out

In an interview this week with Whats On TV, Karen Gillan has added more fuel to the fire of speculation that she and Arthur Darvill will be heading out of the TARDIS once Series 6 comes to an end.

When asked what she has planned for the future, Karen replied:

"I am playing Jean Shrimpton in a BBC4 drama We’ll Take Manhattan but I have just literally gone from Doctor Who to that so I haven’t had a chance to sit and have a think. I actually would really like to go home to Scotland for a little while and reflect on what has happened and then decide what my next move is, but I don’t know what that is yet.

This follows a comment made by Arthur in an interview with the London Evening Standard last week where he commented:

"Getting a part like Rory was great, but now, coming out of it, I need to go and do something completely different."

Of course this is all heavy speculation and nothing is confirmed yet, but it is certainly seeming as though we will be getting some new TARDIS inhabitants soon.

Series 7 Writer Confirmed?

John Fay, who famously killed off Ianto in episode 4 of Torchwood: Children Of Earth, and who is also part of the writing staff for Torchwood: Miracle Day, has updated his CV to say that he will be contributing a script to what is assumed to be Series 7 of Doctor Who.

Whether his script is selected to be made into an episode is something we will find out at a later date, but it certainly a good sign to have someone of his calibre involved already.

Is It The End For Arthur?

In an interview today with The London Evening Standard, it would seem that Arthur Darvil has accidently let slip that he is to bow out of the show at the end of the current series.

Whilst discussing his upcoming role Doctor Faustus at The Globe, Arthur commented:

"Getting a part like Rory was great, but now, coming out of it, I need to go and do something completely different."

After which, the interviewer noted that Darvill suddenly 'looked cornered, and clams up'.

This obviously isn't confirmation but it does certainly seem that Arthur let something slip that perhaps he shouldnt have, but then the exits of both himself and Karen Gillen have been widely speculated of late amongst fandom anyway, so might not come as much of a surprise to many.

What do you think? Is it time to wave goodbye or would you like to see more of the current companions?

For the full interview, see HERE and to discuss this news and much more check out The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

Piers Wenger Is Leaving Doctor Who

In a press release earlier today, the BBC announced that Piers Wenger, co executive producer of Doctor Who, will be leaving the BBC, and therefore his duties on Doctor Who, for pastures new at Film4.

In the statement, the BBC said:

It's been confirmed that Piers Wenger, currently one of Doctor Who's three executive producers, is leaving the BBC.

Piers succeeded Julie Gardner as Head of Drama for BBC Wales and shortly after became executive producer of Doctor Who, taking an active role in the casting of Matt Smith as the Doctor. He also served as executive producer on Doctor Who: The Adventure Games and Doctor Who Confidential. Away from the TARDIS he worked on Ashes to Ashes, Christopher and His Kind and the relaunch of Upstairs Downstairs.
In March 2010 Piers stepped down as Head of Drama but remained at BBC Wales where he continued as creative leader for a number of key shows, including the award-winning Eric and Ernie.

He commented, 'It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to Doctor Who and BBC Drama, and all of the extraordinary people who I have worked with there.' Piers is leaving the BBC to join Film4 and everyone in the Doctor Who team would like to wish him the very best of luck in his new role.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish him well in his future endevours.

So where does this leave the team now? Will Piers be replaced or will Steven Moffat and Beth Willis take the reigns as a twosome?

For more Doctor Who news, check out The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum

First Look At Gibbis

Here is David Walliams as his character Gibbis from the Toby Whithouse penned episode, The God Complex, which will be coming on air after the mid series split. The image comes from a sneak look at filming the episode in the newest Insider video from BBCA.

Gibbis has previously been described as 'mole-like' and that can certainly be seen here by his features.

More Torchwood Casting

On her Twitter feed, Jane Espenson has confirmed that John De Lancie, known to millions as Q from Star Trek The Next Generation, has joined the cast of Torchwood: Miracle Day

@JaneEspenson Yes. Our friend Q from Star Trek: TNG, John De Lancie, is part of the #Torchwood family!

She was, however, quick to point out that he wouldn't be reprising his role as Q for a crossover.

@JaneEspenson He's not playing Q!!! Let's be clear!

John joins what is already a growing cast of well known actors and actresses who are joining the show for its fourth run.

To check out even more casting news and spoilers from Torchwood: Miracle Day, make sure you check out The Doctor In The TARDIS Forum