4 Reasons Clara Should Go (And 1 Good Reason Jenna Should Stay)

[Rob McCow]

There’s been a lot of speculation about Jenna Coleman’s role in Doctor Who and whether she’ll be staying on in 2015. This appears to all be resolved now (Spoilers!) but we’ve been lead up blind alleys by the press before. Or maybe this is just a mechanism to avoid spoilers now. They put out so many contradicting rumours that you can’t believe anything – at all – and you sit there after the end of Death In Heaven thinking “Well clearly all of that was far too ridiculous to have actually happened.”

Nope. No way. Definitely never happened.

So whether or not Jenna chooses to spend another year in chilly Cardiff, here’s a list of reasons why we might be better off with change in 2015.

Show Thrives On Change

“Life depends on change and renewal” said the Second Doctor, inadvertently setting up the next 48 years of Doctor Who. For the older viewers there’s always a thrill when a new companion or Doctor is announced, whether you believe that this is the start of the new Golden Age or the death knell and the show’s gonna get cancelled.
For younger viewers there’s the trauma of saying goodbye to a much-loved friend, which is great. Kids need toughening up, especially if they’re lifelong Doctor Who fans.

I thought Michelle Ryan would stay FOREVERS!!!

Whether you thought Series 8 was a classic or not, it undeniably had a whole new style and attitude. Mostly that’s come from the directorial style and lots of little choices in the lighting and digital grading, subtle things that make it look different from what’s come before. This series has felt like the most self-contained, solid block of Doctor Who we’ve had since Christopher Eccleston in 2005. Introducing a new companion next year would reduce the risk of this new package becoming stale.

She’s Not The Impossible Girl Anymore

“I was born to save the Doctor, but the Doctor is safe now. I’m the Impossible Girl, and my story is done.”
For the last half of Matt Smith’s final season, Clara’s character made perfect sense. Of course, I don’t mean ‘Perfect sense’ in that everything about her storyline was logical and comprehensible, but that the Impossible Girl fitted in perfectly with the departing Doctor. She was a puzzle-box companion with a rather satisfying resolution.
Perhaps The Name of The Doctor should have been the end for Clara. The whole point of the character was that she had no background or tangible past. At times, Clara has felt like a cypher or a generic companion. Notice that as soon as we get past the roller-coaster thrill of The Day of The Doctor, Clara is suddenly having Christmas dinner with a previously unheard-of family, as if she thought she was Rose Tyler or something.

Allow me to introduce my family. There's Grandma Wotsit, Alfie and er... Schnorbitz?

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the companion we’ve had since Time of The Doctor has been completely different from the one introduced in The Bells of St John, even though she’s played by the same actress.
Her story is done, so why is she still here? Unless this is like the last forty minutes of The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Clara’s character has developed beyond recognition, which brings us to…

Companions Become The Doctor, Then Leave

“You know what, they keep trying to split us up, but they never, ever will.” – Fear Her
“Byeeeeee!” – The Stolen Earth
The standard pattern for companions since Rose is that they go from being timid and insecure to becoming brave and resourceful. It’s demonstrated perfectly in Journey’s End when at least four companions come up with four different ways of stopping Davros. None of these works until Donna physically becomes the Doctor and sorts it all out with typing.

Arguably, Clara has taken this way beyond anything that’s been seen before by retconning the Doctor’s entire time-stream.

She’s accompanied more Doctors than the Brigadier and she didn’t have to become a Cyberman to do it.
This ‘Quest For Doctor-hood’ reached insane new heights at the start of Death In Heaven, where Clara not only claimed to be the Doctor, but also booted him out of his own title sequence.

Whisper it, he's had work done.

But you know what happened in Journey’s End, where all of the companions ‘graduated’? They all left. Because once your character’s reached the top, they have to stop. Does that bother you?
And talking of the Doctor…

Capaldi Needs His Own Companion
Very simple, this one. Peter Capaldi has breezed into the role of the Doctor, forged his own identity and taken the show in a new direction. Yet he’s still saddled with Matt Smith’s cast-off old baggage.

When you think of the Second Doctor, you don’t think “Ah, he was the one who travelled with Polly and Ben”. You immediately think of Jamie, the companion he picked up in his second story and helped to define his character as the Doctor. The same is true of the Seventh Doctor and Mel. They kind-of worked together, but really it was the introduction of Ace that resulted in a huge upswing in quality for the last two years of the show.

So perhaps we’ve yet to see a companion who’ll get the best out of Capaldi. Perhaps we need someone new. Except…

Jenna Coleman Should Stay!
Next time you watch an episode with Clara in, watch Jenna Coleman very closely and see how much she does with the role. She isn’t always given much to get her teeth into, but she is never less than superb. In Series 8, we really started to see what he was capable of.

Things had got a little cosy with the Eleventh Doctor, but from the moment she flopped out of the TARDIS in Deep Breath, you could see that she had a Doctor that could really challenge and unsettle her.

Throughout the year she’s been magnificent. We’ve seen examples of the over-confident Clara but the more sensitive side has balanced that out, more in her relationship with the Doctor than Danny Pink.

Finally, there’s that magnificent scene in the season finale where the Doctor and Clara sit at table and lie to each other. If we can get more moments as moving and as well-played as that, then Jenna can stay as long as she likes.

Body language telling you anything?

Just don’t bring Danny back to life at Christmas please.

[Perry Vale]

Treading very carefully into a spoiler minefield that I try to avoid....

I agree she's been superb in S8, with often very little given to her, but for me the time feels right for her to go (or more precisely, to have gone). You always keep a companion on after a regeneration, it's the most practical thing to do to keep continuity, but as you point out, each Doctor needs his (or her ) 'Jamie'.

Just don’t bring Danny back to life at Christmas please.

Agreed, and I find it a little sad that we even have to ask this, in such a reflex manner.

[Andrew Curnow]

All the best companions, IMHO, are the result of an actor giving more to the role than is really there. Sarah Jane is the most obvious example of course, but also Jo Grant who on paper is pretty thin but thanks to Katy Manning feels like a real person. And I think Jenna C has to take credit that she's done the same with Clara.

But yes, I think it would be nice to freshen things up again next year, give the 'new' Doctor a new friend. Given that he's perhaps not the warmest of individuals at first glance, it'll be interesting to see how he actually ends up inviting anybody aboard.

And yes, another vote, for DANNY IS DEAD, leave him that way please!!!

[Dirk Gently]

Agreed - Leave Danny in the past. I'd like to see Clara do may be 5 or 6 stories next year but then leave & give us a new companion for the rest of the series & the next. Of the new series I'd say only Donna hit the road running & was excellent from the off with no low points.