Pearl Mackie has revealed that Doctor Who companion Bill Potts is gay (Picture: BBC)

New Doctor Who sidekick Pearl Mackie is set to be given the boot after just one series, it has been reported.

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The 29-year-old actress confirmed last week that she had been cast as the Doctor’s is first openly gay sidekick but her reign on the show is set to be short-lived.

Pearl’s sudden departure is reportedly down to show bosses wanting to orchestrate a big shake-up once Peter Capaldi leaves his post as the Time Lord this December.

But it will no doubt come as a blow to Pearl, whose scenes hasn’t even made it onto the small screen yet.


Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie during filming of Doctor Who (Picture: Huw Evans/REX/Shutterstock)

According to The Sun, it was a joint decision between the BBC and writer Steven Moffat’s replacement, Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall.



A source told the publication: ‘Bosses have decided to have a completely fresh start.

‘It’s yet to be formally decided but it makes sense to give Chris his own choice of actor to play the Doctor and his companion.’

However, when contacted by Metro.co.uk, the Beeb played it pretty coy about the fate of Bill, teasing viewers to tune in to find out for themselves.

A BBC spokesperson told us: ‘We never reveal the fate of individual characters on the show; viewers will have to tune in to find out.

‘We are still filming Series 10 and no casting decisions have yet been made on Series 11.’

The new Doctor Who series starts late this month (Picture: BBC – Photographer: Ray Burmiston)

Newcomer Pearl revealed last week that her character, Bill Potts, will be the Doctor’s first openly gay companion.

The actress – who makes her debut alongside Peter Capaldi in the show when it returns on April 15 – told BBC News that Bill makes no secret of her sexuality, in fact referring to it in her second line of dialogue.

‘Bill’s gay, and it shouldn’t be a big deal in the 21st Century really,’ she explained.

‘It’s important to say people are gay, people are black – there are also aliens in the world as well so watch out for them.

She went on: ‘I remember watching TV as a young mixed race girl not seeing many people who looked like me, so I think being able to visually recognise yourself on screen is important.’

Pearl and Peter in October 2016 (Picture: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly)

Of course Bill isn’t the first gay or bisexual character to feature in the show – John Barrowman’s Captain Jack is bisexual and so, according to Steven Moffat, is River Song.

It’s almost a year since Pearl – who previously starred in the West End production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time – was announced as Jenna Coleman’s replacement in the show.

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She admitted just how dramatically it’s changed her life, even though she’s yet to be actually seen in the show -saying: ‘My Twitter follower count went from 400-and-something to 16,500 in about two hours, so that was pretty mental.’

‘But it’s been really nice, everyone seems to be really excited.’

She added: ‘Looking at previous alumni, it’s only done wonderful things for their careers – Matt Smith is phenomenal in The Crown, Jenna Coleman has just gone on to do Victoria and Billie Piper is doing incredible things.



‘If I even get to do [a small amount] of those kind of things it would be incredible.’

Peter confirmed he was quitting his role in January.

Pearl makes her Doctor Who debut when the series returns to BBC One on Saturday April 15.

Representatives for Pearl Mackie have been contacted for comment.

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