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Doctor Who companion Jenna Coleman says she is staying on the Sci-fi show because she couldn’t bear to “walk away” this Christmas.

Fans of the show last night saw Doctor Who’s sidekick Clara Oswald, played by Jenna, come close to the end as she aged to a dying pensioner - before being returned to her normal self by the Timelord Peter Capaldi and Santa Claus.

Jenna, 28, was originally planning to quit at the end of 2014, but did a U-turn and was persuaded to stay by bosses.

Jenna said: “It’s wonderful, I get a whole another series of stories with the Doctor and I think for me, I couldn’t walk away with the story being unresolved.

"There is so much more to do.

(Image: BBC)

"I think they have finally reached a point where they really understand each other.”

And Peter Capaldi added: “I am thrilled, I really am. Jenna has been fantastic and such a pleasure to work with.

“As a new person coming onto the show she has been fantastic and I was so excited and delighted when she finally decided to stay.”

The show’s executive producer Steven Moffat praised Jenna for keeping fans guessing if she was staying or going ahead of the Christmas special.

(Image: BBC)

Jenna and Capaldi will now begin work filming the new series in January after they completed read-throughs of the scripts in December.

Moffat said: “Jenna is obviously in all of next series. It is exciting. I thought I was good at winding people, but Jenna outplayed me.

“It occurred to us all we don’t start shooting until January so we could keep it a proper secret.

"The final moments where you thought she has got really old and well, dead, in fact she hasn’t.”

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