Jenna Coleman has confirmed she is leaving her role as Clara Oswald in Doctor Who.


As predicted by RadioTimes.com on Wednesday, the actress chose an appearance on this morning’s Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw to announce her time in the Tardis was over.

“I have left the Tardis and I’ve filmed my last scenes,” Coleman told Grimshaw.

“It has been in the works for a very long time. [Showrunner] Steven [Moffat] and I sat down a year ago, a year and a half ago and tried to work out the best place to do it and the best place in which to tell a really good story. So hopefully that’s what we’ve done.

“I think it’s really, really cool. Obviously we’re not going to give away any details but it will happen at some point this season.”

Coleman says her decision to leave the Tardis was a tough one – “There’s not a lot of jobs where you get to go to work and have a spaceship and an alien as your best mate” – but that she’ll certainly look back on it fondly. “It’s such a unique beast. It’s been really special,” she says.

She couldn’t help getting a little choked up during her final scenes: “I did get emotional. I was really trying to fight against it but you can’t help it. It’s been my life, really, for the last three, four years. And I just love Peter [Capaldi] so much and the job so much and all the crew.”

But it turns out she can always pop back for a spot of time travelling if the mood takes her…

“I still have a key to the Tardis,” she told Nick Grimshaw this morning. “Because I kind of stole it and stole some other bits and pieces… I stole loads! I don’t know if they know yet! As the scenes were counting down at the end of every scene, I was like: I’m having it, having it, taking it.”

For now though, the 29-year-old will be focusing on her new role, as Queen Victoria in a new period drama.

“I am about to start work on Queen Victoria. I have four weeks to become a Queen! It’s ITV. I need to learn to ride a horse. I need to learn to waltz, play Beethoven. It’s really fun.”


Doctor Who returns to BBC1 on Saturday at 7:40pm