I hope she's better full-time than she was in Army of Ghosts. Wasn't impressed at all by her in those scenes. (But then Billie never impressed me much before appearing in Who, either.)

> How are they going to account for that then?

Probably the same way they'll show Eve Myles in Tochwood - by never mentioning it!

Not hugely impressed, but I can at least take comfort in the fact that Jack will be back in series 3, so we're guaranteed at least one great companion.

I'm just horribly bored by the idea of another attractive early-20s girl. How many companions in the original series were in any way similar to the ones that directly preceded them? I should, of course, reserve judgement until we get confirmation that her character will be drastically different to that of Rose, but nothing the actress did in Army of Ghosts convinced me that she was any great shakes.

And I hope she isn't introduced too soon - I'd prefer to see him travel on his own for a bit without Rose first. And I'd also prefer to see Jack rejoin the TARDIS crew before the newcomer does, as I'm intrigued by the dynamic of just those two, sans Rose.

Incidentally, Ian, given the embargo, how did you get the link?

I was rather hoping Mickey would be a full-time companion, though I suppose that's still possible. Not sure quite why you can be opposed to her on the basis of the handful of lines she had as a completely different character. Yes, she's attractive and young, but that's no reason to believe she'll be similar to Rose.

As for the link, it was just on a forum! I didn't notice the embargo until I'd started writing the article. It seems fairly widespread - Wikipedia are linking to it already.

Actually, maybe I should have read the PR fully before saying "early-20s girl", and maybe they'll make something out of the fact that she's a bit older (it's certainly to be hoped so).

I do trust RTD, though. I doubted him over Billie, and look how that turned out. Heck, I was almost close to losing faith with series two, but I don't think anything in the Eccleston era excited me quite so much as the closing minutes of AoG...

First off 'grrr' to the BBC for spoiling the surprise. Again.

Second off, if this means more bloody lovey-dovey relationshippy stuff between The Doctor and his companion, I shall be switching series 3 off and not bothering to watch anymore, regardless of whether Captain Jack is in it.

And I still think it should've been Marc Warren.

Thinking about it, I don't think there will be. I wonder if she might be a harsher, different figure altogether to Rose. Certainly, the Doctor - having lost Rose for whatever reason, death or departure - will be reeling, and most likely unable to allow himself to get so close to another companion for some time. For that reason, I'm hopeful that we'll see a completely different kind of relationship and dynamic.

>As for the link, it was just on a forum! I didn't notice the embargo until I'd started writing the article. It seems fairly widespread - Wikipedia are linking to it already.

Outpost Gallifrey have just given up trying to embargo the info, although they still don't want the press release itself linked to.

I'm half-wondering myself if there's a deliberate leak involved here...

nothing the actress did in Army of Ghosts convinced me that she was any great shakes.

Give her chance, She didn't have many lines and was dead before the end of it.

Firstly: GRRR, IT SHOULD'VE BEEN FLORENCE HOATH!

Probably the same way they'll show Eve Myles in Tochwood - by never mentioning it!

Have you seen Torchwood series one already, then? ;) Since we're making assumptions, though, mine is that Eve will be a desendant of the character we saw in The Unquiet Dead.

> Have you seen Torchwood series one already, then? ;)

No - that's why I used the future tense. I'm predicting two shows at once. Witness my crystal balls! :-)

> Since we're making assumptions, though, mine is that Eve will be a desendant of the character we saw in The Unquiet Dead.

Could be. But that only explains identical appearance in TV-land. Similar, sure, but ientical? Why bother? (Also requires some contorted backstory - either she had an illegitimate child, or there's some over-explaining of the "I had a great, great granny who had a sister once..." variety

Like a gazillion shows before it, why not just cast it and assume people won't noitice. They generally won't. Hell, nobody bothered to explain Colin Baker's previous appearance, did they?

Witness my crystal balls! :-)

Isn't that Ian's job?

> Hell, nobody bothered to explain Colin Baker's previous appearance, did they?

There was a series and a half or something like that between his appearance as whatever-his-name-was and the Sixth Doctor though, wasn't there? Whereas they DID bother with it when they cast someone who had appeared in the directly previous ep/serial as the Second Romana.

Not that I expect an explaination, but casting someone in a different role so soon after they appeared, (and they've not even been pure voiceover/hidden under a rubber suit one of the times) isn't a good idea, IMO.

> I don't think anything in the Eccleston era excited me quite so much as the closing minutes of AoG...

I like how it's the 'Eccleston era' when he just did one series! I still feel he had way more presence for the lead role in a show of this magnitude than DT (even though Tennant has definitely made the role his own). And there are SEVERAL moments in series 1 that beat the end of AoG hands down. One of them is the end of Bad Wolf with Eccleston's speech, it's fucking amazing when he says 'no' and the Dalek says 'what - is - the - mea - ning of this negative?' and he says 'it means no', then 'but you have no weapons, no defenses, no plan!' 'yeah, and doesn't that scare you to death!' fucking ACE! If anything in Doomsday beats that I'll be surprised.

As for the new companion, I would have preferred the name Adeola over Martha (I mean FFS, which one would you choose?). There's no way she'll just be playing a new character and everyone's expected to forget she was in AoG. She will probably be the alt-universe Adeola or her twin or something. She will be OK though, as long as they have more than one regular companion next season. Jack's gonna be back but we don't know the situation, it might just be for an episode.

I like how it's the 'Eccleston era' when he just did one series!

Sorry, that's just me attempting to be "journalese" and avoid repeating myself by saying "series one" and "series two" all the time...

I'm really suprised the broadsheets made an issue about her being the 'first black companion'. And I don't mean this in a 'I didn't notice, look how multicultural I am' but really, I didn't take it into account.

Which, apart from anything else, she isn't, even.

That reference made me smirk :-)

And yeah, Mickey was technically a companion. Incidentally, I wonder how many people are calling Martha the second companion of the new series, when she's actually the fifth? ;-)

'Which, apart from anything else, she isn't, even.'

Do you mean that in a Noel Clarke technicality way or was there someone else notable before?

I can't think of anyone else, so I'm assuming Noel Clarke. But Mickey was taken onboard willingly by the Doctor, and was a bona fide companion for two stories. Which is one more than Adam got, and I'd count him, too. Like I say, this series has had four so far - Rose, Adam, Jack and Mickey.

What they really mean is that she's the first main black cast member. Of course, Billie is the only other actress to have top billing with the Doctor, so that's probably all they're basing it on. Mickey was only a companion for 3 episodes. Adeola will be there for the entire season 3 and beyond.

I mean Martha not Adeola. Fucking hell, Martha is a shit name for her. She doesn't look like a 'Martha'. I just think of Martha Kent from Superman. And Jones as her surname. FFS does everything have to be Welsh?

FFS does everything have to be Welsh?

Only the welsh *have* to be welsh.