Doctor Who Season 8: 10 Ways They Could Screw It Up

8. Jenna Louise Coleman

It€™s fairly common for a Doctor to be survived by his companions- that€™s been the case with all but Troughton, McGann and Tennant. Although the companion stays the same, the new Doctor serves to recontextualise their role in the series. Take Peri, for example. With Peter Davison she was a fairly nondescript peril monkey. With Colin Baker, she was one half of probably the most unpleasantly dysfunctional couple in TV history. Moffat has already hinted that Clara€™s relationship with the Twelfth Doctor will be very different, but will it remain as effective? Or rather, can it remain as effective, now that her story has been wrapped up? She does all the required companion-y things, and Jenna Louise Coleman does them with style and charm, but she€™s not a character you can imagine existing outwith the show, as you could with Rose Tyler or even Amy Pond. That may be moreso the case in Series Eight, where her basic role will be to reassure viewers that this is still the same show they always loved, even with a strange new leading man at the helm. She€™s not the focus anymore- so it€™s easy to see any further character development being stymied. Then there€™s the question of chemistry. For all the criticisms of the €˜Impossible Girl€™ storyline, the interplay between her and Matt Smith was always enjoyable. Things will be different with Capaldi. And if they don€™t click, Series Eight might just not work.