All language subtitles for Doctor Who The Ultimate Companion

Doctor Who.
It's one of Britain's

biggest television successes,

both here in the U.K.
and abroad.

Now over 50 years old
and broadcast

all over the world,
I say that's quite impressive.

Over the years,
the show has seen many changes.

So far we've traveled
with eleven doctors and...

An awful lot of companions.

And things are about
to change again.

Companion Clara Oswald
is about to begin

a whole new adventure

as actor Peter Capaldi
steps onboard the TARDIS

to become the twelfth Doctor.

I spent three years
playing the fifth Doctor,

but now I want to know
what life is like

as the Doctor's companion,

so I'm beginning
a journey of my own.

I want to know what it takes
to be the ultimate

Doctor Who companion.

Can it be done?

I'm about to find out.

# Doctor Who#
The Ultimate Companion
Original Air Date on August 16, 2013

== sync, corrected by elderman ==
@elder_man

Coming up on my quest for
the ultimate companion,

I meet up with the ultimate
in Doctor Who talent.

I get the chance to speak
to Clara Oswald herself,

actor Jenna Coleman.

The new Doctor
ruffles her feathers

in a way that
the other Doctor didn't.

I take a stroll
down memory lane

with former companion
Noel Clarke.

The companions makes it
relatable to the guy at home

who's like, "well,
I can't quite be the Doctor,

but I could be
the companion."

Got it? Thank you.
Yeah.

I go to America
and hear from the very popular

John Barrowman.

Once you are in this --
I call it

the who family,
you're there for

the rest of your life.

I walk the corridors
of the Doctor Who studios

with showrunner Steven Moffat.

The companion
goes on

a different journey from
being just an ordinary person

sometimes to being
a superhero.

I go
to the movies to see

the tenth Doctor,
David Tennant,

back on the big screen.

He seems drawn back to
the idea of a soulmate.

And I hear exclusively
from the new twelfth Doctor,

actor Peter Capaldi.

There's a little bit of me
that likes hearing

Clara shout, "Doctor, Doctor!"
As we run down the corridor.

Oh, hello.

I'm just trying to get my
trusty TARDIS moving again.

It's been well over
30 years since

I began my time
as the fifth Doctor,

and they've finally given me
a copy of the manual.

Fascinating.

It's all coming back to me.

As Tom Baker's
fourth Doctor regenerated,

my time onboard the TARDIS
as the fifth Doctor began.

Together with my
trusty companions,

it was quite an experience.

My time as the Doctor
provided plenty of adventures

as I traveled through
space and time,

but like the Time Lords
that had gone before me,

I didn't travel alone.

The Doctor's always
needed a companion,

or two or three,
to assist him in

his time-traveling adventures

and to get him out of
the occasional scrape, or two.

Or three.

You can see where I'm
going with this, can't you?

No? Okay.
It's time for a clip.

Even today,

the Doctor's companion,
Clara Oswald,

can be relied upon to
get him out of trouble

and to occasionally
save his life.

No. Please.

If this works,

get out of here
as fast as you can

and spare me a thought
now and then.

No. Clara.

In fact,
do you know what?

Run.

Run, you clever boy.

And remember me.

No. Clara!

Being a Doctor's companion,
often the Doctor's lifesaver,

is a big responsibility,
so just what does it take?

I want to find out for myself,

what type of
characters are they?

Is there a formula
or a blueprint

to create a Doctor Who
companion,

and if so, what would it
take to create

the ultimate
Doctor Who companion?

So, with my trusty TARDIS
now up and running,

I think it's time I took
one last trip to find out.

The Doctor is a strange
and unknowable man.

He's -- you might be
fascinated by him

and in a way
seduced by him,

but you don't ever
quite know him.

You don't even know his name.

So the main character
of Doctor Who,

in most cases,
the person whose journey

you're watching is actually
the companion's journey.

They're not just
the Doctor's companion.

In a way, the Doctor's
their companion.

It's about Rose Tyler
or Amy Pond or Clara Oswald.

It's their story,
their journey,

how that begins
and how that ends.

It's not that the companion
is important to Doctor Who.

You could almost argue
the companion is Doctor Who.

She is the person
or he is the person

who is asking that question
embodied in the title.

Ever since
the first Doctor,

there have been companions,
and when it came to my Doctor,

I was spoiled for choice.

I had five in total,
and they were all

very different to each other.

To help me gain
a better idea

of what it was like
to travel with

the Doctor back then,
I've invited round

Janet Fielding,
who played Tegan,

and Sarah Sutton,
who played Nyssa

to get an insider's
point of view.

The main reason
I've asked you here

is I'm set on a mission.

I'm on a quest to discover
if it's possible

to design
the ultimate companion.

And as in my mind, you two
were ultimate companions...

Well said.
Good answer.

So far.

I just wondered if you have
any ideas about, you know,

what makes
an ultimate companion,

what qualities
do they have to have?

Well, to me the Doctor
perhaps sees

the problem-solving thing
in a different way.

'Cause if the assistant
or companion, beg your pardon,

wasn't there getting
into trouble,

then the Doctor would have
just gone off

and done his own thing,
solved something in one way,

and maybe the companion
makes the Doctor

see things through
a different perspective.

Do you agree?

Yes, of course,
but isn't it true,

or maybe it wasn't so true,
then,

that we see the TARDIS
and the Doctor's adventures

through the eyes
of the companion?

I think it's truer now,
isn't it?

Yeah, I think so.

It's much truer now.

I think the companions now,

much more -- you know,
you relate to them much more.

So let's see
how the companions'

relationship with
the Doctor has changed.

Cue Clara.

Draft.

Fancy a week
in ancient Mesopotamia

followed by future Mars?

Will there be cocktails?

On the Moon.

The Moon'll do.

Ha ha!

What they've discovered
in the new series,

it seems to me,
is just how to make

the companions
just more important.

The doctors were
more emotionally remote

in the '80s,
weren't they?

Yes.

So the whole point
was that you weren't --

your characters weren't
very emotional.

You were complete outsiders.

Whereas you notice --
especially I notice

with Matt Smith,
watching the interaction

between him,
Rory, and Amy,

and he does that with
a certain air of wistfulness.

2,000 years.

The boy who waited.

Good on you, mate.

Have you got any contributions
in terms of

what traits and qualities
I should put on my list

for my ultimate companion?

It's that likability,
and you have to have

a fallibility,
I think you do,

you have to have flaws,
you know?

I think the flaws,
actually,

I'm beginning to realize
the flaws are as important,

really, as the qualities.

To create the drama.

Well, thank you both
very much for coming along,

and it's been very useful
to talk to you.

As Clara Oswald
is about to start

a new journey with
a new Doctor played by actor

Peter Capaldi, I want to know
what she should expect

when a new Doctor begins
his time on the TARDIS.

No, no!

Please don't change.

So I've met up with
actress Nicola Bryant,

who played my American companion
Peri Brown,

to find out how she managed

when I regenerated
from the fifth Doctor

into Colin Baker's
new sixth Doctor.

You had it
particularly difficult,

and it's a problem that
Jenna Coleman is

about to come up against,
and that is that up to now,

you did two
very nice stories

with me as the Doctor,
including, actually,

one of the greatest Doctor Who
stories ever made,

"The Caves of Androzani,"
and then at the end of that,

suddenly, whoosh,
I turn into Colin Baker,

and you have a completely
different Doctor to deal with.

Now, we built up
a kind of relationship

over those two stories.

How difficult was it then
to move on?

I think in terms of
the character,

in terms of Peri, you just,
like an actor,

you have to be
incredibly flexible.

I think the reason
she stayed --

'cause you have to
find the reason.

Why am I staying
with this new Doctor

who in my case was particularly
cantankerous and difficult?

Doctor?

You were expecting
someone else?

I...I...I...

Those three "I's" in one breath
makes you sound

a rather egotistical
young lady.

And I look at
Doctor Who now,

and I just wondered
how you viewed

the Doctor Who now
in the sense that I think

when it came back,
from Rose onwards, really,

the companion became so much
more of an important part.

I have to say that
when I saw Rose,

it was almost like her journey
was the journey

that I wanted
Peri to go on.

I love you.

Quite right, too.

And I suppose...

It's my last chance
to say it.

Rose Tyler --

Okay,

I think we've established
on top of everything else,

we doctors give the companions
a big problem.

No sooner do we welcome them
into the TARDIS,

make them feel really at home,
and we suddenly

turn into someone
completely different.

They have to be the ultimate
in adaptability

and yet know exactly
what they want.

Clara is an unusual one
because she has to

go through two doctors,
in fact.

Several more if
you count the 50th.

And Clara being I suppose
a girl who likes

everything in its box,
quite in control,

quite sort of perfect
in a way,

um, has a great time with
the Matt Smith Doctor

because he rolls over
on his back

and she tickles his tummy
and that's fine.

She gets all the adoration
she requires

and she puts him back
in his police box

when she's bored of him
and goes back to a normal life.

Then along comes
the Peter Capaldi Doctor,

and things change, rather,
but you'll have to

keep watching
to find out how.

It's fair to say
that the tenth Doctor

recruited a diverse range
of companions,

so who better to ask about
what makes an ultimate companion

than the man himself,
actor David Tennant?

Right, okay, so, David,
thank you very much

for spending some time
and coming along today.

I wanted to ask you,
why do you think the Doctor

needs a companion?

When he periods
of traveling alone,

which my Doctor certainly did,
he seems drawn back to the idea

of a soulmate after not very
much time on his own.

I think perhaps he doesn't
like his own company.

Do you find that
different companions

complemented the Doctor
in different ways?

How did you find playing
with different companions

affecting the way you --

Well, I suppose one of
the difficult things

in the character that

any kind of heroic character
that kind of

can't change too much
or the series is broken,

you kind of --
you're always looking

for new ways to explore
who that character is,

and one of the best ways
of doing that

is by giving them
a different opposite number,

and to change the kind of
dynamics of

those opposite numbers,
to show different aspects

of that continuing
character's personality.

But talking about it
affecting the dynamics,

we have a clip here
of you in the TARDIS,

and I thought, as I say,
I had three and that was a lot.

Look at this.

Cue the curtains!

It's like the Saturday morning
pictures all over again.

Sarah, hold that.
Mickey, you hold that.

'Cause you know why
this TARDIS is always

rattling about the place?
Rose, that, there.

It was designed
to have six pilots,

and I have to do it
single-handed.

Martha,
keep that level.

But not anymore. Jack,
there you go, steady that.

Now we can fly this thing --
n--no, Jackie,

no, no, not you.

Don't touch anything.
Just...

Stand back.

All right, then.
Off we go.

So there you are dealing
with the multidynamics

of an enormous number
of companions.

I couldn't even --

almost as many
as you had.

Almost as many, yeah,

and in that scene,
for example,

I thought, you know,
you were playing

multi-comedic facets
of those various companions

that you'd picked up
along the way,

and it is quite important,
isn't it?

I mean, apart from
imparting information,

it's also a chance
to have a bit of fun.

Yes, I suppose,
otherwise it can be a bit dour,

can't it, and I suppose
there's always going to be --

because the Doctor's always
going to be older,

wiser, alien, and the companion
tends to be younger, human,

there's a disparity there
which lends itself

to comedy, I guess,
as well.

Absolutely. So what do you
think that our companion --

are there things
that you could actually

lay down and say a companion
needs to have these qualities?

You need to have
a certain courage.

A wanderlust,
um, and I suppose

a sense of themself,
a sense --

you need someone who
can stand up to him.

So confidence.

Needs a lot of confidence.

Excellent,
it's been really helpful.

Good, I'm delighted
to be of service.

Thank you.

One of the most
obvious things I can see

when it comes to
being a companion

is that they have to
be courageous

in the face of danger,
and for the companions,

when the Doctor's around,
danger is never far away.

So to find out what it takes
to step up and stare danger

right between the eyes,
I'm meeting up with someone who,

well, let's just say
they learnt to be brave.

Ah.

I think he's here.

Hello, sir.

How are you?
I'm good. How are you doing?

Nice to see you.
Yeah, you too.

The truth is, Noel,

I've always wanted
to meet someone

in the middle of
Chelsea bridge.

Well, we're meeting.

No, the thing is,
I've been set this quest

to discover a design for
the ultimate companion,

and we've asked
various people

for suggestions about
what it takes to make

an ultimate companion.

What's interesting
about your case

is that you didn't
start off as one,

it seemed to me, anyway,
correct me if I'm wrong.

You seemed to start off as
a slightly weedly,

almost dumped boyfriend.

Yeah, very much so,
very much so.

I think that was
sort of the idea.

Originally the character

was only supposed to be in
for three episodes,

you know, because it was
such a weedly,

you know,
scaredy-cat character.

They knew that the Doctor
wouldn't really like him

and they knew the fans
wouldn't really take to him,

and so he was supposed to be
that sort of take-for-granted --

take his girlfriend for granted
type of boyfriend.

A fat lot good you were.

Nesting Consciousness?

Easy. Right, then.

I'll be off.

Unless, I don't know.

You could come with me.

Don't.

He's an alien,
he's a thing!

He's not invited.

You did then become
gradually more heroic

as the series went on.

Like real life,
obviously.

There's an argument,
of course,

that the companion,
since the series came back,

that the companions
are as important

if not sometimes more
important than the Doctor.

I think they ground it.

I think they
ground the show.

They bring
the real life element.

You know, Rose with
Mickey and Jackie

and then, you know, Martha
and her family and Donna and,

the companions bring that,

and I think it
makes it relatable

to the guy at home who's like,

"well, I can't quite
be the Doctor,

but I could be the companion,"
you know?

So it's a combination,
what you need,

and I guess you have it,
is a combination

of uniqueness
and yet everyman.

The everyman, yeah.
Which is a fantastic quality to have.

Well, thanks very much.

Thank you so much
for having me.

I'm beginning
to get a good idea

of the elements that
help make a companion.

So far, I've realized
that the companions

have to be keen on adventure,

they have to be adaptable,
heroic, even.

But what about the actors
who play the companion?

They have to take this part
and make it their own,

face all the challenges
thrown at them by the Doctor,

and yet make their
companion unique.

Just as actor
Jenna Coleman has.

Hello.

Clara Oswald.

Yeah?
Clara Oswin Oswald?

Just Clara Oswald.
What was that middle one?

Do you remember me?

No.

Should I?
Who are you?

The Doctor.

No?

The Doctor?

Doctor Who?

No, just the Doctor.

Actually, sorry, could you
just ask me that again?

Could I what?
Just ask me that question again?

Doctor Who.

Okay, just once more.

Doctor Who?

Oh, yeah.

Ooh.

Do you know,

I never realized
how much I enjoy

hearing that said out loud.
Thank you.

Okay.
Hey, no! Clara!

The main thing about auditions
is that when they work,

you start off
explaining the character

to the actor or actress,
and then,

in the course of
a successful audition,

they start explaining
the character to you

and the way they act,
and it just happens sometimes,

it just catches fire.

It's the easiest thing
in the world

to spot a successful audition,
to spot a star.

It really is.

The stardom is not
difficult to see.

With Jenna as Clara,

I remember very vividly,
there was just a moment

when she and Matt were reacting
to something together,

and I thought,
"oh, my goodness,

she absolutely gets it.

She gets what kind of
storytelling this is."

And she's got a wonderful face
and wonderful eyes,

she was so funny,

she was fast.

She was just perfect.

But, you know,
there was no expertise

on my part
involved in that.

Maybe some expertise
on the part of Andy Pryor,

the casting director,
but not on my part.

Anyone could have spotted
that that was the right girl,

'cause she was brilliant,
and brilliance is very,

very easy to detect.

I'm meeting
Doctor Who's

casting director,
Andy Pryor.

So with regards to

the companion,
presumably they give you

a certain amount of
parameters to make your job

a little bit easier,
so you can go

and look for the characteristics
that they require.

Well, as with all casting,
really,

it is driven by the writing.

You know, the key
and crucial thing

is the writing
and the interpreting that

in the casting
the best way you can.

Quite often
with the companion,

the showrunner will have
had an idea about

what kind of character
he wants them to be.

But really, until you get
the scenes on the page,

the dialogue on the page,
and you can hear

the characters speaking,
then it's quite difficult

to make a full
judgement on it.

Now, presumably there
was some kind of balance

that you looked for
when the Doctor was Matt

and the companion was Jenna
and now you have

a different Doctor.

I suppose what I'm saying is
that you need an actor

who can sort of play the part
across the board,

you know,
very adaptable.

Yes, I mean, one of
the difficulties is that,

you know, you can't
predict chemistry

until you put
two actors together,

and then when you change Doctor,
you don't quite know

what's going to happen,
I think the companion

has the great benefit of already
having been established

in that case, and Jenna had
established Clara brilliantly

by the time we'd cast Peter,

and I think that's probably
helpful for another actor,

in this case Peter,
coming in,

to have somebody there
who sort of knows the ropes,

so it ends up becoming quite
a sort of mutual support thing

between the two actors.

So, meeting Andy
has been very useful.

It's clear that
our ultimate companion

has to be a good actor but also
have a strong personality.

You see, the companion
is how we view the TARDIS.

It's who we share all our
time-traveling experiences with.

We really do
have to like them.

Really has to be
the right person for the job.

Since the return
of the show in 2004,

each companion has had
their own theme music,

from Rose to Martha,
from Donna to Amy,

and now, of course, Clara.

Each has had a piece
of music dedicated to them.

I want to find out why.

So I've come to
a recording studio

in London to speak to the man
who penned all of those themes,

Doctor Who's composer,
Murray Gold.

So, Murray, thanks very much
for helping us out with this.

Tell us about
Clara's theme.

Well, that's a good
case in point,

because Clara came in at a time
when the stories had become

very melodramatic,
and you could see

that she was sort of
off-the-cuff and flighty

and smart and didn't have
a lot of baggage, you know.

She had a freshness
about her.

And so I wanted to carry
that through in the music.

Hello?

Hello!

So, Murray, with my design for
the ultimate Doctor's companion,

what would you --
what themes would you

be reflecting in the music
for the ultimate companion?

Ultimate companion?

She's just curious
and tells the Doctor the truth

and also hides the truth,
and there's a bunch of opposites

all contained in one person,

and I don't know,
it's a difficult task,

that, ultimate --

Okay, I'll let you know.
Okay. Please do.

One of the main responsibilities
about playing

the Doctor's companion
is what it means to the fans.

How will you be received,
how will it change your life?

Well, to find out,
I'm off to Houston, Texas,

and the good old U.S. of "A"
to talk to John Barrowman,

who played
Captain Jack Harkness,

see what he thinks.

Only problem is,
what did I do with the TARDIS?

Ah!

Ah. Seems like I still have
the hang of flying this thing.

Yes, this definitely
looks like Texas.

Now all I have to do
is track down John

among all these fans.

There's quite a lot of them.

Captain Jack Harkness,
played by actor John Barrowman,

proved to be
one of Doctor Who's

most popular characters,
and for John,

playing the part of
the Doctor's companion

literally changed his life.

I think he
came with us.

How do you mean,
from earth?

Must have been clinging to
the outside of the TARDIS.

All the way
through the vortex?

Wow, that's very him.

What, do you know him?

Friend of mine.

Used to travel with me
back in the old days.

But he's...

I'm sorry,
there's no heartbeat.

There's nothing.

He's dead.

Aaah!

Oh, so much for me!

It's all right, breathe deep,
I've got you.

Captain Jack Harkness.

And who are you?

Martha Jones.

Nice to meet you,
Martha Jones.

Oh, don't start!

I was only
saying hello.

I don't mind.

Got it?
Yeah.

Thank you, awesome.
Thank you very much.

John is appearing
at a science fiction convention

where fans are
gathering to meet

their favorite superheroes
and companions.

Now I've found him,

I just need to
get his attention.

John! Any chance
you could make this --

just hold on a minute,
okay?

Just about five minutes.

Five minutes? Okay.

There you go,
is that okay?

John, it's been 20 minutes.

It's probably
going to be an hour,

so just hang tight.

To hell with this.

I'm telling you,

they learn to
fly a TARDIS,

they think they can
rule the world!

So, John, obviously
there's an enormous number

of fans here today,
and an enormous number of them

are waiting to see you

as Captain Jack.

Now, if we were searching,
say, for the ultimate companion,

how important is it to find
someone who is prepared

to be a companion for
the rest of their lives?

It's really important,
because the identity that

the fans have
through the companion

is their connection
to the Doctor,

and the fans, I think,
then relate to something

that is within
the companion themselves,

so if the companion,
whether it is someone

like Sarah Jane
or it's a Captain Jack

or a Rose Tyler
or a Martha Jones,

all of those --

all of those characters
then connect with

somebody in the audience,
but you have to realize

once you are in this --
I call it

the Who family,

you're there for
the rest of your life.

It is the longest job.

It is the longest job
in show business.

You never leave.
But it's the most gratifying,

because once you're in there
and the kind of adulation

that you get from the fans,
because, you know,

I see young --
I have a little,

like, seven year old boy
dressed up as Captain Jack

and his best friend
dressed up as, you know,

David as the Doctor,
and for me, that's like,

they're just seeing it
for the first time,

so it's generations,
generations that are

going to continue to watch it,
so if you are a companion,

you must take this onboard
that you're

going to be there
for the rest of your life.

The way it was played
and the way it was written

in the script,
I guess the way you played it,

was completely open,
you know, heart on sleeve,

and that's really
the one essential quality

I think a companion has to have
if the audience

is to relate to them.

Well, yeah,
because they have to --

like I said, they're
the connection to the Doctor,

but for a companion,

if you're going to be
a good one,

you've got to allow the Doctor
to shine and be the Doctor,

but you've also
got to make your mark.

So if you had to distill
just one of

the qualities of
a companion

that you enjoy playing the most,
what would it be?

This is going to --
it might be a weird answer.

Yes, it was being the hero.
It was being...

The -- you know,
the flirtatious, fun one,

but it was also being

the companion.

And that may be not
a description of what you --

how you can play it,
but part of the joy

was being part of his team,

and that to me --

so if that answers
the question,

that's what it was.

Excellent. Finally,
I don't suppose it's possible,

is it,
to get you to sign this?

Well, I did make you
wait for an hour.

I did, and --
I don't have a pen on me.

Anybody have a pen?

I've got a fan here.

Don't worry, I'll...
I'll come back tomorrow.

All right.
Thanks, Peter.

God love you.

It's always interesting when
the doctors like Captain Jack.

So, it's back into
the TARDIS and back to the U.K.,

where I've got one
last stop on my journey.

Let's see if I can

find the man behind
the current series

of Doctor Who,
Steven Moffat,

to see what he thinks
makes the ultimate companion.

Now, when you were young

and you used to
watch the program,

did you want to be the Doctor

or did you
want to be a companion?

I can only ever remember myself
wanting to be a companion.

Oh, you always
want to be a companion,

because the Doctor
is unknowable,

and you want that TARDIS
to materialize

at the end of your road
and you to be invited in

and go on an adventure
and let the Doctor take on

the heavy work and explain stuff
while you get to be

sort of excited
and interested.

It never happened.

But I think the show is
the closest I've got.

But would you have accepted
that invitation?

This is why --
I don't think I'd ever be

brave enough to accept it.

We asked people,
and this is what we came up with

in terms of a list of
the qualities, the attributes,

that maybe the ultimate
companion needs.

A sense of adventure,
obviously, I guess,

adaptable,
suddenly you're on Earth,

next minute you're in
some other universe.

Got to appeal to the fans.

Right, yes, yes.

And be unique.

Unique but identical
in all the other respects.

You see, the thing
that I thought was,

the companion, the same time
as maybe being unique,

they are everyman
and everywoman.

I mean, they ask
the Doctor the questions

that we sitting at home
watching the program --

would want to ask,
yeah.

They are. I mean,
I think sometimes it's reductive

to say that they're just there
to give the viewers' viewpoint.

They're also in a way
kind of the main character.

They -- sorry.
It's their journey

that you're following,
you know, how they're changed

by the experience
of the Doctor.

The Doctor, you know,
for all the changes he's faced,

he's sort of the same
as he ever was,

but the companion
goes on a different journey

from being just
an ordinary person

sometimes to being a superhero,
so it's often their story.

So now we have, of course,
a new Doctor coming up,

and a companion who has been

passed from Matt Smith
to Peter Capaldi.

How is this going to
affect her character?

I think it's rather exciting,
actually.

He's very,
very different.

We just got to the point
with Matt's Doctor and Jenna

that they feel really
comfortable, it's a proper unit,

and you sort of feel she's
completely in control of it,

which is what Clara likes.

She likes to be completely
in control of her puppy Doctor

and she can go off
every Wednesday,

have an adventure with him,
put him back in the blue box,

go back to work.

She likes that, it's cool,
and she tells him what to do.

Along comes the Capaldi Doctor,
and suddenly he's sort of

rebooted to a very
difficult to control,

slightly unreasonable man,

and she starts to have to be
the human interface

between the old Scottish monster

and the humanity
he's trying to save.

So a nice challenge for her.

It's been brilliant, yeah.
She's so funny in this.

I'm looking forward to it.

Would you like to
meet her?

I wouldn't mind.

I'll have a word.

So,
with Steven's encouragement,

I'm about to find out
from Jenna Coleman

what's in store for Clara
in the next series

as a new Doctor
enters our lives.

I've been sent on this mission
to try and discover

what it takes to be

an ultimate companion,
and so before we go on to

actually how you've made Clara
a very special companion,

what do you think
the essential

qualities are for
a Doctor Who companion?

I think ultimately,
and kind of going back

to all the companions
that I've seen,

is I think one word that
I'd use is "spirit,"

and, yeah,
an adventurous streak,

always to have that kind of

bold, human spirit throughout
all of the adventures,

and I think that's
the thing in common.

And would you say
that's what

you've latched onto most?

'Cause you seem to have
a tremendous amount of fun.

Obviously I'm talking now
about the last season,

but you seem to have
a tremendous amount of fun

in your sort of repartee
with the Doctor.

Yeah, it is, isn't it?

I mean, even me as Jenna
just coming in to work every day

and getting to go
to all those places

and travel it in that way
and kind of just adventure,

just to have adventure
and just live a life

traveling with Doctor Who
as your best friend.

Did you really know what
you were getting yourself into

when you became a companion?

Had you watched
the series before?

No, I hadn't.
Really?

It was off-- I was --
I think I was 18,

19 when the series
came back on,

so it was never in
my childhood at all,

but it's always something
that's kind of in your psyche,

you're always aware of it,
you see it --

it's all over, it's --
I think it's such a part

of British culture.

Was there a sort of
BBC handbook

for companions they gave you
that you could go,

"I see, that's how
I'm meant to be"?

No. I do remember
actually going for --

I remember going into
the BBC for

my first audition with Matt,
and I just remember

being sat in a canteen
and I was eating a salad

and I just looked up
and there's literally like

a cardboard cutout of Matt

just like stood
like right next to me,

so, you know,
you've kind of got an awareness

of, okay, this show
is quite unique.

Yes, no, absolutely.

And one of the things
that's come up

when we've been talking
to people about

the ultimate companion
is adaptability.

Now, they gave you
possibly the hardest job

that they've given
any companion, I think,

because there you were,
going along very, very nicely,

with the eleventh Doctor,
and then they swapped

doctors on you,
and not only that,

they swapped from
the youngest Doctor

there has ever been to I believe
shall we say most mature Doctor.

How has that affected
the way that you play Clara?

I think what has kind of
happened is

everything feels like
it's kind of been inverted,

and I think with what's --
with going from Matt's Doctor,

to this young,
vibrant guy who has kind of

got this old spirit,
it feels kind of inverted now,

so we have Peter's Doctor,
but he's got this

kind of young, boyish spirit,
and in a way,

the relationship has totally --
it's just been totally inverted,

the dynamics have
shifted so much.

That must be interesting
as an actress

to play that as well,
isn't it?

Yeah, and to go along
with that kind of --

of what it does to her,
and I think in a way,

it kind of -- it ruffles her --
the new Doctor

ruffles her feathers in a way
that the other Doctor didn't,

and I think she finds him
a lot harder to control, almost,

and to kind of keep on a leash
because he's just this --

You're the senior partner now,
of course, aren't you,

so maybe you have to
sort of show him how --

help him find his feet
in the TARDIS.

I suppose so, but it's never
really felt like that at all.

I mean,

what advice can you give
to Peter Capaldi?

He's just, you know,
he's a genius.

I'm particularly
excited about it,

because I grew up, you see,
with William Hartnell

and Patrick Troughton,
so older doctors,

and while I've immensely enjoyed
the younger doctors,

and indeed I've always said
I started a trend

for younger doctors,
but there you go,

I'm quite --
I'm very excited that now

we're having -- almost sort of
going back to basics.

He is the Doctor,
he -- he has --

even his physicality --
you'll see so many things,

like one weird thing that
I noticed straight away

was his hands, like,
he's just got this

doctorish quality to
the way he walks and runs,

and...

He is the Doctor.
He is, he is, yeah.

Thank you very much.
Thank you.

There's just one person left
to ask about companions,

the new twelfth Doctor himself,
Peter Capaldi.

Now, I've been set
on this mission to see if

I can come up with
a design for the ultimate

Doctor Who companion,
and I just wondered if --

how you felt that your
relationship with Clara

has changed from Matt Smith's
relationship with Clara,

has -- is it
essentially different?

I think it's changed, yeah,
very significantly,

because clearly, you know,
although the Doctor

is the same age,
he appears much older.

So it just changed the dynamic
in a very interesting way.

I think he's
crazy about her,

but in a totally sort of
innocent way.

What's come up in
my conversations with

various people,
they've said, you know,

companions, apart from
being certainly courageous,

being strong-willed,
but they also have to

adapt very well,
and it sounds like

you are pushing the limits
of that, adapting,

for a companion.

Yeah, I think the show's
changed quite a lot,

and I think the stories
are largely told now

through the eyes
of the companion,

which wasn't always
the case before,

but they also serve
the function in doing it.

A key Doctor Who thing
which I've always

loved about
Doctor Who was

the ability to balance
the sort of banal and domestic

with the epic and exotic
and spectacular space monster

kind of orientated
kinds of worlds

with the pedestrian precinct
with the overflowing litter bin,

so with Clara,
she has a very --

we see a lot of her life,
which, you know,

she has -- she's a teacher,
I call her at school.

And it's quite a -- you know,
it's quite a tough job.

It's a good job
and she does it very well,

but we saw her colleagues,
we see her students.

You've been running.

Are you okay?

There was a call for you
at the office.

From your Doctor.

I think it's one of
the great achievements

of the series
since it came back

is the companion is
a much more exciting part

for someone to play,
I think, and you complement

and makes it, you know,
for a great relationship.

I think it's very important.

I think it's -- the Doctor
without a companion is --

you know, you maybe
get away with one episode

or something like that
just as a novelty,

but he needs somebody
to ground him

for the audience
to see the wonders,

you know, through
the companion's eyes.

And there is a little
bit of me that likes

hearing Clara shout,
"Doctor, Doctor!"

As we run down a corridor.

But I love that about it.

Well, thank you very much indeed
for your help.

I'm going to add all
those things to my list.

Thanks again.
It's been a great pleasure.

It's been a great pleasure
to meet you, Doctor.

Thank you, Doctor.
Good to meet you at last.

Well, here I am at
the end of my journey,

and I think it's safe to say
that I now know

more about a companion's life
than I did before.

Essentially,
they're adventurous,

heroic individuals
who adapt to their doctors

and manage to
keep them in check.

More importantly,
they're our way into the TARDIS,

our way of traveling
with the Doctor.

Their journeys are
constantly changing,

and as the twelfth Doctor
enters Clara's life,

her journey is about
to change again,

and our journey
with the both of them

is just about to begin.

Is there an ultimate companion?

Well, I don't know,
but one thing is certain --

being a companion
is the ultimate position

onboard the TARDIS.