Back in Classic Who, there were those scenes we all remember when a companion, seemingly out of the blue, decided that they were going to leave the Tardis for either noble or spurious quickly written *cough, Leela, cough* reasons!

I've noticed this season, that there have been an absolute abundance of scenes that would have been perfect for Clara's departure, many valid reasons whether it be Danny's 'ultimatums', Clara getting sick of the Doctor being an arse or whatever.

I'm not sure what my feelings are on this, is it overkill and saturation that will deaden the actual moment Clara departs or is it better to do it this way rather than just announce it out of the blue?

I get that, in NuWho the high profile media make us aware of a characters future but how much departure dialogue is really needed in a series?

If she and Danny survive the finale maybe leave at Christmas. Clara leaves because she is either engaged or pregnant. 12 who doesn't like hugs makes an exception. wishing her and Danny the best for their future together.

I really don't think she will leave at Christmas as series 9 is filming in January and if there was a new companion we would know about it by now as they would have already have been cast.

We knew about Clara/Jenna about a year before she started

I think she will stay for S9, I feel her and twelve are finally starting to have a good dynamic which I'm enjoying. Her enthusiasm in 'In The Forest Of The Night' for the doctor and wanting to see all the spacey stuff also made me feel like her character will still be staying.
Obviously, she could have an abrupt (storyline wise) exit like Rose/Donna/Amy which is different than them choosing to leave the doctor, but I can't imagine her opting to leave like Martha.

Well, we still don't know if it is a departure. Which sort of does an effective job of relating us to Clara's situation - even she doesn't know whether she should split or not.

I think a few scenes here and there do a good job of showing that the companion is questioning their role, making for a more satisfying conclusion - I think Amy and Rory took it a little far past the "we're leaving", "no, we're bored, we're back", "oops, zapped by aliens and dead".

It would still be possible for them to have cast somebody (or do it in the next two months) and keep it secret till after Christmas.


Which would keep the audience in suspense over Clara's fate.

Much as I'm lukewarm to the character generally, those would have been absolutely awful, anti-climactic reasons for her to leave. Even she deserves much better than that. If all of this has been setting the scene for her departure, I must say it has been handled pretty badly.

I have struggled with Clara. For one reason or another I am not convinced by her character. I feel that she has been confusing as a 'companion'. I have felt that she hasn't been a companion but more of a 'plot line' throughout. Clara often seems too eager to do the 'timey wimey' stuff and as a result we haven't learned much about her as a character or related to her?

But having said this, I suspect there might be a reason in the end for this 'lack of depth' to her character.. and this may be revealed leading to her departure in the end. If so, then this might help explain for me why I have felt confused by her character.

If not, then I was just conclude that I failed to connect with her character as a viewer and therefore am happy for her to go sooner rather than later.

I was thinking maybe claras exit would be to regenerate once she had been exposed as the rani.

I'm hoping for a kind, thoughful and well acted farewell........ Something along the lines of Clara having her limbs chained to 4 wild horses and then letting off a firework. Or being slowly fed into a waste disposal unit. Something thought provoking and worthy of her character anyway.

If Clara is leaving, I could imagine it being either at the end of season 8 or in the Christmas special. I don't think it really matters.

I think a new companion would be kept back for the start of season 9. I think it will be part of the build up for it. I think it would be a little less exciting if we meet the new companion on Christmas Day and then have to wait eight or nine months for their next adventure.

Besides, the Christmas specials have regularly had one-off companions or been 'companion lite' so its not essential for either Clara or a new companion to be in that episode.

I'm just really hoping any new companion joins the Doctor with a clean slate - no crack in her bedroom wall, no pre-destined pregnancies, and no impossible back story. Just an ordinary person with a real life who leaps at the chance to go travelling with the Doctor.

I don't see why he needs a full-time companion at all.
It would be better if a succession of characters we have met during the previous episodes decide to tag along for an adventure or two, then returned to their own time.

I'd have liked Journey Blue, Frank Skinner's character or even Maebh to have accepted an offer to travel.

It would spare us the companion's tedious love-life (or equally tedious boyfriend) as well..

Yeah, I think this would be quite fun..

This. Please. It's been Overdone now. A back to basics approach would be refreshing.

Although it is interesting that Martha is one of the least favoured NewWho companions [and was also the only one to not have a huge Mystery / Destiny attached to them].

Actually, I think completely the opposite. I think we were supposed to see a completely clinical Clara here - no sense of responsibility to the children in any real form, far more interested in the 'spacey stuff'. Why? Because she is leaving perhaps.. and we learn why Clara has been confusing as a companion.

I think Martha suffered from the writing and being presented (essentially) as the Doctor's rebound companion. A great shame because handled differently I think she could have been a real favourite.

In the pre-titles sequence I would love the Doctor and Clara to arrive on a spaceship and to go exploring in the laughing joking way they do. Then they turn a corner to come face to face with a Dalek who just exterminates Clara outright. Cue titles.

The Doctor then proceeds to join the fighters against the Daleks, and teams up with one of them at the end.

1. Shock of a companion death 2. Daleks are a scary threat again 3. Old school out of the blue horror.

Could they do a full series without a companion?

I hope she just decides to leave then that leaves the door open for her to make occasional guest appearance (I don't know why they don't do that with Martha)

I find the idea that you consider someone with a crack in their wall "not an ordinary person", but someone who works in a store where the shop dummies come to life, works in hospital inhabited by a blood sucking alien or someone abducted from their wedding by a mysterious force, is an "ordinary person" slightly odd.

I have a crack in my bedroom wall, and one in the ceiling too, does that mean I'm not a ordinary person ?

Perhaps I should qualify my comment by adding a crack in their wall "that erased most of their personal timeline".

If I could come up with a little dialogue to maybe, move things along a little it would be

"Emergency protocol Doctor, blast those doors!"

I don't know. Is the crack in your wall and ceiling eating away at your timeline? If so, then no, you are not an ordinary person.

clearly what was meant here is a companion with no extraordinary baggage. Neither Rose, Martha nor Donna were living a particularly extra ordinary life until that first encounter.

Sorry, caught this at the end but we're not talking about stashing drugs in a wall here??

Or placing dead females in the wall???

Oh, special people who can't be arsed to get a repairman in

Tut tut - cowboy builders

Donna was being fed Huon Particles by her alien serving boyfriend for months before she met the Doctor.

After the events of Bad Wolf and Day Of The Doctor it would even be argued she was always predetermined to be a companion due to alien ect stuff