I was watching the Zygon Inversion again, she really played Bonnie well. Bonnie is clearly very different to Clara - very dark and mean looking - especially that scene where the Zygon is running away from her and she leaves the tunnel. Her voice also had a slight metallic/robotic edge, you notice the contrast really when she's having a dialogue with Clara.

Good stuff

Yeah, her acting has significantly improved over the course of her tenure on the show. I thought her acting left a lot to be desired back in Series 7 but she's really improved over time and, coupling her acting with the writing, she makes Clara feel like a real person that I know personally.

Playing as Bonnie in this two-parter has really given her a chance to show what she can do and I hope this is a sign of other things to come in her acting career. It would be a shame to see her stuck with the same kind of role again and again.

The Zygon story gave a very obvious example of her fantastic acting range. I enjoyed the more evil Bonnie, even if at times it bordered on a moustache-twirling kind of villainy. I think she really upped the ante at the end, and highlighted the strength both her and Capaldi seem to have - that they're not afraid to let the other take centre-stage when it calls for it.

Tennant and Tate are my other favourite duo, and they'll always be one of my favourites (in spite of me not really caring about his Doctor, she brought out the best in him)... but even they had a tendency to shout over the top of each other in a bold, confident sort of way. It worked at the time, but these days when the show has been long-aching for substance over style, it's nice to see in Capaldi and Coleman a duo that slows down to let the [i]other/I] talk. Whether it's Coleman owning the scene like at the end of Kill the Moon, or Capaldi owning it at the end of The Zygon Inversion (two Harness scripts, by coincidence perhaps) they allow each other to take precedence and in turn it makes their characters better, more refined. In the Zygon example, you got to see Capaldi giving his bold speech but Coleman got the chance to play a subtle, unnerved but angry and villainous character who was distinctly different to her portrayal of Clara standing right over the other side of the room - she made it look effortless, you didn't even need to think about which was which (hair up and down accordingly helps of course). Similarly Clara's anger in Kill the Moon was reflected brilliantly in the Doctor's somewhat stunned monosyllabic response which saw his cold persona smack him in the face.

Regardless of some of the opinions of both, or the opinion that Coleman has been with the show for long enough now, I do think she's going to be a huge loss myself. A necessary one at this stage, but a loss nonetheless. Both actors are an asset to the show, and compliment each other brilliantly. They have a terrific behind-the-scenes dynamic that makes whoever they're portraying simply shine on the screen.

Jenna Coleman has transcended the poor scripts she was given in her earliest days on the show to become perhaps what I consider the most genuine, well-rounded character of all. I never would have imagined Moffat capable of that, but I'll give it to him that he's impressed me. Series 10, regardless of whichever likely brilliant actress they find for the role, will be a little more bittersweet in her absence.

Great accolade for Jenna above, so I can't be the only one who feels how Clara has grown into the role & is much more confident at leading the show now and owning her character. Almost as much as Peter Capaldi! Though, maybe inevitable too?

Don't know about you, but it feels like the "Moffat companions" - Amy and even River Song included! - have been given a much fuller life-cycle with the Doctor in the Tardis (even when he wasn't there and they were separated somehow). From as far back as the classic-era up to Russell T., others have felt like they merely took an episode out of their lives to go travelling with him. But since the Eleventh Hour, they've been much more involved throughout the entirety of their lives.
Maybe it's a by-product of what happened to Donna Noble? The Doctor felt compelled to give his friends their life back beyond the Tardis and a reason to return home, even as they went off travelling with him. Something that had been missing for ascertain Ms. Noble, methinks?

I thought she was great from the start.

She smashed it in Asylum, creating massive interest in her future character
She was brilliant in The Snowmen, bearing in mind that other actors play one person, and she's had to play several! Her demeanour as the governess and as the barmain was perfect.
She was excellent as 'normal' Clara as well, an episode like Hide shows this nicely.

With her long stint in Emmerdale, she's probably had more on screen acting experience than any of the new Who Companions.

disagree...only in DOTD and PCs era did I finally think she could act,

Hard to believe this is the same Clara we had in Smiths era, So much much more layered now.

I thought she smashed or in her first episode in the Dalek asylum, but was left feeling a bit disappointed after that. Not sure why, just something didn't seem quite right - not sure if it was the writing. to be fair, Jenna was very good in the zygon episodes and overall I think she has been a good actress. However, as a character there's something almost unlikeable about clara and there are moments when I do get a bit tired of the characters seeming importance.