Here’s The Doctor’s new companion in the next season of Doctor Who

By Rick Marshall Published April 25, 2016

We still have a while to wait for the new season of Doctor Who, but BBC has given fans something to look forward to when the hit series returns in 2017: the debut of The Doctor’s new companion.

Related: Stream Doctor Who online with Amazon Prime

Recommended Videos

The network has released a clip from the upcoming season featuring actress Pearl Mackie as Bill, a woman who will be accompanying actor Peter Capaldi on his next set of adventures through time and space as The Doctor. Mackie replaces Jenna Coleman, the previous companion to The Doctor, who departed the series at the end of the ninth season.

Along with revealing Mackie as The Doctor’s new traveling companion, the clip also features the return of one of the series’ longstanding villains: The Daleks.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Doctor Who family,” said Mackie in a statement released by BBC to accompany the clip. “It’s such an extraordinary British institution, I couldn’t be prouder to call the Tardis my home … Peter Capaldi is such a brilliant actor, and his Doctor is such a wacky and wonderful character, I can’t wait to see what adventures are in store for him and Bill throughout time and space.”

As with many of the previous actors to play companions to The Doctor, Mackie is a relative unknown at this point in her career, having played a role in the 2014 series Doctors and in the 2013 film Svengali, but with no other credits on her resume.

With production on the 10th season of Doctor Who expected to begin soon, it’s uncertain whether the clip is from one of those episodes or the upcoming holiday special that will air in December. The next full season of Doctor Who won’t premiere until 2017, and will mark the final season for longtime showrunner, head writer, and executive producer Steven Moffat. Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall will take over Moffat’s role for the show’s 11th season.

Former Contributing Editor, Entertainment

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Topics

Entertainment

This wild new TV mount moves your screen without you touching it

TVs can already adjust their picture and sound without much help from you. Perlegear now wants the physical screen to adapt to you as well.

Indoors, Interior Design, Lamp

TVs have become incredibly smart over the years. They can automatically tweak picture quality, adjust sound for your room, and recommend what you should watch next. Yet once you bolt one to the wall, there’s one decidedly old-fashioned thing about it: it’s staying exactly where you put it.

Perlegear has an interesting solution at IFA 2026. The company is showing off the AX1 Smart Adaptive Mount, a motorized TV mount that detects where you’re watching from and automatically moves the television to a more comfortable height. It’s an idea that sounds a little excessive until you think about how many different ways we use TVs today. You might be sitting on the couch for a movie, standing up for a workout, playing a motion-controlled game, or have kids watching from the floor. The ideal screen position for one isn’t necessarily great for the others.

Entertainment

Silo Season 4 teaser promises an all-out war as the series heads to its final chapter

The full cast returns for Silo's final chapter.

silo-season-4-release-date-trailer

Apple TV just confirmed that Silo is returning for a fourth season on July 9, 2027, and the teaser that dropped with the announcement gives us glimpses of what happens next. The final chapter will pick up after the dramatic events of Season 3, with Juliette Nichols preparing for a direct confrontation that could determine the fate of every silo.

Juliette taking the fight to Silo 1 in season 4 trailer

Entertainment

A 120-inch screen from 8 inches away? XGIMI just made it happen

XGIMI has unveiled its new AURA 3 Series at IFA 2026, led by a 4K projector that can throw a massive 120-inch picture from just 8 inches away.

Indoors, Interior Design, Electronics

Getting a 120-inch screen into your living room usually sounds like a project that requires a lot of space, careful planning, and perhaps a very understanding partner. XGIMI's latest projectors want to make that considerably easier.

Announced at IFA 2026, the new XGIMI AURA 3 Series consists of the AURA 3 Pro and flagship AURA 3 Max. Both are ultra-short-throw (UST) projectors designed to sit close to a wall rather than across the room. With the Max, you can get a 120-inch picture with the projector sitting just 8 inches away. That's already useful if you don't want a projector dangling from your ceiling, but XGIMI has packed in plenty of home theater hardware to make the resulting giant picture worth looking at.