Casting the Next Doctor Who Companion

Following the announcement that Karen Gillan - aka Doctor Who assistant Amy Pond - will be leaving the show at the end of the next series, talk has inevitably turned to who should replace her. So ever the proactive site, we've come up with a list of 15 potential candidates, featuring TV actors, movie stars, Brits, a yank, a pop star, and even a couple of blokes to mix things up. As ever, let us know what you think in the comments section, and make sure you vote for your favourite in our poll at the end of the feature…

Doctor Who dabbles in the realms of fantasy, so why not cast the star of the epic Game of Thrones as the next companion? As Daenerys Targaryen, Berkshire-born Emilia Clarke has already become an ass-kicking icon, winning a Scream award for breakout performance in the process. Her transformation from shy and retiring flower into Khal Drogo-taming queen has been a revelation, while her baby dragon antics demonstrate that she could handle Who's weird and wonderful creatures with aplomb.


Best known for her role as sweetly vulnerable Josie in the hugely popular student sitcom Fresh Meat, fresh-faced beauty Kimberly Nixon also has the kind of movie C.V. that makes her perfect sidekick fodder. She's tackled a period piece in the shape of Easy Virtue, so would be at home with The Doctor's time-travelling antics, while she got her hands dirty in gritty action-horror Black Death, so would be right at home in the show's scarier episodes. Plus, her comic timing has made her one of Fresh Meat's stand-out performers.


Emma Watson has spent the best part of 10 years playing second fiddle to a geeky superhero in the Harry Potter movies, so becoming The Doctor's number two wouldn't be much of a stretch. As Hermione Grainger, Watson empowered super-smart girls all over the world, while she exhibited impressive action credentials in the final few films. And if she could transfer the Ron-based sexual tension onto Matt Smith's Doctor, we could have a winner on our hands.


As promiscuous temptress Alisha in the spiffing Misfits, Antonia Thomas stole the hearts of young men the length and breadth of the UK. But it was her ability to turn said character from a self-confessed slapper into the show's most sympathetic character that makes her a standout in the series and a serious contender for assistant duty. Plus, she knows a thing or two about doing battle with alien life forms having killed off pretty much everything that Misfits' radioactive rain storm threw at her.


You may not know who Jessica Brown-Findlay is, but your mum probably does, as she plays Lady Sybil Crawley in TV phenomenon Downton Abbey. As the progressive-thinking beauty, B-F has lit up screens on both sides of the Atlantic, while scene-stealing turns in the critically acclaimed sci-fi shows Misfits and Black Mirror suggest that Jessica could be just the girl to accompany the Doctor on his dimension-traversing adventures.