Jenna Coleman Interview: “It definitely felt like her time was up”

Jenna Coleman has given a new wider ranging interview where she talks her departure from Doctor Who, what she’ll miss most from her time on the show and much more.

Jenna Coleman has given a new wider ranging interview where she talks her departure from Doctor Who, what she’ll miss most from her time on the show and much more.

Speaking to Interview Magazine, Jenna feels the character of Clara had reached a conclusion:

“It definitely felt like her time was up and that kind of ended up being what the story was as well. You had to let go and move forward… It felt like a natural end. It made sense, and it made sense in a story sense. I was willing to stay in order to tell a good story.”

Coleman herself meanwhile is ready for the next chapter in her career:

“It’s really weird. I went around to Peter [Capaldi]’s house with Steven [Moffat], Brian [Minchin] our producer, and Mark Gatiss. We all watched [my final episode] together. It’s just great fun and the best thing about Doctor Who is that the storytelling is so epic and huge, and so whimsical and romantic. I always find that even though it’s sci-fi, it’s a fairytale as well. It was lovely to watch it all together, but the goodbye had been in the works for so long. To have it done on screen now, and to no longer have those working relationships that have been a part of my life for four years is quite strange but also exhilarating. It’s been a mad and weird and wonderful part of my life for the last four years, but it feels like the next chapter, in a way, which is great.”

And Jenna says she’ll miss Peter Capaldi most of all:

“I’ll mainly miss Peter. [laughs] It’s so rare that you get a show that is effectively a two-hander—it’s you two, all day, every day. Also every day is different, there’s no day that’s the same. Every two weeks you change episodes, you have a different cast, and you go to a different planet. You get to do weird stunts upside down, you play off a green screen, and then suddenly do a really domestic, emotional scene. As an actor, you can go anywhere. There’s not really a limit in that show where you’re stuck to a genre because it’s so changeable and dynamic. It’s that storytelling that I’ll miss the most and Peter, because we spent the best part of two and a half years together. But the show will move forward, as it does, and become something else, which is what makes it so special. “

For more from Jenna, including her first acting role, drama school, her many and various roles including as Queen Victoria in Victoria, the full interview can be found at interviewmagazine.com