Jenna Coleman’s Doctor Who return was originally supposed to be quite different
By Lacy Baugher
Jenna Coleman’s surprise cameo in Doctor Who Christmas special “Twice Upon a Time” originally looked quite different.
One of the worst kept secrets about the recent Doctor Who Christmas special was the return of Jenna Coleman, who played outgoing Doctor Peter Capaldi’s first companion. Rumors ran rampant for months that we would see Clara again at Christmas in some capacity or other. And of course they turned out to be right. After all, the modern era of Doctor Who seems to like featuring former companions during a Doctor’s swan song. It’s a nice gesture and it makes fans happy. Everyone wins.
Clara’s cameo appearance in “Twice Upon a Time” was predictably brief. Technically, it wasn’t even the real Clara, who is presumably still zooming around time and space with Ashildr. Rather, we saw a sentient glass avatar version built from the Doctor’s memories. Her appearance did provide some much-needed closure for Twelve, restoring the missing pieces of his memory of Clara prior to his regeneration. As farewells go, it’s a pretty heartfelt goodbye.
It also apparently wasn’t supposed to go down like that at all. According to the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine (via Radio Times), Clara’s return as originally scripted looked quite a bit different, and involved a scene with several other companions. However, due to Coleman’s packed schedule filming popular ITV drama Victoria, the timing never quite worked out.
“Twice Upon a Time” director Rachel Talalay told the magazine:
"It would have been such a loss if Jenna hadn’t been able to appear. God knows she’s busy. This wasn’t like, ‘I don’t want to do it’. This was like, ‘I’m the star of a huge show, and you’re asking me to find time to come do this’."
Talalay also revealed that Clara was originally supposed to share a scene in the TARDIS with Bill and Nardole, and the scene was mean to end with this exchange:
"Doctor: “I’ll tell you something, though. You were always my favourite.Clara: “Who was?”Bill: “Which one?”Nardole: “I know.”"
How exactly this all happens is unclear. Are these all Testimony-created glass avatars of former companions? That seems most likely, given the circumstances of the rest of the episode. But how Clara arrived in this situation, or what happened prior to particular moment remains a mystery.
Apparently the scene was originally mean to end with Twelve cackling ominously and stepping back into the TARDIS. The moment seems like a perfect example of the cynical yet weirdly heartwarming style that came to epitomize the Twelfth Doctor era. But, alas, Coleman’s schedule was such that they never managed to get everyone onset at the same time.
Determined to get her in Capaldi’s final episode, Moffat shuffled the plot of episode about to include her:
"I rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote for everything we could do with Jenna’s schedule. We couldn’t get Jenna to our set. We couldn’t have the three companions there together. But she does make a magical appearance on the battlefield, which we had to shoot separately a few days after the rest of the episode had wrapped."
In the end, Capaldi and Coleman shot their brief farewell scene separately. The show used visual effects to make it appear they were in the same place. And Twelve and Clara got something like a goodbye. So, yes it’s a shame we’ll never know what might have been. But least everyone involved pulled together to do right by the characters we all love in the end. That’s what matters. (Even if I am super curious to know how Clara and Bill would have got along. Just think about it!)
Next: Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker helped design Thirteen’s look
Doctor Who will return in the autumn of 2018 with its first female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, new showrunner Chris Chibnall and three new companions in Bradley Walsh, Toison Cole and Mandip Gill.
Until then, stay tuned for more news.