Or should that be companion? I don't know the terminology these days. Anyway, as well all know know from yesterday, The Sun wasn't telling porkies and Billie Piper is leaving Doctor Who at the end of this season. We've had various theories, most of which seem to be about Michelle Ryan, but some of today's papers have 'exclusively' revealed who's in the running to be the next companion (even though The Sun says she's already been cast).

The Daily Express (no link because their web site is pants) says former Coronation Street star Nikki Sanderson is going to be the name of choice, this time. I suspect that rumour's about as reliable as their weekly Princess Diana revelations, in part because young Nikki seems to have done an awful lot of Loaded shoots, which probably won't endear her to the Beeb as a possible star of its family flagship. You never know though.

Meanwhile, The Sun, which as we all know is the paper that managed to get the exclusive rights to the BBC's press release first, is claiming Billie's replacement is going to be Freema Agyeman, who appeared on the short-lived revival of Crossroads. She's also appearing in the final two episodes of this season. Again, seems a little unlikely, but since it's The Sun, which appears to have a hotline to RTD these days, we might have to give this particular rumour a little more weight. Plus maybe RTD is thinking along the same lines as us and reckons it's time for the TARDIS to finally get multi-cultural. Or maybe she's a really good actress and we just never noticed. All the same, probably not.

None of today's other papers have names yet: most are just following up with the news; the Daily Star, as always, is claiming their news is exclusive; the Daily Mirror is busy slagging off Billie in its 'TV Land' column, accusing of her dishonesty for making us all think she was signed up for season three (which she still might be).

Thank God for Welsh papers though. The Western Mail goes out on a limb and names... Michelle Ryan as the name in waiting, mainly thanks to an interview with Paul Murphy of TV Choice magazine. It also hedges its bets with a few other names, all of which are probably wrong. But who would have guessed “Billie Piper” two years ago?

“Sarah Dunn, who is leaving Hollyoaks this week”

“Eve Myles, currently starring in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood”

“and former Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallet”

The Western Mail has also commissioned John Campbell Rees, 39, from Treherbert, who has a science-fiction degree from the University of Glamorgan (I never knew there was such a thing...) and is a self-confessed Doctor Who super-fan, to tell us all (officially) who are the best/most important Doctor Who companions/assistants. Turns out, they were Sarah-Jane Smith, Romana, Victoria Waterfield, Susan Foreman and Jamie McCrimmon.

Ha! No Liz Shaw? Your list is worthless, I tell you!

Related entries

• July 4, 2006: And the new Doctor Who companion is...
  I've seen the press release, I've seen the name and I can announce that the next Doctor Who companion is... what's that? It's embargoed until midnight? Bugger. Oh well. I can tell you a few things though: It's one...
• July 3, 2006: Review: Army of Ghosts
  And thus season two of the new Doctor Who begins to crank itself up for the finale, while simultaneously winding itself down. There was good, there was bad, there was ugly. But, in contrast to the last few episodes,...

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