Jenna Coleman reversed her decision to leave the series, necessitating a late re-write to the ending of the episode. Pearl Mackie’s Bill Potts joined the TARDIS in The Pilot (2017) and departed in The Doctor Falls, before cropping up for a bit in Twice Upon A Time – alongside a certain Ms. The Doctor, with Clara as an elderly woman. This meant that Clara continued on as companion throughout Series 9, before leaving in Face the Raven (2015) and Hell Bent, via a cameo in Heaven Sent. And the pains still there, isnt it And yet, at no point in the episode - even at the end. It’s too damaging, it’s too emotional, it’s too big to leave before you’re ready – you mustn’t do that’.” And I said,’ well, if you’re not ready to go from a job like this and a show like this, you shouldn’t go. “She thought she was ready to go and I think in my heart I knew she wasn’t ready to go and she said, ‘I’m not sure I’m actually ready to go’. But after that readthrough, Steven followed Jenna into a side-room, and he recalls:

He went on to say that he’d managed to convince Coleman to come back for Christmas 2014, and that the readthrough script had her dying in bed. I hadn’t got a fully formed character but I was messing around with that.” I knew where I wanted to go next was a kind of earthy irreverence, I guess, if I put it in the most basic terms. “I was eyeing up the possibility of writing the part of Shona as the replacement… There’s a commonality between. ‘Last Christmas’ or to call it by its proper title: ‘Doctor Who’s Big Movie And Self-Referencing Adventure’ provided some moments of terror, some Santa-fuelled whimsy and a big dollop of sentiment, especially for those of us who love the partnership that Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman have created as the Twelfth Doctor and Clara. In the third part of its interview with Steven Moffat, now-former showrunner, Doctor Who: The Fan Show delved into the departure of Jenna Moffat revealed: And yes, Clara Oswald was going to die as an old woman at the conclusion of the festive episode… As many of us expected, Faye Marsay’s character from Last Christmas, Shona McCullough, was due to take over in the companion role after Jenna Coleman left the series.

Doctor who last christmas ending