BBC America have released the first official Doctor Who photo of actress Jenna-Louise Coleman, who was announced as the show’s new companion earlier this week.

Coleman’s character will first be seen in this year’s Christmas special, following the departure of Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill as Amy and Rory in Series 7 Episode 5.

Coleman commented: “I’m beyond excited, I can’t wait to get cracking; working alongside Matt [Smith] I know is going to be enormous fun and a huge adventure.”

Showrunner Steven Moffat revealed: “It always seems impossible when you start casting these parts, but when we saw Matt [Smith] and Jenna together, we knew we had our girl. She’s funny and clever and exactly mad enough to step on board the TARDIS.”

> Find out all the latest on Series 7 in our news summary.

Best known for her roles in Emmerdale and Waterloo Road, as well as a part in last summer’s Captain America: The First Avenger, Coleman will next be seen as Annie Desmond in ITV1’s Titanic mini-series, which begins this weekend.

What are your hopes for Jenna-Louise Coleman’s character? Let us know below…

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Watch the Series 7 trailer…