Doctor Who Brings in Samuel Anderson As New, Male Companion

The BBC announced today that Emmerdale's Samuel Anderson will join the cast of Doctor Who as a recurring character in Series 8. The actor will play Danny Pink, a teacher at Coal Hill School where companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) also teaches. Danny Pink is being identified as a "male companion" in several of the online stories. Neither Anderson nor showrunner Steven Moffat, both of whom commented briefly on the casting, used the word, but it makes sense: in the early days of the series, it used to be fairly common for The Doctor to have two companions, including one who did a lot of the heavy lifting for the often-older Doctor. While Peter Capaldi is hardly ancient and feeble, the actor is decidedly less spry than Doctors Nine, Ten and Eleven.

"I was so excited to join Doctor Who I wanted to jump and click my heels, but I was scared I might not come down before filming started!" Anderson said in a statement. "It's a quintessential part of British culture and I can't believe I'm part of it. It's an honour to be able to work alongside Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman and I can't wait to show people how my character becomes involved with such a fantastic duo!" "For the fourth time in Doctor Who history, Coal Hill School is coming to the aid of the TARDIS," Moffat said. "In 1963 teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright accompanied the First Doctor. These days it's the turn of Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. And very soon now, Sam Anderson as Danny Pink will be entering the world of the Doctor. But how and why? Answers are coming later this year in Peter Capaldi's first series of Doctor Who!" Moffat's statement, of course, seemingly implies that Clara might not stick around to work with him...and both of them seem to tease something special about just how Pink comes into play. Curious...