Clara Oswald will be around for at least one more season of Doctor Who, the BBC confirmed.

Actress Jenna Coleman will return as the Doctor's companion for the ninth season, which begins filming next month.

"It's wonderful," Coleman said. "I get a whole other series of stories with the Doctor and I couldn't walk away with the story being unresolved. There is so much more to do. I think they've finally just reached a point where they really understand each other. The arrival of the 12th Doctor has just kind of dropped this whole bombshell and allowed the dynamic to totally change, so I think just when Clara was feeling more comfortable in the relationship, it has suddenly thrown something new up."

Coleman first appeared on the Season 7 premiere "Asylum of the Daleks" before showing up two more times as different characters. Eventually, the Doctor figured out why she seemed to exist in different places and times with no memory how or why, and now she acts as the Time Lord's companion, first alongside Matt Smith and now Peter Capaldi.