Martha Jones

Martha Jones is a companion of the Tenth Doctor, and will make her debut in Series 3, expected to be broadcast in the UK in 2007. She will by portrayed by Freema Agyeman.

File:Martha Jones, the Tenth Doctor and the Tardis.jpg

Martha Jones (left) with the Tenth Doctor and the Tardis.

The introduction of Martha as the next companion after Billie Piper's Rose Tyler was announced by the BBC in a 5 July 2006 press release. Apart from her name, no other details are available about her character or how she meets the Doctor, save that she will not be appearing in the 2006 Christmas special. An article in The Times speculates that, since Agyeman has martial arts skills, she may have "a more physical approach" to the role.

Agyeman previously played Adeola, a minor character in the Series 2 episode Army of Ghosts.

First ethnic minority companion?

Martha has been described in newspaper reports as the "first ethnic minority companion in the 43-year television history of Doctor Who" or "first black assistant" (Agyeman herself was born to Ghanaian and Iranian parents.) The recurring character of Mickey Smith (played by Noel Clarke), who travelled in the TARDIS with the Tenth Doctor and Rose from School Reunion to The Age of Steel in Series 2, is also from an ethnic minority background and is referred to as a Doctor Who companion in Doctor Who Magazine.

Doctor Who stories in other media have previously included minority ethnic companions, including Alison Cheney in the webcast animation Scream of the Shalka (played by Sophie Okonedo; 2003), Sharon in the Doctor Who Weekly comic strips (1980), Roz Forrester in the Virgin New Adventures novels (1995) and Anji Kapoor in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels (2001). Like all spin-off media, their canonicity in relation to the television series is unclear.