Clara Oswald

The Impossible Girl who entered the Doctor's timestream to create echoes across his past.

Clara Oswald is a fictional character in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, created by Steven Moffat and portrayed by Jenna Coleman. She serves as a travelling companion to the Eleventh (Matt Smith) and Twelfth (Peter Capaldi) incarnations of the Doctor. Introduced in the seventh series, she appeared regularly throughout the 2013 specials, Series Eight, and Series Nine, with a brief return in the 2017 special 'Twice Upon a Time'. Clara succeeded Amy Pond and Rory Williams to renew the Doctor's curiosity about the universe. Her journey is defined by an 'Impossible Girl' arc involving three identical incarnations from different periods of history who all die as a consequence of their adventures with him.

Quick Facts

Nickname: "The Impossible Girl" (by the Doctor)
Series: Doctor Who
First: "Asylum of the Daleks" (2012)
Last: "Twice Upon a Time" (2017)
Creator: Steven Moffat
Portrayed by: Jenna Coleman
Species: Human
Gender: Female

Lore & Background

Clara's origin is unique, introduced in 'Asylum of the Daleks' (2012) as Oswin Oswald, a survivor converted into a Dalek who dreams she is human. In 'The Snowmen' (2012), she appears as a Victorian barmaid and governess named Clara Oswin Oswald before being killed by a minion of the Great Intelligence. The Doctor realizes these are the same woman when he sees her full name on a tombstone. The mystery resolves in 'The Name of the Doctor' (2013) when this 21st-century Clara enters the Doctor's timestream to undo harm caused by the Great Intelligence, creating numerous 'echoes' of herself throughout his past. One version even persuades the First Doctor to pick the correct TARDIS on Gallifrey prior to 'An Unearthly Child' (1963). This act saves the Doctor's life but leaves her lost in time until he restores her existence.

Reader's Guide

Following Clara's death, the grief-stricken Doctor uses Time Lord technology in 'Hell Bent' (2015) to extract her from her final moments, freezing her biological processes so she becomes functionally immortal without a heartbeat or aging. The Doctor plans to wipe her memories of him to protect his location, but Clara tampers with the device to erase his memories of her instead. She leaves Earth on a stolen TARDIS from Gallifrey to explore the universe with Ashildr. Before departing, she tells Ashildr she intends to one day return to her moment of death, vowing to take 'the long way around'. Her development transforms her from an ordinary teacher into a thrill-seeker who makes ruthless decisions, a change that ultimately leads to her demise.

Did You Know?

In 'The Time of the Doctor', Clara returned to Trenzalore twice over centuries-long intervals to help the Doctor face his regeneration crisis.
Jenna Coleman was nominated for both a Saturn Award and a BAFTA Cymru Award in 2015 for her performance as Clara.