The BBC has revealed that little known Scottish actress Karen Gillan will be Doctor Who’s new companion when the show returns to BBC1 in the spring of 2010.  She will join new Doctor Matt Smith, who will become the eleventh actor to portray the time-traveling science fiction hero (see “Matt Smith Is New Doctor Who”).

The flame-haired Gillan, who is just 21 years old, is currently appearing on the Kevin Bishop Show, which airs on Channel 4 in the U.K.  Lead writer and executive producer of the series, Steven Moffat, described Gillan as “funny, clever, gorgeous and sexy,” and he added: “A generation of little girls will want to be her.”