Michelle Gomez was "devastated" when Jenna Coleman quit 'Doctor Who'.

Jenna Coleman

Jenna Coleman

Although the pair were enemies onscreen, Michelle, who plays Missy, also known as The Doctor's nemesis The Master, was upset to see Jenna's character Clara Oswald depart the BBC show but revealed she is excited about the casting of Pearl Mackie as new assistant Bill.

Speaking to Express.co.uk, Michelle, 49, said: "I am devastated and sad to see Jenna going but I had a while to get used to it because we knew about it ahead of time.

"So I'm excited for her [Pearl], I'm excited for the show and new energy."

And Michelle joked that she only gets cast as villains due to her looks.

She quipped: "That's the problem with this face it's difficult to cast this face as anything other than a villain. I'm just making my money out of it, having this scary thing."

Meanwhile, London-born Pearl, 28, was announced as the new assistant to the Time Lord - played by Peter Capaldi - last month and said she is "incredibly excited" and thrilled to get to work with Peter.

She said: "I'm incredibly excited to be joining the Doctor Who family. It's such an extraordinary British institution, I couldn't be prouder to call the TARDIS my home!

"Peter Capaldi is such a brilliant actor, and his Doctor is such a wacky and wonderful character, I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for him and Bill throughout time and space. Reading the script at the audition I thought Bill was wicked. Fantastically written, cool, strong, sharp, a little bit vulnerable with a bit of geekiness thrown in - I can't wait to bring her to life, and to see how she develops through the series.

"I always loved stage combat at drama school so I can't wait to get on set and kick some evil monsters into the next dimension!"

'Doctor Who' will return later this year with a Christmas Special and the new series will start on BBC One in 2017.