Sun Casting Rumors (UPDATED)

DOCTOR Who actress Freema Agyeman has been axed from the next series, The Sun can reveal.

Pretty Freema, 27, only joined the BBC1 sci-fi hit as the Timelord’s new companion Martha Jones at the beginning of the current series three.

We told how the struggling actress scooped the role after Billie Piper quit. But show chiefs think her performance is not as strong as in her earlier episodes.

And they are planning a storyline where the Doctor, played by David Tennant, will lose her and travel through the universe searching for her.
The decision to dump Freema comes as a bolt from the blue after her performance for the first couple of episodes was praised.

A source said: “Freema is very talented but we don’t think she is just right on Doctor Who. None of this is being done with any malice. Freema’s a lovely girl.”

Freema has previously admitted that she had a tough job to fill Billie’s boots. Billie, who played Rose Tyler, left at the end of the second series.

Christopher Eccleston stunned the BBC by quitting as the Timelord after the first series of the revamped drama in 2005.

Meanwhile current star Tennant is still believed to be making just part of series four, which starts filming in Wales this summer.

A spokeswoman for the show refused to comment.