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"Doctor Who" gets its first openly gay companion and it's about time. In an interview with BBC, Pearl Mackie who is added to the cast for season 10 to portray Bill Potts reveals that her character is gay and it will be revealed pretty much straightaway in her second line of dialogue.

"Bill's gay. It shouldn't be a big deal in the 21st century. It's about time isn't it?" says the actress. "That representation is important, especially on a mainstream show... It's important to say people are gay, people are black. There are also aliens in the world as well, so watch out for them."

She adds, "I remember watching TV as a young mixed race girl not seeing many people who looked like me, so I think being able to visually recognize yourself on screen is important," before noting, "[Being gay] is not the main thing that defines her character - it's something that's part of her and something that she's very happy and very comfortable with."

"Doctor Who" previously featured a queer character (John Barrowman) and a bisexual character (Alex Kingston's River Song), but Bill is the first full-time companion of the Doctor.

The tenth season premieres Saturday, April 15 at 9/8c on BBC America. This season will be Peter Capaldi's last time portraying the titular character. Showrunner Steven Moffat is also leaving the series after this season.