Disappointing they didn't go with that first link of yours - she would have made a brill companion on the new series!
We'll have to wait and see with this new companion, very hard to judge from those couple of scenes last week. 'Martha' though?! Can't say I was very taken with the name 'Rose' initially but that quickly changed. Martha, though? Very odd name, can't help but think of Superman's mummy!!
Any bets from when and where she will come from? Modern day London (or Cardiff given the name 'Jones')? Will she even be human? More importantly, will she have an idiot boyfriend and mother who turn up every other story?
Overall I'm quite hopeful about her. She's a virtual unknown, so clearly wasn't cast because of who she is rather than what she can do (as people feared about Billie). On the other hand Matthew Waterhouse was something of an unknown before he was cast..! I think in this case it is probably fair to say the executive producer didn't have any casting couch for Freema, though!
These secret auditions with Tennant will hopefully ensure they will work well together on screen. Clearly Billie was cast with Eccleston in mind, not Tennant, so with luck we'll have a bit more decent Martha and 10th Doctor interaction than we've had with Rose and 10. Looking back on the seasons it certainly seems to me that Rose and 9 had more decent scenes together than we've had this season. I'm not suggesting there was any problem between Tennant and Piper (in fact I get the feeling she much preferred working with Tennant than Eccleston but that could be my imagination coloured by Eccleston's apparent unhappiness with the part.) But I'm drifting... I will not clown...
Anyway, optimistic but cautious. They did a good job with casting Billie last time, let's hope they've still got it. Potentially this could be more upsetting for the new fanbase (the apparent huge under 16 female contingent in particular) than the regeneration.