Billie Piper is to reprise her ‘Doctor Who’ role of Rose Tyler.
The 36-year-old actress portrayed the Timelord’s companion from 2005 to 2006 and again in 2008, 2010 and 2013, and she’s stepping back into her shoes once more to explore what happened from when her alter ego got trapped into an alternate universe in the series two finale ‘Doomsday’ to when she returned in series four in a new audio series of adventures.
Big Finish’s four-part ‘Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon’ will explore the character’s "journey through dying parallel worlds" and will feature Rose and her family and "capture and showcase the beautifully rich human characters of Doctor Who".
Billie isn’t the only familiar face to be returning, as Camille Coduri and Shaun Dingwall will reprise their roles as Rose’s parents Jackie and Pete, and Mark Benton is back as alien investigator Clive Finch, despite his show death in 2005.
Big Finish approached Russell T Davies with the idea and were delighted with the former ‘Doctor Who’ showrunner’s "enthusiastic" response.
Producer David Richardson said: "I approached Russell T Davies with the idea of Big Finish making a Rose Tyler spin-off. He was very enthusiastic – as always – and suggested we followed Rose’s journey that ultimately leads to her finding the Doctor in ‘The Stolen Earth’.
"There is a whole multiverse of possibilities. Russell suggested including Jackie and Pete, and embraced my idea of including a parallel universe version of Clive – who of course was killed off in the TV series (in the 2005 episode ‘Rose’).
"It’s rather dark (though never short on wit and charm) but it’s not really about villains. It focuses on the fight to survive against the odds, and on the power of family and love."
Billie is delighted to be back as her "extraordinary" alter ego and is looking forward to the response to the challenging series.
She said: "I love how normal Rose is, and yet really extraordinary. She lived a normal average life but she is incredibly curious and has an enormous capacity for love and empathy and is really spirited. She is extraordinary.
"That’s the great thing about ‘Doctor Who’. It challenges new-thinking. It’s progressive and it can be political in amongst these human emotions and relationships. I think that’s its greatest appeal."
‘Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon’ will be released in September 2019 and is available for pre-order now at £25 on CD and £20 on download.
Billie Piper reprising Doctor Who role
