Piper "in the running"?

21-year-old actress / singer Billie Piper is being touted as "in the running" to play female companion Rose Tyler in the new series according to a news report on BBC News, but according to the BBC (and confirmed by our sources) the role is still quite a long away from being cast. The article (which misidentifies the role as "Rose Taylor") will be "feisty" rather than a traditional companion role. "A screaming girly-style companion is unacceptable nowadays," Davies told BBCi. At this point, the production team has only begun casting and previous reports elsewhere that an announcement was imminent are untrue; we don't expect the actress taking the role to be announced until at least May, and this is likely publicity from the actress' own press agent. (Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg)