Billie Piper Back As Rose Tyler for Big Finish
Monday, 26 November 2018 - Reported by Marcus
Rose Tyler, as played by Billie Piper, is returning for a new Doctor Who audio spin-off, and she’s bringing along her family and friends. Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon,is a new audio series made by Big Finish Productions in association with BBC Studios. It follows Rose’s journey through dying parallel worlds and also stars Camille Coduri as Rose’s mum Jackie, Shaun Dingwall as her dad Pete, Mark Benton as alien investigator Clive Finch and Elli Garnett as Caroline Finch.
Producer David Richardson tells how the series came about.
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. I found the pro-posal irresistible, and instantly script editor Matt Fitton and I were throwing around ideas. 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).
Russell guided us gently through the development - steering us towards ideas that worked brilliant-ly, ensuring things that needed improvement were fixed, and also throwing out the ideas that didn’t work. I’m absolutely delighted with what we have - a family drama about the end of worlds. It’s about love and loss and things that might have been - and our brilliant cast have embraced the emo-tional scripts.
What we have is different from previous iterations. 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.
The four episodes follow Rose’s mission to seek out the Doctor, the only person who can save the doomed multi-verse. Russell guided us gently through the development - steering us towards ideas that worked brilliant-ly, ensuring things that needed improvement were fixed, and also throwing out the ideas that didn’t work. I’m absolutely delighted with what we have - a family drama about the end of worlds. It’s about love and loss and things that might have been - and our brilliant cast have embraced the emo-tional scripts.
What we have is different from previous iterations. 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.
- The Endless Night by Jonathan Morris
- The Flood by Lisa McMullin
- Ghost Machines by AK Benedict
- The Last Party on Earth by Matt Fitton
The series has its own distinct tone. Focusing on the era of Russell T Davies, there are no alien threats or villains to defeat. Instead these amazing stories capture and showcase the beautifully rich human characters of Doctor Who. Billie Piper shared her excitment at returning to the role.
I love how normal Rose is, and yet really extraordinary. She lived a normal av-erage 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.
From the worlds of Doctor Who, Rose Tyler – The Dimension Cannon will be released in September 2019, available for pre-order now on CD at £25 on CD and £20 on download. 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.
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