My Rose is Leaving Me!

Well, I just knew it was leading somewhere.

When I wrote the article “My Rose Has Left Me” I confess I was pretty miffed with what I saw as poor characterisation of Billie Piper’s character this series. I was sick of her – and to some extent still am – but hopefully what I at first saw as the weakness of some of Piper’s performances where down to the fact she was being “roughed up” a little, to ease her out as it were without an uproar from the fans.

Obviously the most popular Doctor Who companion in a very long time, Rose has been everywhere with the Doctor, and their relationship is so close it just makes you wonder how they will part company. Hopefully the surprise will remain until the end of the series, even if the departure of the actress hasn’t…

Exactly how many more newspapers did the news sell, really? In the middle of a football World Cup competition, did the tabloids really have to push it? Why couldn’t they let it lie for a month until the end of the series, keep quiet and let us have our surprise – you know, the one we didn’t get when the Ninth Doctor had his day?

But it is of course a necessary evil. It would be so nice to hear RTD and the BBC having a go at the Press – but the need the papers to promote the show. Even when the TV critics were hammering Doctor Who in the 1980s, the same papers where clamouring for its return upon cancellation.

Doctor Who, you see, is magical. Everyone loves it, and those that don’t – well, I dare say imaginations will be for sale in the next 30 years the way medical science is progressing.

Rose’s departure – whether permanent or short-term – will simply allow the show to move into a new era. No longer tied to bloody Jackie Tyler and the Powell Estate, the Doctor will be free to roam the universe with a companion of his own choice, not the choice of his earlier self.

A new companion – imagine the possibilities! The one good thing that has come out of this earlier-than-intended-but-later-than-expected leak is we can play “guess the new companion” in the final story of the series/first story of the next series.