Steven Moffat: Doctor Who was "amazing" Billie Piper's show... she brought it back
The showrunner says the actress, who played companion Rose, was one of the key reasons the sci-fi show was such a success when it rebooted in 2005
Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has called the hit BBC1 series "Billie Piper's show", crediting the actress for the show's success when it returned in 2005.
Billie Piper appeared in the first episode of the Doctor Who reboot as ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston's companion Rose Tyler. Piper starred in the show between 2005 and 2008, before returning for a one off appearance in 2010 episode The End of Time: Part 2. She is also set to star in the 50th Anniversary special later this year.
Asked why the 30-year-old actress keeps reappearing in the show, Moffat said: "Probably because when the show first came back I think it was Billie Piper who brought it back. I think those first two years, that was Billie Piper’s show."
"It was all about Billie, and Billie as Rose," Moffat continued, while speaking at the Ad Lib event in Edinburgh last night. "Russell [T Davies] was so clever in creating that character and casting that character so perfectly. He’s allowed an audience who would not naturally have watched Doctor Who, which was practically everybody at the time, to find a way into the show, so she has an iconic status partly because it was a brilliant performance and a brilliantly written part but it was also the way back in."
"She has a bigger status than most of those companions and really seriously, for the first two years, that was Billie Piper’s show and she was amazing. Let’s not forget how amazing she was."
