Billie Piper played an iconic role as Rose Tyler on two seasons of Doctor Who, but she won’t be returning to the series any time soon. Piper’s phenomenal onscreen chemistry with Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant was a huge part of Doctor Who’s initial success after being revived by BBC, and Rose has remained one of the franchise’s most beloved companions. However, Piper has her own reasons why she won’t be coming back to the series in any major way.

Rose debuted in the very first episode of the Doctor Who revival and became the first companion to the modern era of Doctors. As the first two seasons’ only consistent companion, Rose effectively became half of the show’s core cast. Rose averted galactic crises, meddled successfully in the affairs of space-time, and even died (sort of) for the cause, endearing herself along the way to the legion of fans who flocked to the new, revitalized series.

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Billie Piper hasn’t played Rose on Doctor Who since her brief cameo in 2013’s “The Day of the Doctor” special, and it’s unlikely that she’ll return in any significant way any time soon. In lengthy interview with The Guardian about her life and career, Piper touched on her time in the TARDIS and why she isn’t planning to return.

“I wouldn’t go back. It’s a great role, but you’re away from your kids for so long. My experience was that you were in Wales for nine months solid. And as a job it dominates your life. It’s mainstream family viewing so you can’t really escape it. It feels like it makes you very, very famous.”

Piper is a mother of three now and has put more energy into writing and directing in recent years. She added that her kids, “don’t like seeing me in Doctor Who, and I have pushed that on them a number of times. My elder son would get very upset that I was being chased or scared or attacked, so I thought, ‘OK, this is a weird mental leap for you.’” Piper has continued to play Rose in a series of audio adventures from Big Finish, both in solo stories and alongside her former costar David Tennant.

Piper’s decision to stay distanced from the Doctor Who TV series is completely understandable given her current career path and family life, if still bittersweet for fans who fell in love with her stellar performance as Rose Tyler. Some characters from the show’s earlier days, like John Barrowman’s Captain Jack Harkness, have made more recent returns to the show, hopefully scratching that nostalgic itch for longtime viewers. With time travel at its core, nearly any past Doctor Who character could be brought back if the timing were right.

Source: The Guardian

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Rick Stevenson is a writer, editor and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s written on TV, film and games for over six years, in addition to assorted stints in bookselling, carpentry, and TV production. Rick studied writing at the College of William & Mary and Oxford University, and can report with some authority that they are both old. He lives and dies for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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