Actress/singer Billie Piper says she feels relaxed about the future of “Doctor Who” on the BBC and fans should be as well. Speaking at the For the Love of Fantasy & Sci-Fi convention in London, Piper said:
“It [“Doctor Who”] has had a bit of a rough time lately, and I think everyone just needs to chill out and wait for what comes from having space… and time.”
Piper served as companion Rose Tyler for the first two seasons of the reboot, popping up again every now and then for guest appearances in subsequent seasons.
The most recent season of the series, and the final episode under the Disney deal, saw Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor appearing to regenerate into Piper’s Rose Tyler.
In the wake of that airing, The BBC teased a Christmas special this year before announcing they’d ditched those plans and were planning a creative rethink, resulting in showrunner Russell T Davies and producer Bad Wolf exiting.
Speaking about that brief cameo in what will likely be the last new “Doctor Who” for a while, Piper told the crowd:
“I am not the next Doctor. I am Rose Tyler in hiatus. Sorry, that’s a really cryptic answer, but because I’m not currently filming Doctor Who as the Doctor, I can’t lie and say otherwise. I’m sweating. I hate this.
I think you’ve all got to be very patient because it’ll be worth it when it comes. And I think that we need to celebrate the fact that the [revived] show has … been around for a very long time, it’s massively successful, and it’s impacting so many people’s lives positively.”
The BBC previously announced that it will embark on a competitive tender for the next season with a bake-off-style process.
Source: Deadline
