Is Billie Piper returning to the Whoniverse? And is the fan-favorite companion of David Tennant’s Doctor going to return to play the Doctor themselves?
I’ll be honest, I stopped watching Doctor Who midway through Jodie Whittaker’s run as the last of the Time Lords. However, I didn’t stop watching because I’m a male chauvinist pig. I stopped because of bad writing, poor casting, weak character arcs, and any complaint about the aforementioned being met by the BBC with: “Well, you’re just a white male chauvinist pig, aren’t you?”
Billie Piper Could Save New Who – If Showrunners Let Her
As soon as I saw pictures of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor regenerating into Rose Tyler in my news feed, my imagination began writing a possible opening scene featuring Billie.
Rose: “Oh my God, does it always feel like this?” I imagine a newly regenerated Rose asking aloud as she starts to familiarize herself with her new body.
Rose: “And why are we crashing? – Doctor, why does this thing always crash when you regenerate?”
I didn’t watch the episode in which Ncuti Gatwa actually regenerates into Rose, so I don’t know if the TARDIS went berserk or not, as it did in previous regenerations into Matt Smith’s and Jodie Whittaker’s Doctors. However, as Rose finishes materializing, I imagine the TARDIS going berserk anyway.
Rose: “Actually, I shouldn’t know that, should I? But I’m you now, aren’t I? I’ve got all your memories and everything!”
Rose: “Doctor, can you even hear me?” Rose shouts as she lunges to cling to the TARDIS control panel, followed by: “Oh, hello, remember me?”
Then, as Rose flips some switches, I imagine a hologram of David Tennant’s Doctor appearing.
David Tennant’s Doctor: “Right… We made it. God, we’re good, aren’t we?”
Rose: “Finally!” Rose shouts. “Now, do you want to do me a favor and tell me how to fly this thing?”
The hologram of David Tennant’s Doctor scowls.
David Tennant’s Doctor: “Err… Won’t be that easy, I’m afraid. I think she knows what we’re trying to do. She’s trying to shake us off… Smart girl!”
Before I write an entire screenplay, the idea that jumped into my head when I started reading about Billie Piper returning to the Whoniverse is simple.
It’s one in which the versions of the Doctor and Rose, abandoned on Bad Wolf Bay in an alternate Earth since the end of the David Tennant era, have found a way to commandeer the TARDIS in our universe by hacking our Doctor’s regeneration cycle. Specifically, by exploiting Rose’s past exposure to the Time Vortex and, you know, whatever other plot armor needs inventing to make this sound feasible.
Why they need the TARDIS? Who knows. I’d love to sit down and write an actual Doctor Who episode, but until there’s some money on the table, I’ll keep my far superior-to-Chibnall-era plot armor to myself, thank you!
How Billie Piper Single-Handedly Exonerated the Legacy Doctor Who Fanbase
Regardless of when or how we see Billie Piper back in action in the Whoniverse, one thing is clear already: the excitement surrounding her return is almost tangible among both older and newer Doctor Who fans. Fans whom the BBC was once happy to malign as chauvinistic by virtue of them not fawning just as excitedly over Jodie Whittaker donning the role of the Doctor.
The truth is that as Peter Capaldi’s stint as the Doctor was coming to a close, many fans were open to the idea of a female Doctor. There was even a flurry of excitement at one point when rumors of Olivia Colman stepping into the Doctor’s shoes began to circulate online. Then, though, we were given Jodie Whittaker, Chris Chibnall, and mighty monsters like… well, erm… drag queens who crawl spider-like out of pianos…
Actually, I can’t think of anything more terrifying than a drag queen crawling spider-like out of a piano. (And yes, I know this happened in the Ncuti Gatwa era.) However, if you’re going to pull that kind of plot, you really have to write it right.
So come on, Billie, show us what you’ve got! Be a new, fantastic kind of Who we haven’t seen yet. Give us a good plot, give us characters and storylines we want to follow, not plots or characters the BBC berates us for not feeling enthused by.
Most importantly of all, give us a Who we want to binge rather than cringe at.