Nine and Rose Reunite: What does this mean for Doctor Who?

The news that Billie Piper is to reunite with Christopher Eccleston for a series of Doctor Who audios is news that has delighted Whovians everywhere. I apologise to my family for the squeal that came out of my mouth when I saw the Instagram post about it, but this is truly exciting as it means that we’re getting even more great episodes and interplay from one of the best Doctor-companion pairings ever.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I’ve always vastly preferred Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler when she was with the Ninth Doctor rather than the Tenth. There was no romantic tension between them, Rose was just a friend that the Doctor needed at that time in his life and they gelled immediately.

More importantly, it would have been the first time that many people would have watched a Doctor travelling with their companion, and so a modern upbeat pairing brought in massive audiences. There’s honestly not a single bad episode in Series 1. The Unquiet Dead and The Long Game aren’t particularly great but The Doctor and Rose are the one constant throughout everything, and Eccleston and Piper were the perfect casting. 

As glad as I am that they are both back doing audio adventures, I hope this can be a gateway to even more Doctors and companions coming back for more stories. Big Finish are an amazing company who have consistently been making high-quality Doctor Who audios for nearly thirty years now (please check them out - they’re awesome), bringing in classic Doctors, companions and other recurring characters to help further expand on the show’s lore. 

In recent years though, they've started dabbling in modern Who - David Tennant rejoined with Catherine Tate and Billie Piper. Derek Jacobi and Michelle Gomez have come back to reprise their incarnations of the Master, and Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill are coming back as the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz.

That said, there’s still some untapped goldmines that they could explore. It would be great to see Peter Capaldi reunite with Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas - we never got enough of that Tardis team. All the random adventures Amy and Rory had with the Doctor that we heard of but never saw? What if Matt, Karen and Arthur got into a recording booth for brand new adventures? 

The thought of these actors coming back could be seen as wishful thinking but, given Christopher Eccleston’s troubled relationship with the show, if he can come back, anyone can. He’s already made some great audios on his own, but I can’t wait to see the Ninth Doctor and Rose reunite and I hope that this can mean the arrival of other new Doctors and companions to the wonderful world of Big Finish. Bring it on.