Astrid Peth Who Confidential", Minogue describes Astrid as a "dreamer" and that meeting with the Doctor rekindles Astrid's desire to explore. Later in his book "A Writer's Tale" Davies discussed with co-author Benjamin Cook how he had originally named the character "Peth" in a treatment but it bugged him, he later renamed her to "Astrid" giving the reason that it "...sounds more spacey, more like a futuristing Doctor's companion". Despite Davies stating that the companion in "Voyage of the Damned" was "always going to [be] a one-off...little knowing that it would be Kylie Minogue", he has since stated that he would cast
Astrid Peth Damned" featuring Astrid is shown as part of a montage. The BBC officially announced that Minogue was to feature as Astrid in the episode "Voyage of the Damned" on 3 July 2007. The official announcement followed rumours regarding Minogue's casting having already circulated in the press, although the episode's writer Russell T Davies had denied these rumours in in-house BBC publication "Ariel" in an attempt to keep the news secret for longer. Furthermore, Minogue herself had confirmed that she would be appearing in the episode in "InStyle" magazine, whilst the London paper "Standard Lite" published a photograph of Minogue's creative