Doctor Who (series 1) months of speculation. In the April 2004 issue of "Doctor Who Magazine", Davies announced that Eccleston's Doctor would indeed be the Ninth Doctor, relegating Richard E. Grant's Shalka Doctor to non-official status. Russell T Davies revealed that Eccleston asked for the role in an e-mail. After the announcement that the show would be returning, Davies revealed that the new companion would "probably" be called Rose Tyler in an edition of "Doctor Who Magazine" published in November 2003. This name was confirmed in March 2004, and it was announced at the same time that former pop star Billie Piper was being
Rose (Doctor Who episode) later said, "They handled it very badly, but they issued an apology and I dropped it" in a 2010 interview. After it was announced that Eccleston was leaving the BBC said that they were in talks with David Tennant to take over the role and he became the bookmakers' favourite, with odds at 1/10 and William Hill refusing to take any more bets on who would be cast as the new Doctor. A BBC spokesman said that they had "hoped, rather than expected" that Eccleston would continue in the role. "Rose" received positive reviews and was seen as a successful