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) the Internet, and was being widely traded via the BitTorrent file sharing protocol. The leaked episode did not contain the new arrangement of the theme tune by Murray Gold. The leak was ultimately traced to a third party company in Canada which had a legitimate preview copy. The employee responsible was fired by the company and the BBC considered further legal action. "Rose" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2005 on BBC One, and was the first Doctor Who episode to air since the Doctor Who television film in 1996. Unofficial overnight viewing figures from the