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
Doctor Who in Australia from 1 July ABC2 again repeated the revived series Monday-Friday at ~7:35pm. Starting with the three 2009 "Doctor Who's Greatest Moments" specials made by the "Doctor Who Confidential" team, they then went back to Series 1 and "Rose" and continued all the way through to "The Name of the Doctor" on Friday 22 November. On the morning of Sunday 24 November ABC1 was one of multiple broadcasters in 94 countries to take a live simulcast of the "Doctor Who" 50th Anniversary Special "The Day of the Doctor" from the BBC. The live simulcast went out across Australia at local times