Doctor Who (series 4) Astrid Peth, who died during the events of the episode. The companions in the regular series had all been in the lead companion role previously: the primary role of Donna Noble, who was introduced in "The Runaway Bride", was played by Catherine Tate for all thirteen episodes. Her return was announced by the BBC on 3 July 2007. Freema Agyeman, who portrayed the Doctor's companion Martha Jones in series three, returned for "The Sontaran Stratagem", "The Poison Sky", "The Doctor's Daughter", "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End". Billie Piper, who played Rose Tyler from the first episode of the new
Rose (Doctor Who episode) and Noel Clarke were also cast to play Rose's mother and boyfriend respectively; Davies wanted to include these characters to "make her real" and to "give her a life". Rose's family is also working-class, which had rarely been seen in companions on the show prior to "Rose". The episode name had gradually been shortened; in Davies's pitch it had been called "Rose meets the Doctor, and the journey begins", on his contract "Rose Meets The Doctor", and finally shortened to "Rose". Also changed from Davies's original pitch were the names of the supporting characters: Judy Tyler became Jackie Tyler, and