Rose Tyler
Rose Marion Tyler, originally a shop assistant from London, was the first known companion of the Doctor during his ninth incarnation. After Rose witnessed his regeneration into the tenth incarnation, she continued to travel with him, before becoming trapped in an alternate Earth.
History
Early Life
Rose Tyler was born to Jackie and Pete Tyler, on 27th April 1986. (DW: The Unquiet Dead, Dalek). But see also: Mysteries and Discrepancies.
Rose was only six months old when, on 7th November 1987, her father Pete died in a car accident. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen, Father's Day) Although she was too young to remember the incident or any other events from that year, her mother Jackie later told Rose the story of how her father had died. (DW: Father's Day)
- The shooting script of "Father's Day" gives 1992 as the year that Jackie tells Rose about Pete's death, also mentioning that Rose is "about six years old" at the time. The episode itself gives no indication as to the timing of Rose being told the story.
Rose attended the Jericho Street Junior School, where she was a member of the under-sevens gymnastic team, and she won the bronze medal in a school gymnastics competition. (DW: Rose)
When Rose was twelve, she was given a red bicycle for Christmas. The Doctor would later imply that he himself had done this for her. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
While at school, she and a friend of hers, named Shareen, would often intentionally miss school to go shopping and to look at boys. (DW: The Unquiet Dead) Rose left school without taking her A-levels, later blaming Jimmy Stone as the only reason for her departure. (DW: Rose) However, she would also later recall that she had hated every second of school. (DW: The Unquiet Dead)
Rose began seeing Mickey at the age of 14, and at 15 she was suspended from her school, Jericho Street Comprehensive, for persuading the choir to go on strike. After doing badly in her GCSE exams, she left school to live with a 20 year-old musician, Jimmy Stone. She subsequently returned to Jackie and Mickey, heartbroken and in debt, and her mother called in a favour from an ex-boyfriend to get her the job at Henrik's.
By the time Rose was 19, she and Jackie were living in the Powell Estates (Flat 48, Bucknall House, Powell Estate, London, SE15 7GO) in South London. Rose was working as a shop assistant at Henrik's Department Store in London's Regent Street, while Jackie supported them by working from home as a hairdresser. Before she met the Doctor, Rose's only traveling experience was a school trip to France and an annual week's holiday to South Wales with her mother (DWA: Doctor Who Annual 2006).
Early adventures
One night, after Henrik's had closed, Rose witnessed several mannequins coming to life in the basement of the shop building. Although she suspected the models were someone's idea of a practical joke, the mannequins were actually Autons. As they advanced on her, a stranger took her hand, helped her escape from the store, advised Rose to run for her life, and then proceeded to destroy the building.
After she returned home, she searched for more information on the internet about the strange man and found Clive Finch, a man who had been keeping track of the Doctor's appearances on Earth. Ultimately, Rose helped the Doctor track down the Nestene Consciousness that was animating the Autons and, when the Doctor was being held by two of the mannequins, Rose used her gymnastic skill to free him. The Earth now saved, Rose joined him in his TARDIS, leaving her boyfriend and her mother behind on Earth. (DW: Rose)
The Doctor modified her mobile phone to be able to communicate across time and space, among other functions. (DW: The End of the World). (She would later nickname it the "Superphone".)
In her first trip with the Doctor, Rose witnessed the final destruction of Earth (DW: The End of the World). Later she encountered a Dalek for the first time. (DW: Dalek) During that adventure Rose met Adam Mitchell, a young genius who she found very attractive and who traveled with the Doctor. However, as a consequence of his Adam's behavior, she soon lost interest in him. (DW: The Long Game) The Doctor also took Rose back to 1987 to witness the last minutes of her father's life. This would have drastic consequences as Rose prevented his death, altering history and unleashing Reapers. She also ended up meeting herself as an infant as well as a very young Mickey Smith. (DW: Father's Day)
In World War II London, the Doctor and Rose encountered Captain Jack Harkness, a former Time Agent from the 51st century, with whom she also had an attraction. Befriending him, the Doctor and Rose took him along in the TARDIS with them. (DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances)
Bad Wolf
From the moment Rose stepped foot in the TARDIS, the phrase "Bad Wolf" had followed the Doctor and Rose around through space and time. Following his discovery of a complex plan by the Daleks to invade Earth in the year 200,100 (DW: Bad Wolf), the Doctor, believing he might well die soon, sent Rose out of harm's way to her home place and time. Seeing the words Bad Wolf as graffiti around her housing complex served as a reminder to Rose that it was possible to return to him. Rose broke into the TARDIS and looked into its heart which enabled her to transcend temporarily into the transcendentally powerful being, the Bad Wolf itself. As this goddess-like figure, she vaporized the Dalek fleet and brought Captain Jack back to life making him immortal. However, Rose had absorbed the Time Vortex into herself by doing so, which would destroy her body, cell by cell. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
- See Battle of the Game Station for a more detailed account of these events.
The Doctor took those energies into himself, sacrificing his ninth incarnation and regenerating before Rose's eyes into a new form (DW: The Parting of the Ways).
With the Tenth Doctor
The newly regenerated Doctor managed to steer the TARDIS back to Christmas Eve 2006 before collapsing from post-regenerative trauma. Rose was disturbed that the Doctor had changed in appearance and personality, and had apparently left them to face the Sycorax invasion alone. The Doctor later revived and defeated the Sycorax. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)
During the encounter with Queen Victoria, the Doctor and Rose were knighted for defeating a werewolf, but immediately banned as a threat the British Empire. (DW: Tooth and Claw). This incident prompted Queen Victoria to found the Torchwood Institute in order to address future alien threats--including the Doctor.
Back in her own time, Rose met a previous companion of the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, which created an awkward situation Mickey Smith described as "the missus and the ex". Both women felt jealousy and tension, which they subsequently resolved. Rose, however, became worried the Doctor would one day abandon her. (DW: School Reunion) She showed signs of jealousy when the Doctor had an attraction to Madame de Pompadour. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace).
On a parallel version of Earth later nicknamed "Pete's World" after Pete Tyler, Rose met a different version of her father, who had not died. Rose also witnessed the cyber-conversion and then the death of that world's version of her mother. Mickey Smith decided to leave the Doctor and Rose and live a new life on Pete's World fighting against the Cybermen of that world. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel)
There was later a difficult discussion about settling down after seemingly losing the TARDIS. (DW: The Impossible Planet) During the battle of Canary Wharf in the Torchwood Institute, Rose absolutely refused to leave the Doctor to face the threat on his own. Consequently, she nearly sacrificed herself to make sure every last Dalek and Cybermen were sucked into the Void. Thanks to the timely rescue of Pete Tyler from Pete's World, Rose was alive, but was forever separated from the Doctor. (DW: Doomsday)
Life after the Doctor
Rose lived with Pete Tyler, her mother Jackie, Mickey and Thomas (rose cousin) in their home on Pete's World. She received a dream-like contact from the Doctor, which guided her to Dålig Ulv Stranden (Bad Wolf Bay) beach in Norway. The Doctor sent his last farewells through the closing gaps between the worlds, burning up a star to send the signal through. He informed her that on her Earth, Rose was officially dead. Rose informed the Doctor that she now worked for Torchwood in this alternative world, and that Jackie was again pregnant. Rose finally broke down and confessed her love for the Doctor, but the Doctor did not have a chance to reciprocate her feelings, he was cut off abruptly (and later seen crying in the TARDIS). Rose was last seen standing on the beach crying while her mother comforts her. (DW: Doomsday)
2009
Doctor, she is returning.
In 2009, after dealing with the Adipose, Donna Noble asked a blonde-haired woman to tell her mother that she left her car keys in "that bin". After Donna's departure, the woman turned around to reveal herself as Rose Tyler. She walked off, eventually fading away. (DW: Partners in Crime)
When the Doctor and Donna were conversing with two psychics in 79AD Pompeii, one of them notes that "She is returning.". This appears to be a foreshadowing to Rose's return later on. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii)
When Donna Noble was in the TARDIS during the Sontaran Invasion, she looked at the screen, and for a few seconds Rose's face popped up on the screen calling for the Doctor. (DW: The Poison Sky) The image is also seen in "Captain Jack's Monster Files", during the file for the Hath. Also, in The Library there is a picture of a blonde girl is on the girl's wall with a picture of a wolf next to it. This may be Rose Tyler and a reference to Bad Wolf. (DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead).
Most recently, on the planet Midnight, Rose appeared on a screen in the shuttlebus. She did not speak aloud but it appeared that she was shouting the word "Doctor!", though the message was silent. It was not clear that anyone on the bus noticed. (DW: Midnight)
Rose reveals to Donna Noble that she can travel between worlds and alternate timelines. She appears at several points in Donna's alternate timeline:
- on Christmas Eve 2007, the day on which the Doctor--lacking Donna to pull him back--was killed while fighting the Racnoss;
- the night Donna was sacked, in order to warn her about the coming devastation of London on Christmas Day 2008;
- the evening that the Sontaran plan to attack the Earth through Atmos systems (c.f. The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky) was thwarted by Torchwood 3 at the cost of their lives;
- approximately three weeks later, when Donna finally relented and decided to follow Rose, who revealed the Time Beetle on Donna's back and explained to her what she must do to restore the other timeline.
Donna agrees, and is sent back to force her past self to turn left and not right on that fateful day in June 2007, and so work at H.C. Clements and set up her meeting with the Doctor six months later. Donna does so, at the cost of her life, and Rose whispers a message to her as she dies: bad wolf. (DW: Turn Left)
Personality
Rose has shown herself to be a quick-witted, inquisitive and compassionate young woman, who was quick to adapt despite being thrown into strange events. She fell easily into the role of the Doctor's latest companion and showed both determination and courage while facing various alien threats. It is also obvious that she cares deeply about the Doctor, although she originally denied any infatuation with or romantic feelings towards him, despite indications to the contrary on several occasions. In their what seemed like their final meeting on the beach, she told the Doctor that she loved him; he began to reply, but only got out the words "Rose Tyler" before he was cut off.
Mysteries and Discrepancies
The Doctor states that Rose is nineteen years old (DW:The Unquiet Dead, DW:Dalek), and it is later established that she met the Doctor on 6 March 2005 (DW: Aliens of London). However, the Annual article states that Rose was born on 27 April 1987. Although this contradicts the age as stated on screen (she would have been 17 when she met the Doctor, not 19), it is consistent with the appearance of the baby Rose in "Father's Day," set in November 1987, where the baby is clearly no more than a few months old. The 27th April birthdate is also inconsistent with a statement on the BBC's website: during the lead-up to the episode "Bad Wolf," the website was altered to tie in with the story's Big Brother theme, and a "contestant portrait" for Rose stated that she was an Aries.
Behind the Scenes
"Tyler" is a common name in the works of writer and producer Russell T. Davies, who has used it as the surname of a family that features heavily in his Virgin New Adventures Doctor Who novel, Damaged Goods. He has also used the name as the surname for several other characters in various series, such as Ruth Tyler in Revelations, Vince Tyler in Queer as Folk, and Johnny Tyler in The Second Coming.
Among those who auditioned for the role of Rose Tyler was actress Georgia Moffett, daughter of Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison. Moffett went on to play Jenny, the Doctor's daughter, in Series 4. Actress Julia Joyce, at the age of seven, portrayed "Young Rose" in "Father's Day".
The title of the first episode of Season 27, "Rose", is a references to the character's name and she is the first character to appear in that episode. Therefore, she is also, simultaneously the first character to appear in Season 27 and the first to have been seen in a Doctor Who television episode for nine years (given the interval between the 1996 Doctor Who television movie and "Rose").
After Rose was written out of Doctor Who at the end of Season 28, Russell T. Davies considered giving the character her own 90-minute spin-off production, Rose Tyler: Earth Defence, with the possibility of such a special becoming an annual Bank Holiday event. Although the special was officially commissioned, Davies changed his mind and decided that such a return, wherein the audience would be able to see Rose when the Doctor could not, would spoil her final scenes in Doctor Who. The production was consequently canceled.
Sam Tyler, the lead character in the BBC's other time-travel drama, Life on Mars, was named after Rose. Reportedly, the lead character's surname was suggested by the young daughter of Life of Mars co-creator, Matthew Graham, after her father had asked her to choose the character's surname. She had ultimately decided upon "Tyler" because of Rose, a fact only later discovered by her father, who eventually went on to write the Doctor Who episode "Fear Her".
Since Series Three, the BBC has confirmed that Rose will return in Series Four of Doctor Who. It has been said that Donna Noble receives a message from Rose in a dream. Rose apparently tells her that the parallel world has splintered. She tells her to inform the doctor. Later, it was confirmed by Russell T Davies in Doctor Who Magazine that this return had been planned since she left.
Rose Returns
The story arc leading up to her return
- Partners in Crime - Cameo at the end of the episode
- The Fires of Pompeii - "Doctor, she is returning." -- Lucius
- Planet of the Ood - "I think your song must end soon." -- Ood Sigma, clip of Rose's parting music from Doomsday
- The Poison Sky - Rose is on monitor calling for the Doctor in TARDIS
- Silence in the Library - There is a portrait of Rose and a wolf next to it referring to Bad Wolf
- Midnight - The same recording of Rose from 'The Poison Sky' is displayed on the screen of the Crusader ship. The Doctor, however, has his back turned and misses her.
- Turn Left - Full return, Bad Wolf message at the end.
- The Stolen Earth
- Journey's End
