Remember all those years ago when Russell T. Davies had an idea for a Doctor Who spinoff calledRose Tyler: Earth Defence? Well, now Big Finish is kinda sorta bringing that idea back to life, as part of a new series of audio adventures starring Billie Piper.
Announced today by Big Finish, Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon will be a series of four audio dramas set between the events of “Doomsday” in Doctor Who’s second season — in which Rose was cut off from the Doctor seemingly for good on a parallel world — and “The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End” in season four — which saw an older and wiser Rose return after a series of dimension-hopping adventures to help the Doctor and his allies save the entire multiverse.
The Dimension Cannon will see some of those adventures come to life, as Rose uses the titular device to travel through dying realities across the multiverse in her quest to protect her family and relocate the Doctor. Alongside Piper’s return as Rose, the series will see Camille Coduri and Shaun Dingwall reprise their roles as Rose’s parents, Jackie and Pete. It will also star Mark Benton as a parallel version of Clive Finch, the alien investigator Rose met in her search for answers behind the Auton’s attack on London all the way back in her debut episode, “Rose.”
It’s not the first time Piper has reprised her role as Rose on audio — she co-starred alongside David Tennant for a series of audio adventures last year. But it’s a wildly intriguing idea for a spinoff, nonetheless. Not only is it a fascinating time period to explore in Doctor Who’s recent history, but Big Finish is teasing a much more down-to-Earth tone for The Dimension Cannon, hinting that Rose won’t be facing monstrous villains and alien threats, but instead human stories in the face of the end of the world.
It sounds like it could be a damn sight better than Earth Defence could’ve been, all things considered. Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon is set to release in September 2019.