Doctor Who Confirms Identity of New Rose

Yes, Yasmin Finney's Rose is the child of Donna Noble.

By Jamie Lovett

Doctor Who has finally confirmed the identity of Rose, the new character played by Yasmin Finney in the upcoming Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials. It didn't take long after the BBC announced Finney's casting for fans to start speculating that the new Rose is the daughter of Donna Noble, the Doctor's returning companion played by Catherine Tate, named after another Doctor Who companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), who traveled with the Ninth (Christopher Eccleston) and Tenth (David Tennant) Doctors. The BBC has now confirmed at least the first part of that theory, sharing a post on social media that confirm Finney's Rose is Rose Noble, the daughter of Donna and Shaun Temple, a new character played by Karl Collins.

"Welcome to the #DoctorWho family, Rose Noble 🌹➕🔷," the official Doctor Who accounts posted. "Wishing a very happy birthday to Yasmin Finney, whose character Rose is the daughter of companion Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate) and Shaun Temple (Karl Collins). So the question is, what happens when Rose meets one of her mum's oldest friends? It is a mystery for now, but what we do know is that just like her mother, Rose stumbles across something alien – and from that point her seemingly ordinary family is never quite the same... ✨"

Though Finney's Rose is a new character and not a recasting of Rose Tyler, it has been hard to think of her shared name as a mere coincidence, especially with showrunner Russell T Davies, who created Rose Tyler, returning to their show. In a pre-SAG-AFTRA strike interview, Finney indicates that she and everyone else involved with the production is fully aware of the name's legacy in Doctor Who.

"I mean it's obviously got a lot of history, hasn't it?" she told Elle. "To play a character with such history, even just the name, you've got that pressure instantly that I didn't have with Elle. It was a complete mind-blowing experience when I got cast. I can't really relive it because I was so in the moment. At first, [the show] had a code name, and then I found out what the show was and I was like, 'Oh my God, I've just been cast in Doctor Who.' It's a trans character as well, and it's such a blessing as well to be able to play such a monumental character like Rose."

Finney also teased what fans should expect from the three Doctor Who 60th-anniversary specials in November. She said, "You can look forward to a lot of scary things. I think when you think of Doctor Who, you think of the scariest episode, the weeping angels. It's the scariest episode in history and the most popular. I think in this series, I was scared when I saw some of the things. It's shivers down your spine. But, I can't tell you too much. What I can say is it is going to be full of scares, full of laughs, full of all of it. To act with Ncuti Gatwa is just amazing because we are both very young as well, and it's just really nice to have that. He's making history literally, and I'm just really happy to be a part of his world."

When will Doctor Who return?

Doctor Who will return in November for three 60th-anniversary specials starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor. Catherine Tate also returns as the Doctor's former companion Donna Noble.

Ncuti Gatwa's first full episode as the Fifteenth Doctor will the 2023 Christmas Special. Doctor Who Season 14 will follow sometime in 2024. Fans can get new adventures featuring Billie Piper as Rose Tyler in the next installment of Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon.

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