Doctor's orders

Her debut single topped the charts. She was married to presenter and DJ turned media mogul Chris Evans. But, for Billie Piper, landing the part of Doctor Who's time travelling companion Rose Tyler meant more than anything in her career to date.

When her record shot to the number one spot, she was in the midst of what she calls "this mad pop frenzy" and didn't really have time to enjoy the moment.

"It's only on reflection that I can think how great it was, but at the time I couldn't feel it. It all happened very quickly. I was only 15 and completely numb to that success, which is a shame," she says.

"But the thing about acting is you have to be living the moment all the time, so you can enjoy it all the time. I'm just happy to be feeling it this time round."

At 22, she now feels she's finally doing what she was born to do - act. As a child, she always wanted to be an actor, studying drama and doing workshops growing up in Swindon.

"I didn't just want it to be my hobby, I wanted it to be my life and to throw myself into it completely, so I got a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. It was always my mission to be an actor, I just got sidetracked somewhere along the line."

She was asked to do a demo tape for a new record label keen to find a new young female solo artist and "it just snowballed from there", she says.

"I did it because I love music. I was never really that confident as a singer but I saw it as a stepping stone and hoped that it would open doors for me in the future as an actress.

"I know there have been times when the whole pop thing has gone against me in terms of getting roles but I also knew I would just have to apply myself."

She went to Los Angeles to re-start her acting studies in relative anonymity, then came home and began auditioning. A role in BBC1's contemporary version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, opposite James Nesbitt and Dennis Waterman, made people sit up and take notice of her.

She had an advantage when it came to auditioning for Doctor Who as they'd met before. "I had a first audition and was then called back to read opposite Christopher Eccleston so the producers could check out the chemistry between us.

"That was really quite scary, but I'd met him before because we were going to be partnered up to do another TV drama. Nothing ever came of that project, but at least we'd been out for a drink before and enjoyed each other's company, so that definitely helped."

She sees Rose, a shop girl from the present day, as more of an equal to the Doctor than his previous companions. The new series keeps the essence of the old but one of the ways it's been updated is in the relationship between the Doctor and Rose.

"They're on a par with one another, more like partners, and the audience sees everything through Rose's eyes," says Piper. "She's human, the Doctor's an alien, and she's experiencing all these alien situations throughout the series. At times, the whole thing is slightly overwhelming for her, but she can cope with it and match the Doctor.

"He's constantly challenging her, trying to broaden her horizons, and she's trying to show him how to be more in touch with human emotions."

She can see a younger version of herself in Rose, especially the way she relies on her instincts and intuition. "She's only 19, and when you're that age you don't tend to analyse things as much, you tend not to think so much about the consequences of your actions," she says.

"That's what I like about Rose - everything about the Doctor's world is so brand new to her, and she's relying on her instincts all the time and I love that.

"If Rose had been older she might not have gone off in the first place with this strange man who calls himself the Doctor and abandoned the life she knows.

"But when we first see her, she's so bored and looking for excitement. She feels trapped and doesn't want the kind of mundane life she's living. But then she meets this guy who totally shakes up her world."

Published: 24/03/2005