David Tennant and Billie Piper to return for 'Doctor Who' 50th Anniversary Special

Credit: BBC

The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special is about to get a whole lot more wibbly wobbly and timey wimey.

David Tennant, who played the tenth incarnation of the venerable Time Lord, and Billie Piper, who portrayed long-time companion Rose Tyler, will be returning to Doctor Who in the 50th Anniversary Special to air this November. The special begins filming this week in the UK, and while plot details are scarce, this wouldn't be the first time multiple incarnations of The Doctor have co-existed simultaneously. The iconic "The Three Doctors" story brought the first three Doctors together (and also featured the final appearance of William Hartnell in the role of the First Doctor), while the one-off "Time Crash" brought Tennant's Doctor face-to-face with Peter Davison's Fifth. This is, of course, only to name a few multi-Doctor scenarios (if we got into the short stories, radio plays and novels, we'd be here all day -- and end up missing tonight's premiere).

Tennant offered up one of the more popular portrayals of the Time Lord, lasting in the role from June 2005 to January 1, 2010. Since leaving the series, he has appeared in the miniseries Single Father, The Escape Artist and the upcoming Spies of Warsaw (premiering April 3). As for Piper, she debuted in the role of Rose Tyler alongside the premiere of the rebooted series in May 2005. She lasted two full seasons in the role, going on to make only intermittent drop-ins from season three until her final appearance -- in “The End of Time”, which was also Tennant's last appearance in the series. She would go on to star as lead in the series Secret Diary of a Call Girl for four seasons, so neither actor has exactly been hurting for work since leaving the long-running sci-fi cornerstone. That said, it'll be great to have them back -- and their return begs the question of just who else might be coming back for the 50th Anniversary.

Tennant and Piper join a cast that includes John Hurt (Alien), who only recently signed on to the BBC America special, which is written by showrunner Steven Moffat and will be directed by Nick Hurran.

Lastly, as part of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary plans, BBC America is co-producing a TV-movie depicting the creation of the series, and the drama surrounding its premiere on November 23, 1963. The film, An Adventure in Space and Time, is set to star David Bradley (Argus Filch of the Harry Potter Films) as the First Doctor, William Hartnell.

Doctor Who Season 7 returns tonight at 8/7c on BBC America.

Via: TVLine.com