OK, so it's pretty hard to actually miss Rose Tyler, since she's always popping up in some shape or form, but there was a time where fans, and the Doctor, genuinely thought they were never going to see her again. You won't need reminding, of course (but hell, you're going to be!), that her story reached its heartbreaking conclusion in Series 2's Doomsday but, as with most things in Doctor Who, the end was only just the beginning because she hasn't stopped coming back since. Yep, that gut wrenchingly iconic scene on the shores of Bad Wolf Boy turned out to be more of a temporary adieu than a permanent parting of the ways. After saving the universe alongside the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, everybody's favourite shop girl turned Earth defender was back with an almighty vengeance in Series 4 (and then in The End of Time... and then in The Day of the Doctor...) but her persistence probably has something to do with the formidable fact that she's widely cited as one of the most popular companions ever. She's certainly the one who started it all, too, as far as NuWho is concerned, and while her popularity has arguably diminished over recent years, you can't deny that her tenure aboard the TARDIS will go down in history as one of the show's most shining chapters to date. The Doctor and Rose were soulmates in every sense of the word, so much so that she ended up getting her own metacrisis human version of him which speaks volumes as far as romantic gestures go. It was the perfect ending to one of the greatest televisual love stories every told but maybe it's time to build a bridge. Nah.
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
