The Doctor & Rose’s Reunion Helps Make ‘Doctor Who’ Season 4 So Good

In 1963, Doctor Who premiered. In 2005, Doctor Who was revived, introducing new iterations of the Time Lord and more adventures through time and space. In 2023, another new era began, with Disney becoming a producer. There has been quite a bit to love about each Doctor and his or her companions, as well as each season. But 17 years ago, on July 5, 2008, the best season since the show was revived came to an end.

The second Doctor Who Season 4 featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and brought back Catherine Tate as companion Donna Noble after introducing her at the end of Season 2 and then in a one-off Christmas special in 2006, “The Runaway Bride.” It was full of both comedic and heartfelt moments, the major return of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, the introduction of a character who would go on to be a significant part of the Doctor’s life (though he didn’t know it at the time), a well-crafted season-long arc, one of the series’ best episodes, and so much more. Read on for why this was such a great run of episodes.