Wilfred Mott
Encyclopedia
Wilfred "Wilf" Mott is a recurring
fictional character
in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
, played by Bernard Cribbins
. He is the maternal grandfather of the Tenth Doctor
's companion
Donna Noble
, and father of character Sylvia Noble. As companion to the Doctor, an alien "Time Lord
" from the planet Gallifrey
, Donna travelled through space and time in the show's 2008 series
, having numerous adventures. A believer in extraterrestrial life himself, Wilf was proud of his granddaughter's adventures and helped to keep them a secret from her overbearing mother. Wilf later became the Tenth Doctor's final companion in The End of Time
.
Cribbins was originally intended to appear in the 2007 Christmas special only, but when Howard Attfield was forced to retire from his role as Donna's father due to illness (Attfield subsequently died), creator Russell T Davies reconceived Cribbins' role as Donna's grandfather and replaced Attfield with him for the fourth series.
" (2007
). The Doctor and Astrid
meet him shortly after teleporting
down to Earth. He mans a newspaper stand and is one of the few people to remain in London over Christmas
following the events of "The Christmas Invasion
" and "The Runaway Bride
". He is a staunch monarchist. He witnesses the Doctor and Astrid being teleported back to the intergalactic cruiser Titanic.
Donna Noble calls him "Gramps
". In the episode "Partners in Crime
", Wilfred is revealed to be an amateur astronomer
who spends his evenings stargazing with his telescope
from an allotment
. He has an interest in alien conspiracies, and is somewhat eccentric. He has a good relationship with his granddaughter who joins him on the allotment when she wishes to escape her mother's nagging. Donna asks him to tell her if he ever sees "a little blue box
" and vaguely describes the Doctor to him. After Donna joins the Doctor, the pair make a fly-by of the allotment in the TARDIS
, its door open, which astonishes Wilfred. Donna waves to him from the TARDIS door and he is elated to see that she is following her desire for adventure.
Although various commentators have erroneously suggested that Mott wears UNIT
insignia on his woollen hat, it is in fact the badge of the Parachute Regiment, in which Cribbins served during his National Service. The hat itself is the same colour of the Regiment's famous beret, with the badge worn over the left eye as standard, indicating a nostalgia for his patriotic service.
In "The Sontaran Strategem", Wilfred is reunited with his granddaughter and the Doctor, whom (Donna is shocked to learn) he has met previously. His absence in "The Runaway Bride" is explained by the Spanish flu. When the ATMOS devices activate, he is trapped in the family car where the Doctor and Donna try to rescue him; the episode ends with him still trapped and choking in his car. In "The Poison Sky
", his daughter Sylvia saves him by smashing the windscreen with an sledgehammer kept by the front door of her house.
In an alternative time line in "Turn Left
", in which the Doctor died without ever meeting Donna, she wins a holiday for her family in the country, and Wilfred is thus not at his news stand at Christmas as otherwise depicted in "Voyage of the Damned
". Without the Doctor, the interstellar cruiser Titanic crashes into Central London, obliterating the metropolis in a massive explosion. Following the disaster, the United States
pledges much-needed aid to Britain
, prompting Wilf to shout "God bless America!", though the anticipated aid is cancelled after millions in the U.S. are killed as a result of Miss Foster's selection of the U.S. as a breeding ground for the Adipose. Wilfred and his family are evacuated to Leeds
with countless other refugees. References are made there to his military service: an Italian immigrant friend calls him "my captain" and salutes him as he leaves. Wilfred becomes distressed when his friend is taken to a labour camp noting "that's what they called them last time," alluding to Nazi concentration camps
during World War II.
In "The Stolen Earth
", Wilfred takes it upon himself to fight the Daleks, armed with a paint gun, reasoning that shooting them in the eyepiece will blind them. The Dalek he attempts to blind dissolves the paint from its eyepiece, and states: "My vision is not impaired". He and Sylvia are rescued from the Daleks by a heavily-armed Rose Tyler
who turns down Wilfred's offer to trade weapons but returns with them to their home to try to contact the Doctor. Wilfred uses the internet, but his daughter Sylvia has not allowed him a webcam on their computer as she considers the devices "naughty", so his computer provides Rose only one-way communication of former Prime Minister
Harriet Jones
' video conference with her militia of the Doctor's companions
.
In "Journey's End
" because of Donna's memory being wiped, Wilfred sees the Doctor off on her behalf, and promises whenever he looks up at the stars, he'll think of the Doctor, whom he considers a very close friend and almost a family member. With Donna's memory wiped, she has returned to her vain, obnoxious personality from before she met the Doctor. Against Sylvia's claims that Donna was just as good before travelling with the Time Lord, Wilfred stands his ground and compels his daughter to admit that the Doctor made Donna a better person.
Wilfred returns in "The End of Time
", in which he has repeated visions of an unnamed woman and discovers depictions of the TARDIS included in historical art. He searches for the Doctor with the help of a group of pensioners called the Silver Cloak. Unlike others whom the Doctor notes spend many years searching for him, Wilfred and his mates find the astonished Doctor within mere hours. The Doctor has come to Earth to find the Master
, and Wilfred promptly joins him as a companion. At first the Doctor rejects him, but agrees after Wilfred asks to come to avoid the pissed-off Sylvia. The mysterious woman tells Wilfred that he must take arms, prompting him to carry his old service revolver. The Doctor begins to suspect that something is keeping Wilfred close to him. They go to Joshua Naismith's mansion, where the Master turns the human race into himself, but Wilfred is protected by the Doctor by placing him inside a chamber shielded from radiation. He is captured by the Master, but is rescued by two aliens, Addams and Rossiter. On the alien ship after being rescued, Wilfred tries to convince the Doctor to take his gun and kill the Master after another visit from the mysterious woman, but the Doctor refuses until he learns the Time Lords are the true threat. During the return to Earth, Wilfred mans one of the ship's asteriod lasers to defend the ship from missiles. After the Doctor jumps into the mansion through a skylight, Wilfred convinces the aliens to land so he can help the Doctor. Wilfred traps himself in the radiation booth again while freeing a technican trapped in there and watches the Doctor's confrontation with the Master and Rassilon. During the stand-off, Wilfred spots the mysterious woman at the same time as the Doctor and witnesses the Doctor defeat the Time Lords by using Wilfred's gun to destroy the diamond anchoring the link that brought them there. Afterwards, when the Doctor thinks he's safe, Wilfred fulfilles the prophecy that "he will knock four times" by knocking four times on the door to get the Doctor's attention. The booth is about to be flooded with radiation and in order to free Wilfred the Doctor must sacrifice himself by exposing himself to the radiation instead. Wilfred tells him to go saying he's lived his life, but the Doctor saves him, telling him "it's my honor." The radiation the Doctor absorbs to save Wilfred forces him to regenerate into his eleventh incarnation
. Afterwards the Doctor returns Wilfred home and promises to see him one last time.
Wilfred returns to his family and attends Donna's wedding where he is again visited by the dying Doctor, who gives him and Sylvia a winning lottery ticket as a wedding present to enable Donna to live a happy life, the Doctor having purchased the ticket with money borrowed in the past from Wilfred's late son-in-law (Donna's father). Wilfred asks who the mysterious woman was, but the Doctor doesn't answer him. Aware of the Doctor's impending "death", a tearful Wilfred honours the Doctor with a military hand salute
as the Time Lord returns to the TARDIS.
who appeared in the second Doctor Who film, Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
, as companion Special Constable
Tom Campbell, a character replacing that of Ian Chesterton
from the television serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth
on which the film was based. Cribbins was also considered for the fourth Doctor
in 1974. In 2006, he became part of the revived series when a photograph of him at a wedding was used in the BBC's tie-in website for "Tooth and Claw
". Cribbins also played a rock band manager in the Eighth Doctor
radio play "Horror of Glam Rock
" broadcast on BBC 7 in 2007.
Cribbins brought elements of his own costume for the role when filming "Voyage of the Damned", such as the hat with the Parachute Regiment badge from his National Service days.
Producer
Phil Collinson
stated in an interview for SFX
that Wilfred Mott will "crop up again in the series several times". Collinson says of Cribbins "it's a great privilege to have him on set, he's wonderful" and "now we’ve got him we’re keeping him! He is brilliant." Mott is not "strictly speaking" linked to Series 4's joining thread, but in the commentary for the first episode, it was suggested that his meeting the Doctor in the Christmas special may not have been accidental.
Following Wilfred Mott's appearance in "Voyage of the Damned", the character was reintroduced as a recurring character and it was established that he is Donna Noble's grandfather. The character replaces that of Donna's father, Geoff Noble, played by Howard Attfield in "The Runaway Bride
", because Attfield died after filming scenes for "Partners in Crime". Collinson had the idea that Wilfred should be Donna's grandfather after Executive Producer
Russell T Davies had decided that a grandfather character should replace the father character after Attfield's death. Davies and fellow Executive Producer Julie Gardner
liked the idea, so Davies wrote Wilfred in to "Partners in Crime". The character Cribbins portrayed in "Voyage of the Damned" was originally to have been called "Stan", but Davies liked the name "Wilfred" for Donna's grandfather and was able to get the credits
for "Voyage of the Damned" changed before its broadcast for consistency.
Specials (2009-10)
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, played by Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Cribbins, OBE is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active...
. He is the maternal grandfather of the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
's companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
Donna Noble
Donna Noble
Donna Noble is a fictional character played by Catherine Tate in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A secretary from Chiswick, London, she is a companion of the Tenth Doctor, appearing in one scene at the end of the final episode of the 2006 series,...
, and father of character Sylvia Noble. As companion to the Doctor, an alien "Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
" from the planet Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
, Donna travelled through space and time in the show's 2008 series
Doctor Who (series 4)
The fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2007 with the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes aired, starting with "Partners in Crime" on 5 April 2008 and ending with "Journey's End"...
, having numerous adventures. A believer in extraterrestrial life himself, Wilf was proud of his granddaughter's adventures and helped to keep them a secret from her overbearing mother. Wilf later became the Tenth Doctor's final companion in The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
.
Cribbins was originally intended to appear in the 2007 Christmas special only, but when Howard Attfield was forced to retire from his role as Donna's father due to illness (Attfield subsequently died), creator Russell T Davies reconceived Cribbins' role as Donna's grandfather and replaced Attfield with him for the fourth series.
Character history
Wilfred Mott first appears in "Voyage of the DamnedVoyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)
"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on 25 December 2007, it is 72 minutes long and the third Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005...
" (2007
2007 in television
2007 in television may refer to:*2007 in American television*2007 in Australian television*2007 in British television*2007 in Canadian television*2007 in Japanese television...
). The Doctor and Astrid
Astrid Peth
Astrid Peth is a fictional character played by Kylie Minogue in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is a one-off companion of the Tenth Doctor who appears in the episode "Voyage of the Damned", which was first broadcast in the UK on 25 December 2007...
meet him shortly after teleporting
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
down to Earth. He mans a newspaper stand and is one of the few people to remain in London over Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
following the events of "The Christmas Invasion
The Christmas Invasion
"The Christmas Invasion" is a 60-minute special episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is Christmas, but there is little cause for celebration as planet Earth is invaded by aliens known as the Sycorax...
" and "The Runaway Bride
The Runaway Bride (Doctor Who)
"The Runaway Bride" is a special episode of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor...
". He is a staunch monarchist. He witnesses the Doctor and Astrid being teleported back to the intergalactic cruiser Titanic.
Donna Noble calls him "Gramps
Grandparent
Grandparents are the parents of a person's own parent, whether that be a father or a mother. Every sexually-reproducing creature who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, etc...
". In the episode "Partners in Crime
Partners in Crime (Doctor Who)
"Partners in Crime" is the first episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008. The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who previously appeared in "The Runaway Bride"...
", Wilfred is revealed to be an amateur astronomer
Amateur astronomy
Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky , and the plethora of objects found in it, mainly with portable telescopes and binoculars...
who spends his evenings stargazing with his telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
from an allotment
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
. He has an interest in alien conspiracies, and is somewhat eccentric. He has a good relationship with his granddaughter who joins him on the allotment when she wishes to escape her mother's nagging. Donna asks him to tell her if he ever sees "a little blue box
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
" and vaguely describes the Doctor to him. After Donna joins the Doctor, the pair make a fly-by of the allotment in the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
, its door open, which astonishes Wilfred. Donna waves to him from the TARDIS door and he is elated to see that she is following her desire for adventure.
Although various commentators have erroneously suggested that Mott wears UNIT
United Nations Intelligence Taskforce
UNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...
insignia on his woollen hat, it is in fact the badge of the Parachute Regiment, in which Cribbins served during his National Service. The hat itself is the same colour of the Regiment's famous beret, with the badge worn over the left eye as standard, indicating a nostalgia for his patriotic service.
In "The Sontaran Strategem", Wilfred is reunited with his granddaughter and the Doctor, whom (Donna is shocked to learn) he has met previously. His absence in "The Runaway Bride" is explained by the Spanish flu. When the ATMOS devices activate, he is trapped in the family car where the Doctor and Donna try to rescue him; the episode ends with him still trapped and choking in his car. In "The Poison Sky
The Poison Sky
"The Poison Sky" is the fifth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 3 May 2008. The episode features both former companion Martha Jones and the alien Sontarans...
", his daughter Sylvia saves him by smashing the windscreen with an sledgehammer kept by the front door of her house.
In an alternative time line in "Turn Left
Turn Left (Doctor Who)
"Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008....
", in which the Doctor died without ever meeting Donna, she wins a holiday for her family in the country, and Wilfred is thus not at his news stand at Christmas as otherwise depicted in "Voyage of the Damned
Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)
"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on 25 December 2007, it is 72 minutes long and the third Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005...
". Without the Doctor, the interstellar cruiser Titanic crashes into Central London, obliterating the metropolis in a massive explosion. Following the disaster, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pledges much-needed aid to Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, prompting Wilf to shout "God bless America!", though the anticipated aid is cancelled after millions in the U.S. are killed as a result of Miss Foster's selection of the U.S. as a breeding ground for the Adipose. Wilfred and his family are evacuated to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
with countless other refugees. References are made there to his military service: an Italian immigrant friend calls him "my captain" and salutes him as he leaves. Wilfred becomes distressed when his friend is taken to a labour camp noting "that's what they called them last time," alluding to Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
during World War II.
In "The Stolen Earth
The Stolen Earth
"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...
", Wilfred takes it upon himself to fight the Daleks, armed with a paint gun, reasoning that shooting them in the eyepiece will blind them. The Dalek he attempts to blind dissolves the paint from its eyepiece, and states: "My vision is not impaired". He and Sylvia are rescued from the Daleks by a heavily-armed Rose Tyler
Rose Tyler
Rose Marion Tyler is a fictional character portrayed by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was created by series producer Russell T Davies...
who turns down Wilfred's offer to trade weapons but returns with them to their home to try to contact the Doctor. Wilfred uses the internet, but his daughter Sylvia has not allowed him a webcam on their computer as she considers the devices "naughty", so his computer provides Rose only one-way communication of former Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Harriet Jones
Harriet Jones
Harriet Jones MP is a recurring fictional character played by Penelope Wilton in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. With the revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Jones was introduced in the two-part story "Aliens of London" and "World War Three" as an MP who aids the...
' video conference with her militia of the Doctor's companions
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
.
In "Journey's End
Journey's End (Doctor Who)
"Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...
" because of Donna's memory being wiped, Wilfred sees the Doctor off on her behalf, and promises whenever he looks up at the stars, he'll think of the Doctor, whom he considers a very close friend and almost a family member. With Donna's memory wiped, she has returned to her vain, obnoxious personality from before she met the Doctor. Against Sylvia's claims that Donna was just as good before travelling with the Time Lord, Wilfred stands his ground and compels his daughter to admit that the Doctor made Donna a better person.
Wilfred returns in "The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
", in which he has repeated visions of an unnamed woman and discovers depictions of the TARDIS included in historical art. He searches for the Doctor with the help of a group of pensioners called the Silver Cloak. Unlike others whom the Doctor notes spend many years searching for him, Wilfred and his mates find the astonished Doctor within mere hours. The Doctor has come to Earth to find the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
, and Wilfred promptly joins him as a companion. At first the Doctor rejects him, but agrees after Wilfred asks to come to avoid the pissed-off Sylvia. The mysterious woman tells Wilfred that he must take arms, prompting him to carry his old service revolver. The Doctor begins to suspect that something is keeping Wilfred close to him. They go to Joshua Naismith's mansion, where the Master turns the human race into himself, but Wilfred is protected by the Doctor by placing him inside a chamber shielded from radiation. He is captured by the Master, but is rescued by two aliens, Addams and Rossiter. On the alien ship after being rescued, Wilfred tries to convince the Doctor to take his gun and kill the Master after another visit from the mysterious woman, but the Doctor refuses until he learns the Time Lords are the true threat. During the return to Earth, Wilfred mans one of the ship's asteriod lasers to defend the ship from missiles. After the Doctor jumps into the mansion through a skylight, Wilfred convinces the aliens to land so he can help the Doctor. Wilfred traps himself in the radiation booth again while freeing a technican trapped in there and watches the Doctor's confrontation with the Master and Rassilon. During the stand-off, Wilfred spots the mysterious woman at the same time as the Doctor and witnesses the Doctor defeat the Time Lords by using Wilfred's gun to destroy the diamond anchoring the link that brought them there. Afterwards, when the Doctor thinks he's safe, Wilfred fulfilles the prophecy that "he will knock four times" by knocking four times on the door to get the Doctor's attention. The booth is about to be flooded with radiation and in order to free Wilfred the Doctor must sacrifice himself by exposing himself to the radiation instead. Wilfred tells him to go saying he's lived his life, but the Doctor saves him, telling him "it's my honor." The radiation the Doctor absorbs to save Wilfred forces him to regenerate into his eleventh incarnation
Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the protagonist of the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Matt Smith plays this incarnation, replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the 2010 episode "The End of Time, Part Two"...
. Afterwards the Doctor returns Wilfred home and promises to see him one last time.
Wilfred returns to his family and attends Donna's wedding where he is again visited by the dying Doctor, who gives him and Sylvia a winning lottery ticket as a wedding present to enable Donna to live a happy life, the Doctor having purchased the ticket with money borrowed in the past from Wilfred's late son-in-law (Donna's father). Wilfred asks who the mysterious woman was, but the Doctor doesn't answer him. Aware of the Doctor's impending "death", a tearful Wilfred honours the Doctor with a military hand salute
Salute
A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organizations and civil people also use salutes.-Military salutes:...
as the Time Lord returns to the TARDIS.
Behind the scenes
Wilfred Mott is played by Bernard CribbinsBernard Cribbins
Bernard Cribbins, OBE is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active...
who appeared in the second Doctor Who film, Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks , and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also...
, as companion Special Constable
Special constable
A Special Constable is a law enforcement officer who is not a regular member of a police force. Some like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carry the same law enforcement powers as regular members, but are employed in specific roles, such as explosive disposal technicians, court security, campus...
Tom Campbell, a character replacing that of Ian Chesterton
Ian Chesterton
Ian Chesterton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. He was played in the series by William Russell, and was one of the members of the programme's very first regular cast, appearing in the bulk of the first two...
from the television serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Dalek Invasion of Earth is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from November 21 to December 26, 1964....
on which the film was based. Cribbins was also considered for the fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
in 1974. In 2006, he became part of the revived series when a photograph of him at a wedding was used in the BBC's tie-in website for "Tooth and Claw
Tooth and Claw (Doctor Who)
"Tooth and Claw" is the second episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and was first broadcast on 22 April 2006. In 1879 Scotland, the Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria...
". Cribbins also played a rock band manager in the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
radio play "Horror of Glam Rock
Horror of Glam Rock
Horror of Glam Rock is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions and was broadcast on BBC 7 on 14 January 2007.-Plot:...
" broadcast on BBC 7 in 2007.
Cribbins brought elements of his own costume for the role when filming "Voyage of the Damned", such as the hat with the Parachute Regiment badge from his National Service days.
Producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
Phil Collinson
Phil Collinson
Philip "Phil" Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice, Doctor Who and Coronation...
stated in an interview for SFX
SFX magazine
SFX is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy.-Description:SFX magazine is published every four weeks by Future Publishing and was founded in 1995. The magazine covers topics in the genres of popular science fiction, fantasy and horror, within the media of films,...
that Wilfred Mott will "crop up again in the series several times". Collinson says of Cribbins "it's a great privilege to have him on set, he's wonderful" and "now we’ve got him we’re keeping him! He is brilliant." Mott is not "strictly speaking" linked to Series 4's joining thread, but in the commentary for the first episode, it was suggested that his meeting the Doctor in the Christmas special may not have been accidental.
Following Wilfred Mott's appearance in "Voyage of the Damned", the character was reintroduced as a recurring character and it was established that he is Donna Noble's grandfather. The character replaces that of Donna's father, Geoff Noble, played by Howard Attfield in "The Runaway Bride
The Runaway Bride (Doctor Who)
"The Runaway Bride" is a special episode of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor...
", because Attfield died after filming scenes for "Partners in Crime". Collinson had the idea that Wilfred should be Donna's grandfather after Executive Producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
Russell T Davies had decided that a grandfather character should replace the father character after Attfield's death. Davies and fellow Executive Producer Julie Gardner
Julie Gardner
Julie Gardner is a Welsh television producer. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of Doctor Who and its spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...
liked the idea, so Davies wrote Wilfred in to "Partners in Crime". The character Cribbins portrayed in "Voyage of the Damned" was originally to have been called "Stan", but Davies liked the name "Wilfred" for Donna's grandfather and was able to get the credits
Closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
for "Voyage of the Damned" changed before its broadcast for consistency.
List of appearances
Series 4 (2007-08)Doctor Who (series 4)
The fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2007 with the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes aired, starting with "Partners in Crime" on 5 April 2008 and ending with "Journey's End"...
- "Voyage of the DamnedVoyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on 25 December 2007, it is 72 minutes long and the third Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005...
" - "Partners in CrimePartners in Crime (Doctor Who)"Partners in Crime" is the first episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008. The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who previously appeared in "The Runaway Bride"...
" - "The Sontaran Strategem" / "The Poison SkyThe Poison Sky"The Poison Sky" is the fifth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 3 May 2008. The episode features both former companion Martha Jones and the alien Sontarans...
" - "Turn LeftTurn Left (Doctor Who)"Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008....
" - "The Stolen EarthThe Stolen Earth"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...
" / "Journey's EndJourney's End (Doctor Who)"Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...
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Specials (2009-10)
- The End of TimeThe End of TimeThe End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...