Wilfred Mott

Wilfred 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, father of recurring character Sylvia Noble and father-in-law of Geoff Noble. He lives with his daughter's family in Chiswick, London.

Character history

Wilfred Mott first appears in "Voyage of the Damned" (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 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 appears to join him on these evenings 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 at the end of the episode, they do a fly-by of the allotment in the TARDIS 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.

In "The Sontaran Strategem", Wilfred is reunited with his granddaughter and the Doctor, who (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 windowscreen with an axe kept by the front door of her house.

In "Turn Left", an alternate universe occurs where the Doctor died without ever meeting Donna Noble. Wilfred is evacuated to Leeds with the rest of his family after the Titanic crashes into Central London. Further references are made to his military service - a friend calls him "my captain" and salutes him as he leaves. Wilfred also shows incredible distress when his friend is taken to a labour camp saying "that's what they called them last time," again alluding to military service as early as World War II and possibly implying he has himself had time in a labour camp or may have witnessed the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

In "The Stolen Earth", Wilfred takes it upon himself to fight the Daleks, armed with nothing but a paint gun. He reasons that shooting them in the eyepiece will blind them. A Dalek, however, is able to melt the paint off its eyepiece: "My vision is not impaired". He and Sylvia are rescued from the Daleks by Rose Tyler.

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. After a handshake and a salute from Wilfred, the Doctor departs from Donna and her family.

In April 2009, Russell T. Davies stated in a television interview that Cribbins would be reprising the role of Wilfred Mott and would be the Tenth Doctor's companion for the final specials in 2009-10.

Behind the scenes

Wilfred Mott is played by Bernard Cribbins 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 1975. Cribbins brought elements of his own costume for the role when filming "Voyage of the Damned", such as the hat with Parachute Regiment badge.

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.

List of appearances

Series 4 (2008)

• "Voyage of the Damned"
• "Partners in Crime"
• "The Sontaran Strategem" / "The Poison Sky"
• "Turn Left"
• "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End"

Specials (2009-10)

• Christmas specials