Back in 2008, Doctor Who fans were eagerly waiting for the show’s fourth season to drop on BBC. Not only was the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) coming back for another 13 episodes of space and time hijinks, the new season would also feature the return of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Introduced in the 2006 Christmas special, “The Runaway Bride”, snarky, no-nonsense Donna was coming back as a full time companion. However, when viewers tuned in to watch Season 4, Episode 1, “Partners in Crime”, Tate’s wasn’t the only familiar face they saw besides Tennant’s. Sitting by a telescope, with his eyes watching the stars, was Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott. Cribbins, who had already made an appearance in the 2007 Christmas special, “Voyage of the Damned”, didn’t know yet, but he was about to become every Whovian’s favorite grandpa.
On Thursday, July 28, fans all over the world lost a family member with the news that Bernard Cribbins passed away at the age of 93. The cause of death hasn’t been released to the press. An actor since the 50s, Cribbins had roles in numerous famous projects, from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1972 film Frenzy to the British comedy show Fawlty Towers. He was also responsible for the 1962 novelty hit “Right Said Fred”, whose name inspired the 90s pop act of “I’m Too Sexy” fame. But among all the roles in his impressive resume, the one that made the most impact was certainly Doctor Who’s Wilfred - or Wilf, for those that got to know and love him.
Kind, joyous, and somewhat childlike, Wilf was Donna's grandfather, but he soon became a beloved relative to everyone that watched the show. In an Instagram post about Cribbins' passing, former (and future) Doctor Who showrunner Russel T. Davies says that children would call him grandad in the street during his time on the show, and it’s not hard to understand why. An amateur astronomer, Wilf was always encouraging his granddaughter to reach for the stars instead of settling for the boring, prepackaged life that her mother had set out for her. He stood in sharp contrast with the judgmental and cruelly pragmatic Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King), who saw only the worst in her daughter. While Sylvia believed Donna to be weak, stupid, and unlovable, Wilf knew her to be strong, bright, and destined for greatness.
And, indeed, he was right. Over the course of Doctor Who’s fourth season, Donna goes from being “only a temp” to the most important woman in the universe. Even before she touched that severed Time Lord hand and absorbed way more knowledge than her human mind was capable of processing, her character growth was evident: if her opinionated, loudmouthed, and stubborn persona was initially played just for laughs, it soon became clear that Donna was way more than a running gag. She was a fighter for justice. From London to Pompeii to the Oodsphere, there wasn’t anyone or anything that Donna Noble couldn’t stand up to. As the Doctor descended into his Time Lord victorious spiral, Donna was one of the few that had the guts to call him out. The problem was that no one could see her for what she truly was, except for the Doctor and Wilf.
But even if Donna hadn’t made anything great out of herself, even if she had remained “only a temp”, the fact that Wilf believed so much in her and always encouraged her to be better is enough to make us love him. After all, we all need a Wilfred Mott in our corner, especially when the other side is full of Sylvia Nobles.
Considering how important Wilf was to the show and to Donna’s story arc, it’s somewhat weird to learn that Cribbins wasn’t even supposed to be a regular on the series to begin with. He was cast as a replacement for Howard Attfield, who had played Donna’s father, Geoff, in “The Runaway Bride” and was set to come back for Season 4. Sadly, Attfield passed away in 2007, having already shot a few scenes as Geoff. Cribbins, who had been well-received by audiences as the kiosk owner that is one of the only two people still in London in “Voyage of the Damned”, was invited back to Who, and his character was turned into Donna’s grandfather. From what we know, Wilf’s personality is very much like Geoff’s was supposed to be, but it’s tough to imagine anyone but Cribbins in such a role.
Once again, according to Russel T. Davies Instagram post, audiences weren’t the only ones that enjoyed Cribbins’ time in “Voyage of the Damned”. The showrunner recalls that even guest star Kylie Minogue couldn’t take her eyes off of Cribbins, who would show up to set with “a suitcase full of props, just in case, including a rubber chicken”. This cheerful, joke-loving energy translated well into Wilf. Who can forget his iconic scene in “Turn Left” in which Sylvia tells him to remove his antlers headpiece just to hear back “No, I shan’t! It’s Christmas!”? If you’re a Doctor Who fan, chances are you have sent a gif of this moment to at least one friend during Christmastime.
But not everything was fun and games with Wilf. Much like Cribbins himself, who served in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army, Wilfred Mott had seen the horrors of war and was quick to realize when things were taking a turn for the worse. He did his best not to let his spirit break, but, eventually, it became too much even for him. In “Turn Left” - an unusually dark episode for Doctor Who, despite featuring the aforementioned antlers' scene -, Wilf is the one that sobers us up to the real extent of human cruelty in the face of chaos and destruction. When the Nobles’ immigrant housemates are deported to labor camps, Wilf’s unforgettable line “That’s what they called them last time” is a true punch to the stomach.
This sense of gravitas, as well as his status as a fan favorite, made him the perfect companion for David Tennant’s last hurrah as the Doctor. Released as a two-part adventure on December 25, 2009, and January 1, 2010, “The End of Time” is a somewhat divisive Doctor Who story that has a little bit of everything that made the Tennant/Davies era of the show what it was, for better and for worse. But even those that can’t stand the campiness of the two specials can’t deny the beauty and the sadness of Wilf’s conversation with the Doctor about war, death, and the passage of time. There is no one else in the history of the show that the Doctor could have opened up about the dangers of the extended life of a Time Lord with the same level of impact. And when the Doctor says that he would be proud if Wilf was his dad, we all have to fight back at least one tear.
“Voyage of the Damned” wasn’t the first time Bernard Cribbins stepped into the Who-niverse, and fans were hoping that it wouldn’t be the last. In 1966, he starred alongside Peter Cushing in the Doctor Who inspired movie Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., playing companion Tom Campbell. Earlier this year, Tennant and Catherine Tate were confirmed as part of the upcoming Doctor Who 60th anniversary special. Though it is yet unclear whether they will be reprising their original roles or playing different characters, the possibility of having Donna back on the TARDIS came with the hope that Wilf would also return. Alas, Bernard Cribbins didn’t make it to the 60th. Still, it was a life well-lived.
As another incarnation of the Doctor (Matt Smith) would put it, we are all stories in the end. Bernard and Wilf will live forever in the hearts and minds of fans everywhere, in that memory space we reserve for our most beloved fictional family members.