Donna Noble
Donna Noble, I'm so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best.
"I was going to be with you forever! In the Tardis! The Doctor Donna!"
Donna Noble was a fiercely independent companion of the Tenth Doctor. Despite humble origins, Donna Noble is also noted by Rose as unknowingly being the most important woman in all of creation. After her mind was transformed into that of a Time Lord's, she became unstable after saving the universe. The Doctor, to save her life, had to suppress her memories of him and as such she does not remember anything about their travels.
Biography
Donna Noble is the daughter of Geoff and Sylvia Noble (née Mott) (DW: The Runaway Bride) and the granddaughter of Wilfred Mott. On her first day at school, she was sent home for biting. (DW:The Runaway Bride)
When she was six years old, her mother refused to take her on a holiday that year; Donna, undaunted, got on a bus and went on her own to Strathclyde. Her grandfather would later recount this story to her as a way to remind her of her determination. (DW: Partners in Crime)
Donna missed out on the Christmas Day Sycorax invasion of Earth due to a hangover, and missed the Cybermen invasion because she was on holiday in Spain going scuba diving. Consequently, she was unprepared for the possibility of the existence of alien life when she first encountered it herself.
Her career seems to have consisted mainly of temp jobs. She had worked in a library for a while; and, at some point before June 2007, had worked for two years at a double-glazing firm. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter, The Runaway Bride)
In June 2007, Donna had the choice of working as a full-time secretary for Jival Chowdry, or at as a temporary secretary at H.C. Clements, a security firm. She chose the latter and, on her first day there, fell in love with Lance Bennett, whom she pressured into marriage. While she planned the wedding, she was unaware that Lance was dosing her coffee with huon particles by order of the Empress of the Racnoss, whom he secretly served. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
On the day of her wedding (Christmas Eve 2007), while walking down the aisle with her father, huon particles interacted with her elevated mental state and caused Donna to be teleported into the Doctor's TARDIS, to surprise of them both (DW: Doomsday). The Doctor eventually returned her to her wedding reception, after the intervention of Robot Santas prevented his returning her in time for her actual wedding. When a Robotic Christmas Tree began firing explosives at the wedding guests, the Doctor decided to investigate H.C. Clements. The trail leads them to a secret base under the Thames, where Lance and the Empress of the Racnoss reveal their plans. Donna assisted the Doctor in defeating the Empress--and pulls him away from the Empress' death, and act that saved his life (DW:Turn Left), but she ultimately turned down his offer to travel with him. (DW: The Runaway Bride).
But Donna could not resume her old complacent life. Her eyes had been opened to the universe by this event. She tried to live without the Doctor, going to Egypt for two weeks in an attempt to bring back some excitement in her life. When this failed, she set to work in trying to investigate unexplained happenings in hope of meeting him again, knowing the Doctor always ran into trouble. She managed to catch up with him while looking into mysteries connected with Adipose Industries. Donna witnessed the March of the Adipose and then went on to travel with the Doctor in the TARDIS after showing her grandad her departure. Just before she departed in the TARDIS, whilst attempting to find a suitable place to leave her car keys, approached a blonde woman standing at a police line. This woman was Rose Tyler. (DW: Partners in Crime).
When she arrived on Ood Sphere she was amazed at the fact that she was on an alien planet. She was at first disgusted at the appearance of the Ood but then realised that they needed caring for and had rights as much as anyone. (DW: Planet of the Ood)
During the Sontaran invasion of Earth, Donna met Martha Jones and was not bothered by her presence. She went home to see her family for a short while and was terrified when her granddad almost died. She knocked a Sontaran unconscious by hitting it on the Probic vent with a Hammer. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
She was shocked to learn the Doctor had previously been a Dad. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)
She met Agatha Christie and killed a Vespiform by throwing the Firestone into a lake in order to save Agatha's life. (DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
Donna was teleported back to the TARDIS, leaving the Doctor puzzled at to why the TARDIS did not signal him the teleportation breach. Worried as to Donna's whereabouts, the Doctor asked a nearby Node the location of Donna Noble. The head piece of the statue turned to the Doctor, selecting from its Flesh Banks the face that he would find the most pleasing. Donna's face and voice on the Node alerted the Doctor that "Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved." As the faces in the Flesh Banks belong to the deceased, "Fifty-first century! It's a bit like donating a park bench!" said the Doctor earlier, it was considered by many that Donna was now dead. (DW: Silence in the Library)
However, Donna had in fact been "saved" to the computer's core, where she was placed within its virtual reality. She began to notice how time skipped in this world, in fact getting married and having children in the course of a few minutes despite remembering it like years. When the remnants of Miss Evangelista came and tried to convince her that the world she now knew was a lie and that The Doctor was real, she first refused to acknowledge the fact until her "children" disappeared, who were kept alive by her belief. She was later brought back to the Library by Felman Lux when he opened the hard-drive. She accepted that her "husband" Lee McAvey was not real, whilst unbeknownst to her, he was. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
While on the planet Midnight Donna stayed in a spa instead of going with the Doctor on a tour. (DW: Midnight)
Donna went to the planet Shan Shen were she went to see a fortune teller. A Time Beetle jumped on her back and changed her past (see alternate timeline). Rose Tyler told her in this episode that she was "the most important woman in the whole of creation. This was proved in this same episode, as without her, the world came into a terrible time with nobody to protect it. She told the Doctor the message she had been given by Rose Tyler, "Bad Wolf". (DW: Turn Left)
Donna was taken by the Doctor to Earth, only to discover it was gone. They then went to the Shadow Proclamation were Donna met the Judoon. (DW: The Stolen Earth) Also during this time Donna is seen staring into space. Before a women offering her water gets her attention she can hear drums. Hinting towards the drums The Master said he could never stop hearing. This seems to support the theory she may have something to do with Time Lords. The Doctor himself is puzzled by her, how he has meet her twice and her grandfather. And that she was powerful enough to create alternate timeline.
Donna was made half Time Lord in a mutual exchange of energy between her and the Doctor's Hand after it was charged with the Doctor's unwanted regeneration energy. This caused her to have the mind of a Time Lord, but it was too much for her human brain to hold, in order to save her from death, the real doctor had to remove his mind from her. This included wiping her memories of ever meeting the Doctor, as anything that could possibly remind her of those times might re-awaken her dorment timelord mind and kill her. As such, it is near impossible she will ever have the chance to be with the Doctor again. (DW: Journey's End)
Alternate timeline
In an alternate timeline, Donna chose not to take the job at H.C. Clements, and instead chose to work for Jival Chowdry. This decision resulted in her eventually getting promoted to personal assistant to Chowdry, but her life and career collapsed due to a number of circumstances, beginning with Chowdry laying her off, and ultimately a number of national and worldwide cataclysms that followed the death of a man called The Doctor. During the next couple of years, Donna and her family go from living the life of luxury thanks to a raffle ticket, to living as homeless refugees as British society collapses. During this time, she has several encounters with a mysterious blonde woman who claims that Donna's life was never meant to turn out this way, that she was supposed to make the decision to work for Clements which in turn would result in his survival after the Webstar incident and later her traveling with the Doctor. Eventually convinced, Donna agreed to be sent back to June 2007 in a jerry-rigged time machine; her task was to prevent her younger self from "turning right" and taking the fateful job with Chowdry. Unable to get there in time, the alternate timeline Donna Noble threw herself in front of a lorry in order to cause a traffic jam that would physically prevent her younger self from making that decision. Just before her death, the blonde woman appeared to Donna and passed a message for her to give to the Doctor. When the timeline was restored, Donna Noble retained some memories of the alternate timeline, including the blonde woman and her message to the Doctor: "Bad Wolf". (DW: Turn Left)
Donna's future?
Though her behaviour at the conclusion of Journey's End suggests that Donna will go back to her pre-Runaway Bride life, as a frustrated underachiever unaware of her potential, her behaviour in Turn Left suggests Donna is capable of courage and self-sacrifice even without memories of her time with the Doctor.
Work
Donna has been working as a temping secretary on several places, including H.C. Clements and a double glazing firm. (DW: The Runaway Bride / The Sontaran Stratagem). She then went into working for health and safety for a week but kept the id card. (DW: Partners in Crime). She has also worked for six months at Hounslow Library, where she learned Dewey Decimal System in two days flat. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)
Personality
Donna's first encounter with the Doctor was bewildering for both sides: the Doctor was shocked into speechlessness by her sudden appearance in his TARDIS; Donna, meanwhile, was furious with the Doctor for "kidnapping" her. Though Donna's sharp tongue and hair-trigger temper kept the Doctor at arm's length for most of their first adventure, a few quieter moments showed a more level-headed and perceptive woman.
Though most companions are, to some degree, the Doctor's conscience, Donna adopted this role more openly and forcefully than her predecessors. It was she who pleaded with the Doctor to save the inhabitants of Pompeii--and, if not all of Pompeii, then a single family. Most importantly, Donna insisted that the Doctor acknowledge Jenny as his daughter, no matter how she was created or what job she was bred to do.
Donna's fiery temper hid a deep well of compassion, as she showed when she reached out to Agatha Christie, intending to share her own story of failed marriage.
When the Doctor's companion Martha Jones recalled the Doctor to Earth, she and Donna became fast friends; neither was jealous and both were willing to share experiences, a situation that the Doctor found disconcerting.(DW: The Sontaran Strategem). Her relationship with Rose Tyler was initially abrasive in the alternate timeline (DW: Turn Left) but friendly later (DW: Journey's End). She later enjoyed a brief attraction for Captain Jack Harkness (DW: Journey's End).
In Journey's End, the Doctor finally understood Donna, and why she is so brash. He says that it is because she truely believes that she is unimportant and that she is "Shouting at the universe, because no one is listening." The Doctor attributes this to her mother never telling Donna directly of her importance to her.
Behind the Scenes
- Donna left the show at the end of Series 4. Catherine Tate confirmed that while she enjoyed playing Donna, she will not return for the 2008 Christmas special or the 2009 bank holiday specials. However, she has not ruled out reprising the role somewhere down the line.
- Doctor Noble was also an alias of the third incarnation of the Doctor.
- Donna has appeared in the past three series of Doctor Who: At the end of Series Two, the beginning of Series Three, and for the entire run of Series 4.
Key Life Events
- Six-year-old Donna boards a bus to Strathclyde, solo; an early example of her stubbornness and self-reliance.
- While employed at H.C. Clements, Donna Noble gets engaged to her co-worker, Lance Bennett. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
- Donna meets the Doctor and discovers the truth behind Lance's plan. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
- Donna meets the Doctor again and joins him on his travels. (DW: Partners in Crime)
- The Doctor takes her to Pompeii where she witnesses the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii)
- Travels to the Ood-Sphere and helps release the Ood from slavery. (DW: Planet of the Ood)
- Battles the Sontarans and meets Martha Jones. (DW:The Sontaran Stratagem)
- Meets the Sycorax. (DWM: The Widow's Curse)
- Goes to Messaline. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)
- Meets Agatha Christie. (DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
- Visits The Library. (DW:Silence in the Library)
- Becomes a Node. (DW:Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
- Marries Lee McAvoy in the Library Hardrive. (DW:Forest of the Dead)
- Alters her past and thus generates Donna's World where she never met or saved the Doctor, but meets Rose Tyler. (DW:Turn Left)
- Meets Davros and the Daleks. (DW:The Stolen Earth)
- Witnesses the beginning of the Tenth Doctor's regeneration at the end of The Stolen Earth.(DW:The Stolen Earth)
- Creates a second Doctor.(DW:Journey's End)
- Becomes half-Time Lord DoctorDonna, gaining the Doctor's knowledge and saves the entire universe, briefly becoming the most important woman in the entire universe.(DW:Journey's End)
- Has memories wiped in order to survive the after-effects of becoming Doctor Donna. Is left behind at home with her family, unaware that any of her adventures transpired. (DW: Journey's End)
