Pete Tyler
- You may be looking for the Pete Tyler of another universe.
Peter Alan "Pete" Tyler (15 September 1954-7 November 1987) was the father of Rose Tyler and the husband of Jackie Tyler.
Biography
Pete was a jack-of-all-trades and a budding entrepreneur, constantly involved in many money-making schemes, from selling flavoured health drinks (branded "Vitex") to trying to market solar power panels. Most of these schemes were unsuccessful, however, leading to tension in his marriage to Jackie, Rose's mother. Jackie also accused Pete of cheating on her on a few occasions. (TV: Father's Day)
Timeline 1
Pete died in a hit-and-run car accident on Jordan Road, on the way to a wedding on 7 November 1987, when Rose was less than a year old. Jackie had told Rose as a child that her father had died alone. (TV: Father's Day)
Timeline 2
Rose asked the Ninth Doctor to take her to 1987 to witness her father's death so that he wouldn't be alone. When faced with the reality, however, she couldn't do it and saw Pete die. She asked the Doctor if they could try again. On the second visit to the same time, Rose impulsively rushed forward and saved Pete from being run down, changing history and causing a temporal paradox that damaged time. This attracted the destructive Reapers, who began to "sterilise" the wound in time by devouring everything in sight.
Pete figured out Rose was his daughter. When he heard what an ideal father he had been, he realised she was lying to cover up the fact he was supposed to be dead. Rose awakened Pete's paternal instincts. To save everyone and restore history, he deliberately stepped in front of the car that should have killed him, dismissing the Reapers and putting time back on track. History did change to a small extent. This time the driver did not flee the scene and Rose was there to hold his hand while he was dying. Pete died with a smile while looking on his daughter's face. (TV: Father's Day)
Legacy
The death of Peter Tyler, known later to be a Temporal Event, was somewhat documented by UNIT, as they had a file, 1987/11-Be3a, on several reports filed on that day about "a cluster of [...] anomalies, sightings of flying beasts, [and] missing people". This file was brought up by Sgt Catherine Petts on a secure operations board on the UNIT website in 2006 when she shared information on Rose Tyler to other UNIT officers. (PROSE: Rose Tyler)
Although Pete was gone, it was his persistent spirit that Rose inherited, and a penchant for (as Jackie put it) "mad ideas" that pushed Rose to keep trying even when all hope seemed lost and save the world again. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
In the year 5,000,000,000, Rose revealed to Lady Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17, the so-called "last human", that she was born on the planet Earth, as were her mother and father. (TV: The End of the World)
Rose told her mother later that she had been the one to hold his hand as he died and tried to convince her mother that what she was trying to do (open the TARDIS to fly it back to the Doctor) was something he would have agreed with. Her mother told her off and left, but came back with the solution to Rose's problem, admitting she was right about her father. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
Thoughts of her father filled Rose's mind while she was witnessing a car accident involving Kate Yates. (PROSE: I Am a Dalek)
Rose and the Tenth Doctor later encountered a parallel version of Pete in another universe, who eventually became Jackie's new husband. Ironically, this Pete was a widower, having lost his Jackie Tyler; this made the widowed Jackie and Pete a "good match" as the Doctor put it. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen, Doomsday) Posthumously, Peter became the grandfather to Rose's daughter, Mia. (PROSE: The Turning of the Tide, COMIC: Empire of the Wolf)
Alternate timeline
In a timeline in which the Sea Devils had conquered Earth centuries before, Pete was still alive by 2020, and he and Jackie were kept as slaves. (COMIC: Alternating Current)
Behind the scenes
- Coincidentally or otherwise, "Peter Tyler" was credited as "Lighting Cameraman" on the TARDIS Cam films which appeared on the early DVD releases.
- Also, a "Pete Tyler" is credited for "Motion Control Camera" on the More than 30 Years in the TARDIS documentary. This is accompanied by a confused look by Tom Baker as if he had noticed this in the footage shown throughout the titles.
- Rose calls Pete "a sort of Del Boy" in Father's Day, a reference to the popular British sitcom Only Fools and Horses and its dodgy dealing main character. Shaun Dingwall went on to play Del Boy's father Reg in the prequel series Rock and Chips.
