We Are Family (short story)
We Are Family was the fifth short story and fifteenth release exclusively published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023 by Penguin Group[1] and written by Paul Lang.
The short story gave some background on the main previously seen members of the Noble family - Donna, Sylvia, Shaun, and Wilf, and was notably the first work of fiction to feature Donna and Shaun's daughter Rose in any way. It also contained a cameo of Beep the Meep.
Plot
Donna
While walking down the aisle on her wedding day, Donna Noble, a temp from Chiswick, believed she knew where her life was going. However, during this, she vanished from the church and found herself standing in the TARDIS, near a baffled Tenth Doctor. As it turned out, her husband-to-be was secretly plotting with "a giant red spider woman" to allow her spider babies to feast on the population of Earth.
Initially, Donna declined the Doctor's offer to travel the universe, however after some searching, she and the Doctor were reunited, and became the best of friends. During these travels, the Doctor came to believe that Donna was perhaps the most important person in all of creation. Her destiny was to save the universe, and every other universe out there, from the destruction of Davros and the Daleks' Reality Bomb. After causing a biological metacrisis, she was flooded with Time Lord DNA, giving her the skills needed to defeat Davros.
This came at a cost: Donna had to forget her memories of the Doctor and their time together, although years later she still has a sense that there was once more to her life than she remembers.
Sylvia
When Donna vanished on her wedding day, her mother Sylvia Noble barely batted an eyelid, already being weary of her stunts. She held great suspicion of the Doctor, as chaos was never far behind him, and she was furious to find out that he and Donna has been travelling through the stars. Now, knowing that Donna could die if she remembers the Doctor, she's filled with worry when he reappears after several years.
Shaun
Shaun Temple and Donna got married, being happy together despite not having much money. A winning lottery ticket, slipped to Sylvia and Wilf as a wedding present for Donna by the Doctor, has changed this.
Wilf
Wilfred Mott is the grandfather of Donna Noble, and is a soldier who helped the Doctor after Donna's loss of her memories. After the Master attempted to turn every human on Earth into a copy of himself, Wilf helped to stop him, even manning a laser-blasting cannon aboard a spaceship. He was never phased by the Doctor or the various aliens he encountered, and believed that mankind's destiny was to reach for the stars and to get along with the people found there.
Rose
Rose is the daughter of Donna and Shaun, with her life changing when she stumbles upon "something alien", just as her mother had. She had her name despite her mother not remembering the Doctor or, by extension, "one of their old friends", with whom her name was shared. The world was never quite the same for the family after they encountered the Doctor, and now he's back in a big way.
Characters
(In order of appearance)
Referenced only
Worldbuilding
To be added
Notes
to be added
Continuity
- Donna Noble and Shaun Temple's wedding is referenced, with this story revealing some small hints at the lives of the Nobles post-The End of Time.
more to be added
Gallery
to be added
