Sylvia Noble
Biography
Sylvia Noble (née Mott) was the daughter of Elieen and Wilfred Mott, the wife of Geoff Noble, and the mother of Donna Noble. At Christmas 2007 she attended her daughter's unsuccessful wedding to Lance Bennett. She did not believe Donna when she returned for the reception but the reception was soon attacked by Robot Santas and killer Christmas trees. According to her daughter, she cooks enough for twenty every Christmas. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
In 2008, Sylvia lost her husband. Subsequently, Donna moved back at home with her mother and her grandfather. Sylvia was shown to be trying to persuade Donna to get a job and find a place of their own. During a night out with her friends, one of them (Suzette Chambers) started producing Adipose infants. Along with other passers-by, Sylvia was witness to the Nursery Ship picking up the infant creatures. (DW: Partners in Crime)
Encounters with the Doctor
When Donna briefly returned to her family, she opted not to tell Sylvia that she was travelling with the Doctor. However, Sylvia met the Doctor again just before she saved her father from suffocating in her car from the poisonous fog started by the Sontarans by smashing the front car window with an axe. When asked where she kept the axe, which she kept it by the front door in case of burglars. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky.)
Medusa Cascade Incident
When the Earth was moved to the Medusa Cascade, Sylvia was astonished at what had happened. Her father told her to stay inside as it is 'the women' the aliens always want. She later went out and along with Wilf, witnessed the Daleks killing an entire family in their own house using total extermination. In a bid to escape, Wilf, armed with a paint gun, fled with a hesitant Sylvia away from the Daleks, but they were stopped in their tracks by a Dalek scout. Wilf tried to disarm its eyestalk with a paint gun but the Dalek wiped the paint away. Sylvia, entirely worried by now, told her dad to leave it, and when the Dalek was about to exterminate them, Rose Tyler saved them by blowing the Dalek in half. Rose had been trying to find them so she could locate Donna. Sylvia and Wilf took Rose to their house and Sylvia was shocked when Wilf said "Donna phoned last time from the planet Midnight". Being very flippant of the events of the New Dalek Empire invasion around her, Sylvia did not figure out that Donna was travelling with the Doctor across the stars and it took her father to help her open her eyes. When the sub wave network came through from Harriet Jones, Rose was unable to get in touch with the Doctor because of lack of a webcam, which Wilf said was because Sylvia thought they were naughty. Rose was able to see Francine Jones with her daughter Martha, the whole of Torchwood 3 and Sarah Jane Smith with her young son Luke on the laptop.
Harriet Jones, Torchwood 3, Sarah Jane Smith and Martha Jones were able to send a signal out to the Doctor using the subwave signal to the Medusa Cascade using a telephone muber as the signal. Sylvia and Wilf contributed to sending the signal out with their own mobile phones and when contact was made with the TARDIS, asking for good luck, Rose Tyler vanished from Sylvia's living room in a bright flash, much to Sylvia's astonishment. She later feared for Donna's life but was relieved when the Earth was returned to the Sol System. Sadly Donna's memory was wiped as she was now part Human part Time Lord in a Time Lord -Human Metacrisis. Sylvia was resentful of the Doctor, asking him to leave their home. But after these events, hopefully she would have a much healthier relationship with her daughter as in her eyes, Donna was still the most important woman in the universe. (DW: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End)
Later Life
Sylvia and Wilf never mentioned the Doctor to Donna and kept everything secret about him. It was not till Christmas Day 2009 that she saw the Doctor again, as he was chasing the Master his old enemy. Later that day when the Master took control of the Immortality Gate she became part of the Master's race along with Donna's fiance Shaun Temple, though Donna was unaffected but did remember everything about the Doctor. When she reuturned to normal, she watched as Gallifrey returned and was then sent back by the Doctor. She finally accepted the Doctor as a friend even praying for his help when Gallifrey appeared. When the Doctor returned Wilf at the end of the adventure, she actually smiled at him, something she'd never done before. She later attended Donna's wedding to Shaun and said farewell to the Doctor along with Wilf as the Doctor gave them a winning lottery ticket, securing their financial future. Also, when she learned he got the money from her husband Geoff, she was clearly shocked and touched by his actions (DW: The End of Time)
Alternate Timeline
In Turn Left, where Donna's World was altered by the Fortune Teller, Sylvia's persistence of Donna going to work for Jival Chowdry succeeds. As a result Donna never goes to work at H.C. Clements and never gets engaged to Lance Bennett, therefore never was transported into the TARDIS on her wedding day to meet the Tenth Doctor. The Doctor subsequently dies defeating the Racnoss. We learn of Sylvia's despair of her husband Geoff Noble being ill and some time after he sadly passes away. While at a hotel for a Christmas country holiday, Sylvia tells her daughter how her (Donna's) father would have loved the place they were staying in. But then the Titanic (spaceship) crashes down on London - completely wiping it out! The Nobles are then forced to move into Leeds where a huge relocation scheme is running. The South of England is now flooded with radiation and conditions are becoming much harsher as Donna and her family move into a house shared by Rocco Colastanto's family. Sylvia joins in with some of the fun activities the families are playing, like singing Bohemian Rhapsody, but sadly slips deeper and deeper into depression, thinking each day of someone she knew in London who was now dead. Donna tries to comfort her mother by telling her everything will turn out alright, but it is too late as Sylvia's mental state has collapsed into deep depression. When Donna asks if she has always been a disappointment in her mothers eyes, Sylvia just answers "yeah".
Donna then joins Rose Tyler with United Nations Intelligence Taskforce to remove the Time Beetle from her back, but to do so Donna must travel back in time to the vital moment at the T-Junction and turn left, not right like her mother wants her to. This alternate Donna throws herself in front of a delivery van which causes a traffic jam to the right of the junction, encouraging the past Donna to turn left. The original reality returns and the Time Beetle is killed as the the Doctor enters the room but a looming message of Bad Wolf entity warns that the end of the universe is near and the Doctor and Donna rush home to Earth in The Stolen Earth and find it has been moved across to the other side of the Universe.
Family
- Donna Noble - daughter
- Geoff Noble - husband (deceased)
- Wilfred Mott - father
Personality
Sylvia is known to be a bit bossy, and likes things to be a certain way. She rarely uses tact when talking to others, and is often insulting or condescending when speaking to her father or daughter. She seems to be a bit depressed since her husband died, and doesn't act like she values the rest of her family very much. Sylvia tends to be very practical, and has a hard time believing in aliens, even when presented with very obvious encounters.
Sylvia also deeply mistrusts and dislikes the Doctor, probably stemming from his actions at Donna's first wedding to Lance. Later, after the Doctor returns Donna to her for the final time, she is quite rude to him and basicaly kicks him out of the house. However, in The End of Time, her attitude changes, with her even praying for his help when Gallifrey appeared in the sky. His saving the world again apparently changed her attitude towards him as she gave him a smile when he returned Wilfred home and was very nice to him at Donna's second wedding, even being deeply touched by his actions to help them out.
