Sylvia Noble (née Mott) was the daughter of 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 to producing Adipose infants. Along with other passers-by, Sylvia was witness to the Nursery Ship picking up the infant creatures. (DW: Partners in Crime)
When Donna briefly returned to her family, she opted not to tell Sylvia that she was travelling with the Doctor. However, she 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, she said she kept it by the front door in case of burglars. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky.)
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 in this alternate reality and in result Donna never goes to work at H.C. Clements and never gets engaged to Lance Bennett therefor never being transported onto the TARDIS on her wedding day to meet the Tenth Doctor who subsequently dies defeating the Racnoss. We learn of Sylvia's despair of her husband Geoff Noble being ill and some time between he sadly passes away. While at a hotel for a country holiday, Sylvia tells her daughter how her father would have loved where they were. But at the same time, the Titanic (spaceship) crashed down on London completley wiping it out. The Nobles are then forced to move into Leeds were a huge relocation scheme is running. The South of England is now flooded completley with radiation and conditions are becoming much harsher as Donna and her family move into a house shared by Mr Colastanto's family. Sylvia joins in with some of the fun activities the families are playing by singing Bohemian Rhaspody but sadly slips into depression, thinking each day of someone she knew in London who was now dead.
When the Earth was moved to The Medusa Cascade Sylvia was astonished at what had happened. And her father told her to stay in side as it is "The Woman" the aliens always want. She later followed by Wilf went and witnessed when the Daleks killed an entire family in their own house using total extermination. In a bid to escape, Wilf was armed with a paint gun fled with a hesitant Sylvia away from the Daleks, but were stopped in their tracks by a scout Dalek. Wild tried to disarm its eyestalk with a paint gun but failed. Sylvia, entirely worried by now said for her dad to leave it and before being exterminated, Rose Tyler saved them by blowing the Dalek in half. Rose was trying to find them so she could locate Donna. Sylvia and Wilf took Rose to their house and she was shocked as Wilf said "Donna phoned last time from the planet Midnight". Being very flippant of the events of the Dalek invasion around her, Sylvia did not click that Donna was travelling with the Doctor across the stars and it took Wilfred Mott to help her open her eyes. There was a sub wave network from Harriet Jones and Sylvia did not let Wilf have a web cam cause she thought they were naughty. Rose was unable to get in touch with the Doctor because of this but were able to see on the laptop Francine Jones with her Daughter Martha, the whole of Torchwood 3 and Sarah Jane Smith with her young son Luke. 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 to her astonishment. She later feared for Donna's life but was happy when the Earth was moved to the Sol System. But there was bad news as Donna had to get her memory wiped as she was now part Human part Timelord in a human timelord metecrisis. Sylvia was resentful of the Tenth Doctor, asking him to leave. But after these events, 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)