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Mickey Smith was Rose Tyler's boyfriend at various points in the series and also a companion of the Doctor. Like Rose, he got caught up in the Doctor's world, briefly travelled with him, and eventually found a new life in a parallel Earth. After returning with Jackie Tyler to help save reality from destruction, he returns to living on his original Earth as he has nothing left for him on the alternate Earth with his grandmother's peaceful death.
Profile
Early life
Mickey was born circa 1981. In at least one version of Mickey's life history, thanks to the agency of time travel; he met the adult version of Rose in 1987, whom the Doctor had transported to that time period. As a result, he "imprinted" on her and when they met again, he had a strong connection to her. (DW: Father's Day)
His father, a keycutter, left him at an early age after Mickey's mother passed away, so that he ended up living with his grandmother, Rita-Anne Smith. The elder Smith was described by Rose Tyler as having "brought up" Mickey until her death "five years ago". Her death was caused by a torn stairs carpet, which Mickey had never gotten round to fixing; this left him with feelings of guilt for years after. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen)
Nevertheless, when Mickey appeared to have died at the hands of the Autons, Rose twice told the Doctor, "I'll have to tell his mother," possibly indicating that Rose knew her or at least how to contact her. (DW: "Rose") The younger Mickey, however, was shown with a woman who appeared to be his mother, who was then devoured by the Reapers. (DW: Father's Day) The UNIT tie-in website ([1], log-in "badwolf") refers to "missing people" caused by the temporal event, while Who Is The Doctor has Mickey saying he has faint memories of the event [2]; it could be Mickey's mother was retroactively killed.
The familial relationship between his as-yet-unnamed mother and his grandmother has never been explored on television. Her last name would suggest that she is the paternal grandmother, but Mickey's common last name makes it at least possible that two unrelated Smiths married, or that Rita-Anne had a second husband named Smith.
Later life
Meeting with the Doctor
By 2005, Mickey was a typical working class young man, living on the same council estate as Rose and going out with her. He was caught up in the events of the Auton invasion and introduced to the Doctor, then in his ninth incarnation. On first meeting him, Mickey felt jealous on account of Rose's new relationship with the Doctor
While Rose, investigating the Doctor, went to visit conspiracy theorist Clive Finch, Mickey was captured by the Nestene Consciousness, which created an Auton replica of him to gather intelligence about the Doctor. Clive himself had shortly afterwards been killed by Autons. Kept a captive by the Nestenes to maintain the duplicate, he was overwhelmed by the revelation that alien life existed and was in a state of paralysed panic throughout most of the Doctor and Rose's final confrontation with the Nestenes. Mickey's initial cowardice did not impress the Doctor, and when he invited Rose to travel with him, he made it clear that Mickey was not invited. (DW: Rose)
Rose did not return for a year and was declared missing. Mickey was suspected of Rose's murder and was interviewed by the police on five occasions, but was not arrested due to lack of evidence. (DW: Aliens of London) Mickey had also spent the year unearthing information about the Doctor, taking over the www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk website formerly run by the deceased Clive, and often filling it with angry rants about the Doctor and various mysterious events in which the Doctor had had a hand.
Return of Rose
Although still dismissive of Mickey (deliberately calling him "Ricky" and terming him "Mickey the Idiot"), the Doctor had to rely on him when the Doctor and Rose were trapped inside 10 Downing Street during the Slitheen takeover of Britain's government. Mickey bravely defended Rose's mother Jackie from the Slitheen and helping end the alien threat, earned him a degree of the Doctor's respect. The Doctor finally offered Mickey a place aboard the TARDIS but Mickey declined, asking the Doctor not to tell Rose that he had done so. The Doctor in turn gave Mickey a compact disc containing a computer virus that would wipe out all mention of him on the internet. (DW: World War Three)
According to his website, Mickey could not bring himself to use it. [3]Although, when the Dalek in Utah downloads the internet, it finds no information of the Doctor, presumably the effect of the virus. (DW: Dalek)
Mickey became involved in an alien war being fought by remote control. The "soldiers" in the war were abducted humans controlled by other humans who thought they were playing a video game; under the Doctor's instruction, Mickey organised the game controllers to keep the abducted humans alive (TDA: Winner Takes All)
During another adventure, in Cardiff, Mickey told Rose that he had started dating Trisha Delaney, although whether this was true or merely to make Rose jealous and return to him is not certain. (DW: Boom Town) Although he bitterly walked away from Rose at the end of that encounter, he was willing to help Rose get back to the Doctor to help him defeat the Daleks. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
The Christmas Invasion and after
Mickey again helped the newly regenerated younger Doctor and Rose fight off the Sycorax, being inspired by the Doctor's claim "this planet is defended!".(DW: The Christmas Invasion) Later, despite evidently being unhappy, saw them off at the beginning of the second series (DW: New Earth)
To his annoyance, he spent several days with the Doctor as an uninvited lodger. The Doctor managed to dominate Mickey's life without even trying - impressing all of his friends, ending Mickey's doomed attempts at a rebound girlfriend, beating him at video games and so on - until Mickey snapped and told him he didn't need impressing and sometimes, people didn't need the Doctor. Realising what he'd done, the Doctor set things up so Mickey could have a normal Sunday with Rose. (This did leave Mickey impressed) (DWM: The Lodger)
He continued his investigations into incidents related to alien activity, renaming his website Defending the Earth! and soliciting help from other enthuisasts online. His investigations twice saw him run into Torchwood Institute operations. [4] [5]
Continuing his investigations into alien life on Earth, Mickey soon discovered unusual activity in Deffry Vale School and called the Doctor and Rose back home. Meeting Sarah Jane Smith for the first time, Mickey was amused to find his suspicions validated that the Doctor had had other travelling companions before Rose. However, when he met K-9 Mark III he couldn't but help draw a parallel between himself and the computer dog. After helping to evacuate the school, the Doctor accepted Mickey's request to join the TARDIS crew. (DW: School Reunion) He was delighted to have come to a futuristic spaceship on his first real trip into time and space. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace) He was involved in an escapade on the planet Iagnos and, due to Rose's infection by the jealousy-eating Iagnon, played a key role in causing Rose to become intensely jealous to drive the creature out. (DWM: The Green-Eyed Monster)
However, his travels only lasted for a short while before a crack in the Time Vortex sent all three into a parallel world where the age of the Cybermen was dawning. He met Ricky, his counterpart from that world, a tougher, resolute character who led the Preachers, a cell of paramilitaries opposed to the Cybermen, and watched him be killed by the creatures; he also discovered that this world's version of his grandmother had not died.
Mickey was responsible for saving both the Doctor and Rose in the final battle against the Cybermen. However, he was increasingly unsure of his place in his home universe and in the TARDIS crew. As a result, he decided to remain in this world to care for his grandmother and, to an extent, replace Rickey. One of his first actions was to head to Paris to liberate it from the Cybermen. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel)
Reunion
Three years passed, from Mickey's perspective, in which he continued to battle the Cybermen. (DW: Doomsday)
- This would make the year, from his point of view, now, approximately 2010.
When the Cybermen began to cross the Void to Mickey and Rose's home universe, Mickey was the first to travel back to his original universe (and back three years) in order to defeat them and ensure Rose's safety. He went undercover at Torchwood 1, pretending to be a scientific assistant, and showed far more confidence than before. However, when the sphere, which he believed would contain some form of Cyber-Leader, opened to instead reveal the Cult of Skaro, (DW: Army of Ghosts) Mickey's skills were put to the ultimate test as he took part on the fringes of the Battle of Canary Wharf. The Doctor trapped Cybermen and Daleks in the Void and Mickey was left in the parallel universe with Rose, Jackie and Pete Tyler. (DW: Doomsday)
Return to his own universe
After Rose Tyler leaves Pete's World to find the Doctor, (DW: Partners in Crime through The Stolen Earth) Mickey, accompanied by Jackie Tyler, crossed over themselves and arrived on Earth a few days after it was relocated to the Medusa Cascade. Upon arrival, Mickey and Jackie immediately open fire on a group of Daleks preparing to exterminate Sarah Jane Smith. Mickey has a happy reunion with the woman responsible for getting him a chance to travel with the Doctor, telling her "We Smiths have to stick together". He later accompanies Sarah Jane and Jackie aboard the Crucible where he is also reunited with Jack Harkness and, ultimately, the Doctor and Rose (later, the Clone Doctor also greets him warmly). There appears to be little interaction between Rose and Mickey during the remainder of the adventure, suggesting possible estrangement. After the Earth is restored to its proper place, Mickey leaves the TARDIS after a tearful goodbye with Jackie. He explains to the Doctor that there was nothing for him on Pete's World anymore, "certainly not Rose" and that his Gran had passed away after living out her final years living in Pete Tyler's mansion. When last seen, he was running to catch up to Jack Harkness and Martha Jones as they left for their own future adventures. (DW: Journey's End)
Behind the Scenes
- Mickey actor Noel Clarke has acknowledged that, assuming that Doctor Who had a younger audience; he tailored his acting accordingly and made him more slapstick, a move criticized by many fans. Realizing otherwise, he toned down the comedic elements of the character for Series 2.
- The ending of Journey's End left open the possibility of Mickey going to work for Torchwood 3 during its third season, as fan rumors had also suggested. As of December 2008, however, there has been no indication that Clarke will be appearing in the third season of Torchwood. Noel Clarke had earlier, however written the Series 1 episode Combat.