Jackie Tyler
Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler (née Prentice), born 1st February 1967, was a resident of early 21st century London and the mother of Rose Tyler. She lived with Rose in a council flat on the Powell Estate. Jackie was a single mother, her husband Pete Tyler having died in 1987 when Rose was six months old, and did not seem to have any form of steady employment, though had a job which she did not consider "proper".
Biography
Prior to meeting the Ninth Doctor
In 1987, an older Rose travelled with the Doctor to meet Jackie and Pete. Despite the idyllic image she had of her parents' marriage, the relationship she saw was stormy, and Jackie was threatening to divorce Pete. However, these fights were short-lived, and it was clear that both Jackie and Pete loved each other despite the arguments. After Pete's death, Jackie would tell Rose about her father, painting a picture of Pete as the ideal husband he had not been. Unknown to Jackie, however, her memories of the day Pete died were forever altered when Rose changed history. Jackie then remembered a young woman kneeling over Pete's body, not realizing this was Rose from the future. (DW: Father's Day)
On 1st January 2005, Jackie told Rose not to stay out too late before heading off. This was witnessed by the Tenth Doctor just before his impending regeneration. (DW: The End of Time)
Meeting the Ninth Doctor
Jackie first met the Ninth Doctor when he stumbled into her room by accident. Jackie attempted to flirt with the Doctor, to little avail. This first encounter set the stage for a frequently antagonistic relationship between the two. During the final phase of the attempted Auton invasion, several Autons attacked Jackie, but her life was spared when Rose and the Doctor managed to destroy the physical form of the Nestene Consciousness. (DW: Rose)
When Rose left with the Doctor in his TARDIS, she intended to be back within hours, and the Doctor actually modified Rose's mobile to allow her to contact her mom from anywhere in time and space. Indeed, Rose phoned her mother from the far future. (DW: The End of the World)
However, when Rose did return to London, although it had only been a few days for her, she discovered that a year had elapsed on Earth due to a miscalculation by the Doctor. Out of her mind with worry, Jackie had in the intervening year organised a poster campaign to search for her missing daughter, and even accused Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith of murdering her. When Rose returned, Jackie was furious with the Doctor for taking her away. Jackie also could not understand why Rose would not tell her where she had been, but discovered the truth when she saw the TARDIS. She was also nearly killed by a Slitheen disguised as a policeman, which she killed herself in the end with the help of the Doctor. She began to understand how dangerous Rose's new lifestyle was when the Doctor ended the Slitheen's plans by calling a missile strike down on 10 Downing Street where he and Rose were trapped at the time. (DW: Aliens of London / World War Three)
Jackie nearly fell for a scheme to take humans "on holiday" to fight in an alien war. A thug who lived in the council estate mugged Jackie and took the "winning ticket" that qualified her for the vacation. Jackie ended up in hospital, but her assailant fared worse: he took her place as a remote-controlled soldier on an alien planet and was killed. (NSA: Winner Takes All)
The time-lost Neanderthal Das flirted with Jackie at a London nightclub before Captain Jack Harkness steered him away from her. Jack and Jackie never actually met during this adventure; Jack scanned Jackie's DNA with his wrist device and identified her as Rose Tyler's mother. (NSA: Only Human)
Rose used the "superphone" to call Jackie from a human colony world in the future. Jackie complained that Rose did not let her know she was going to be in Cardiff during her recent visit to the city. (NSA: The Stealers of Dreams)
When the Doctor sent Rose back to her own time to escape the Dalek attack, Jackie was initially glad to have her daughter home again and said she loved the Doctor for having the presence of mind to send Rose out of danger. However, she eventually helped Rose open the TARDIS console, enabling her to return and help the Doctor. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
Jackie began dating a fruit vendor named Howard. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)
Trusting the Tenth Doctor
Jackie was one of the first people to encounter the Doctor after he regenerated into his tenth incarnation though, like Rose, it took Jackie a while to realize this younger-looking man was the same Doctor she had met before. Still, her relationship with the Doctor was warmer than it was with his earlier incarnation, as evidenced early on when she allowed the Doctor to attend Christmas dinner with her and Rose. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)
Jackie comforted Rose after she returned from a parallel world where Pete was still alive and Jackie had been turned into a Cyberman. Rose was upset as Mickey had decided to stay in that world, and the Doctor had to seal off the world, so Rose could never visit. (DW: The Age of Steel) Jackie was probably upset too, as she and Mickey had become good friends.
At some point after this, she befriended Elton Pope, a young man searching for the Doctor, unaware that he was just using her to get to Rose and the Doctor. The pair's relationship progressed to the point where it began to get physical by her forcing Elton to take of his clothes, ooh-la-la, but the proceedings were interrupted by a call from Rose. Jackie then discovered a photograph of Rose in Elton's coat, and realised that she was being used by Elton to get to the Doctor. She angrily cast Elton out, telling him she would protect both the Doctor and the Rose, no matter what. She later called Rose to tell her about what Elton had done. This motivated Rose and the Doctor to track Elton down so Rose could yell at him, leading to the two saving his life from a monstrous alien. (DW: Love & Monsters)
Jackie eventually accepted the Doctor as part of her life, even showering him with kisses upon one of his returns with Rose. In 2007, Jackie was one of many who were fooled into believing that the ghosts suddenly appearing around the world were in fact deceased relatives, specifically, her father. She was initially hostile to the Doctor's skepticism about this. Following an attempt at discovering the ghosts' true nature by the Doctor, Jackie found herself aboard the TARDIS when it dematerialized and arrived at Torchwood headquarters. With Rose having been sent out to reconnoiter, Jackie was forced to impersonate her own daughter as she and the Doctor were captured by Torchwood. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
A New Home
Over the next few hours, Jackie found herself in the middle of what would be called the Battle of Canary Wharf, as Cybermen from an alternate Earth and Daleks battled for supremacy over Earth. During these events, Jackie thought she was reunited with the ghost of her dead husband, Pete, only to learn that it was a version from the alternate Earth whose own Jackie had been assimilated by the Cybermen. They almost immediately began a relationship. Soon after, Jackie, along with Rose, were forced to escape to the alternate world, with no apparent way to return to their Earth. Jackie, along with Rose, was declared dead on their Earth, victims of the battle. On the parallel Earth, however, Jackie eventually gave birth to a son, Tony Tyler, though she also had to deal with comforting Rose, who was left emotionally devastated by being separated from the Doctor, with whom she had fallen in love. (DW: Doomsday)
Fighting the Daleks
Over the next few years, Rose worked to find a way back to the Doctor in order to warn him about the impending collapse of reality. She succeeded in returning to her original Earth after a detour into an alternate timeline. Soon after, Jackie, accompanied by Mickey, also returned to their original Earth in order to help her daughter. One of the first people Jackie encountered upon her return was Sarah Jane Smith. Jackie and Mickey arrived just in time as Sarah Jane was about to be killed by two Daleks. Jackie killed one of the Daleks while Mickey killed the other one. Given Rose's reaction to her presence, Jackie wasn't supposed to follow her to stop the Daleks, but she did so because she was worried about Rose and wanted to help her. Now a more self-assured, less self-absorbed individual, Jackie worked alongside Sarah Jane, Mickey, and Jack Harkness to help rescue the Doctor and save Earth. While Mickey disagreed with Sarah Jane's plan to surrender in order to get to the Crucible, Jackie immediately agreed, knowing that the Doctor and Rose would be there. Jackie, Mickey and Sarah Jane were made test subjects for the Reality Bomb, but Sarah Jane and Mickey escaped while Jackie comforted a fallen prisoner. In the nick of time Jackie's teleport recharged and she escaped to safety, being forced to leave behind the person she had stopped to help, much to her despair. In the ensuing battle, Jackie was reunited with Rose and also encountered Martha Jones and Donna Noble. When Earth was towed back to where it belonged, Jackie, along with the Meta-Crisis Doctor and Donna Noble, didn't pilot the TARDIS along with everyone else, the Doctor specifically telling her "no, no Jackie, not you, just stand back". Afterwards, Mickey said his goodbyes to her, telling her he wasn't returning to the parallel world as there was nothing left for him there and that he was going to miss her the most. Understanding and upset, Jackie embraced Mickey for the last time in a final goodbye. Following the defeat of Davros, the Doctor returned Jackie to the alternate Earth so that she could be reunited with her husband and son. Jackie couldn't resist winding up the Doctor one last time by initially making him believe she had named her son "Doctor". She watched as the Doctor's clone agreed to stay behind and begin a life with Rose, and the original Doctor departed for the last time. (DW: Journey's End)
Personality
Jackie had a very strong personality and while she cared greatly for Rose, she didn't like the Doctor very much. This may have been due to him taking her daughter away for a year, by accident. (DW: Aliens of London) She didn't seem to have a problem speaking her mind and didn't mind physically hitting someone as she did with the Doctor. As time progressed however, she grew to like and respect the Doctor, especially after he stuck to his word and sent Rose back home safely away from the Daleks, (DW: The Parting of the Ways) and increasingly in his tenth incarnation.
While Jackie appeared flighty at times, she genuinely loved her daughter and was extremely concerned for her safety, particularly given the life the Doctor lead. Even though her attitude towards the Doctor softened from hostility to grudging acceptance, she continued to worry about Rose and waited for her daughter's return. The Doctor did make an effort to return Rose home periodically, even if at times it seemed almost as if the whole purpose was to allow Rose to get some laundry done. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
She did not respond well to terrifying situations. While running from Cybermen, she was so frightened she could barely tell the Doctor where she was. (DW: Doomsday) She also seemed reluctant to help someone in need, as she needed a lot of convincing to help Rose and Mickey out with their plan to save the Doctor, although she ultimately did provide the solution to their problem. (DW: World War Three) This particular trait was less prominent later on, when she was unable to save a woman from Davros' reality bomb, actually voicing deep regret. (DW: Journey's End)
When she found out that Elton Pope was using her to get to the Doctor, she yelled at him and told him that it was very hard for her to have to stay behind and not hear from Rose frequently. Jackie also said that she would protect the Doctor for as long as she could. (DW: Love & Monsters)
During the year in which she thought Rose was missing, she blamed Mickey for her disappearance, generating a hate campaign and turning the rest of the estate against him. Subsequently, she was horrified to be rescued by him during the Slitheen invasion, but later they formed a close friendship to the point that when Mickey returned to the normal universe for good, he told Jackie that she was the one he was going to miss most. While she was understanding of his leaving, she was also clearly saddened by it.
When she returned to Earth from the parallel Earth to rescue her daughter from the Daleks, she exhibited more self-confidence than before and was even seen handling a weapon. Nonetheless, the Doctor didn't have enough faith in her ability to allow her to work some controls in the TARDIS. (DW: Journey's End)
Behind the scenes
- Jackie was originally named "Judy".
- Although generally not considered a companion, Jackie fulfils much of the duties of a companion during her unintentional sojourn in the TARDIS in Army of Ghosts and Doomsday. Her role in Journey's End would seem to indicate that she is considered to be a companion on some level, since the writers include her in the group of 'proper companions' who directly assist the Doctor in the episode.
- The DWM guide to the Tenth Doctor lists her as a companion, however she is not considered to be one by the majority of fans.
See also
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