Doctor(s): 10th Doctor (David Tennant); posthumous cameo with the 14th Doctor
Traveled: Occasional companion/ally, 2008 – 2010, plus a 2023 cameo
Actor: Bernard Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022)
Episodes & Stories
Voyage of the Damned (introduced as a minor character), Partners in Crime, Journey’s End, The End of Time Parts 1 & 2 (his largest role). A posthumous scene appeared in “Wild Blue Yonder” (2023).
Personality
Donna Noble’s grandfather, Wilf is warm, wise, endlessly supportive and quietly brave, becoming one of the Tenth Doctor’s most trusted confidants in his final adventures.
Interesting Facts
- Wilf’s knock on a radiation chamber door directly triggers the Tenth Doctor’s regeneration in “The End of Time.”
- Bernard Cribbins had played a different Doctor Who companion decades earlier, in the 1966 film Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
- Cribbins recorded a scene for the 2023 special “Wild Blue Yonder” shortly before his death; it aired posthumously.
What Happened to the Character
Wilf remains an ordinary Earth-bound ally, present as the Tenth Doctor’s final companion before his regeneration in “The End of Time” (2010).
The Actor Today
Bernard Cribbins had an extraordinarily long, beloved career in British entertainment. He died on 27 July 2022, aged 93.