On This Day... 29th December

 

The Time Warrior delivered its third episode today in 1973, and The Horns of Nimon its second in 1979.

Today's birthday of note is that of (Saint) Bernard Cribbins - actor and National Treasure. He is 93 today.

Cribbins' first contact with the worlds of Doctor Who came in 1966 when he played PC Tom Campbell in the Aaru movie Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD. This character replaced both companion Ian Chesterton and London resistance member David Campbell in an adaptation of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Later, Cribbins played the Doctor in a sketch on his own Thames TV show.

He was invited to play a cameo role in the 2007 Christmas Special - Voyage of the Damned - playing a newspaper vendor who refuses to leave London despite frequent alien threats to the city in recent years. The Paratroop Regiment badge on his hat was the actor's own.

The 2006 Special had introduced Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and her parents Geoff (Howard Attfield) and Sylvia (Jacqueline King). 

Both parents were due to feature in Series 4, when Donna was to become the regular companion. Sadly, Attfield was terminally ill, and only managed to record some scenes for the first story of the series - Partners in Crime. It was decided to bring back Cribbins, playing the same character but now revealed to have been Donna's grandfather Wilf Mott - his absence from the wedding explained away by him having been ill on the day. Cribbins appeared in several stories through Series 4.

For David Tennant's finale, The End of Time Parts I and II, Cribbins was elevated to guest companion status. His unplanned return to the series in 2008 was written into the story - with the Doctor noticing how their paths kept crossing. It transpired that it was Wilf who was the one who would 'knock four times' - that being the prophecy concerning the person who would be responsible for the end of the Doctor's tenth incarnation.

In 1974, Bernard Cribbins was also in the frame to have played the Fourth Doctor. He wanted to play an action-man Doctor, when Barry Letts was more in favour of an older Time Lord at the time.

Cribbins' fellow Silver Cloak member, Minnie Hooper, was played by that other National Treasure, June Whitfield. She passed away on this date in 2018, at the age of 93.