Doctor Who’s New Rose May Have Debunked A Major Donna Theory Ahead Of The 60th Anniversary
The fact that Donna Noble’s daughter is named Rose heavily implies that she already remembers David Tennant’s Doctor ahead of her Doctor Who return.
The official confirmation that Yasmin Finney is playing Doctor Who’s new Rose might have debunked a major Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) theory for the 60th anniversary. The BBC recently confirmed on social media what Doctor Who fans had suspected for months; that Yasmin Finney’s Rose is the daughter of Donna Noble and her husband Shaun Temple (Karl Collins). The Doctor last saw Donna and Shaun when the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) watched their wedding from afar in his final adventure, The End of Time.
The Doctor watched Donna and Karl’s wedding from a distance because of the risks to his former companion’s life if she ever remembered him. This controversial Doctor Who ending for Donna Noble is expected to be resolved in the 60th-anniversary specials. However, it may not be resolved happily as it’s been teased that Donna may not survive her Doctor Who reunion. However, the name of Donna’s daughter, and facts previously established in Doctor Who canon suggest a happier ending for the Noble family 13 years after they last saw the Doctor.
Yasmin Finney’s Rose Confirms Donna Still Remembers The Tenth Doctor
Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney and Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies have both confirmed that the character of Rose Temple-Noble is a trans woman. This means that Rose is the chosen name of Donna’s daughter, however, the choice can’t be a coincidence. The Doctor and the Noble family have been intrinsically linked since Donna first materialized in the Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS on Christmas Day 2006. A year later, and the Tenth Doctor unknowingly bumped into Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins), who would later be revealed as Donna’s grandfather. On top of this, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) met Wilf, Donna, and Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King) in Doctor Who’s season 4 finale.
The impact of the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler on Donna, Wilf, and Sylvia would surely have influenced and inspired the young Rose Temple-Noble. It’s possible that Wilf repackaged the Doctor’s adventures as bedtime stories for his grandchild, inspiring her to take the name Rose. It’s also possible that memories of her adventures have been seeping through Donna’s subconscious mind, influencing her child as she’s grown up. It’s also worth remembering that in the trailer for Doctor Who’s 60th-anniversary specials, Donna clearly recognizes the Fourteenth Doctor as “Skinny Man”.
The “Skinny Man” revelation suggests a link between Donna Noble and Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). In Matt Smith’s debut Doctor Who story, “The Eleventh Hour”, the young Amelia Pond (Caitlin Blackwood) grew into Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), believing that the Eleventh Doctor was simply an imaginary friend, and not the mysterious Time Lord she met in her garden. It’s possible that Donna has had memories of “Skinny Man”, which became childhood stories for her daughter Rose. It’s clear, therefore, that Donna has been able to retain her memories about the Tenth Doctor in some form, without her head exploding in the process.
Everyone Forgets That The Doctor Implanted A Failsafe In Donna’s Mind
In “The End of Time” when John Simm’s Master returned to face David Tennant, Donna became overwhelmed by memories of her adventures. As a human, Donna’s brain was never designed to hold the vast knowledge of a Time Lord, which was unlocked by the machinations of the Master. Thankfully, the Tenth Doctor had implanted a failsafe which, when triggered, would put her to sleep until the crisis passed. It’s a bleak joke about how the less refined Donna Noble from “The Runaway Bride” had slept through the Sycorax flyover in “The Christmas Invasion”, and the Dalek and Cybermen invasion of Earth in “Doomsday.”
Of course, the failsafe likely won’t feature in Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary specials as it would mean very little Catherine Tate. However, it’s worth pointing out because should things get too triggering, there’s a failsafe that will ultimately save her life. The likely plot of the specials will be the Fourteenth Doctor returning to finally fix Donna’s memories in the same way that the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors helped the War Doctor (John Hurt) to save Gallifrey in “The Day of the Doctor”. Doctor Who has established that the Doctor is able to work out complex situations across his incarnations, and there’s been a considerable amount of time between suppressing Donna’s memories and regenerating back into the body of David Tennant.
Rose Is Back For Ncuti Gatwa’s First Doctor Who Season – Hinting Donna Lives
In his regular Letter from the Showrunner column in Doctor Who Magazine, Russell T Davies confirmed that Yasmin Finney had filmed some scenes for Doctor Who season 14. This heavily implies that Donna Noble will survive her reunion with the Doctor in the 60th-anniversary specials. It’s unlikely that Rose would continue to spend time with the Doctor if they failed to save Donna’s life, even if they have regenerated into a new incarnation. Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa and Yasmin Finney have been confirmed to share scenes together, be it in the anniversary specials or later in Doctor Who season 14. Maintaining the relationship between the new Rose and the new Doctor is a big hint at a happy ending for Donna Noble.
The most likely outcome of the 60th anniversary is that David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor will give his life to save Donna and restore her memories. Doctor Who anniversary specials are always about celebrating the show’s past and laying the groundwork for the future. The best way to do this would be to have David Tennant and Catherine Tate reunite for one last time to restore Donna’s memories of her incredible life in the TARDIS while laying the groundwork for the next generation of the Noble family’s relationship with the Doctor through Yasmin Finney and Ncuti Gatwa.
