There’s just something about Wilf. With Sylvia around, Donna clearly needed some goodness in her life before she joined the Doctor, and Wilf is just the ticket. The character adds to the humor, warmth, and sense of wonder in series 4, and although my feelings about “The End of Time” are mixed at best, I am glad that Wilf got a shot in an adventure of his own (a few Wilf-related spoilers.)
We don’t meet Wilf for the first time in “Partners in Crime.” He makes his initial appearance before that in the Christmas special, in which he sells newspapers and shakes his fist at the sky, warning all “them aliens” not to attack London a third Christmas in a row. There’s nothing in that episode to indicate he has any connection with Donna, but when “Partners in Crime” rolls around and Donna goes “up the hill” to see her grandpa and his telescope, there’s that little news vendor again. That first scene with him and Donna is enough to make me love him, because I want all the best for Donna and it’s clear that they have a lovely relationship. As Sylvia pessimistically critiques her daughter and father in equal measure, Donna and Wilf are both dreamers in their own way, and Donna is even able to speak to him – albeit obliquely – about her previous encounter with the Doctor. When Donna does find the Doctor again, I love that she has him fly the TARDIS by Wilf’s star-gazing spot before taking off, letting him in on the fact that she’s leaving as well as giving him a sight for the ages.
Like the best “companion’s family” characters, Wilf worries for Donna’s safety, but he ultimately knows that she shouldn’t trade the incredible adventure she’s having for a more secure life. He stands up for Donna when Sylvia finds out about the Doctor, and even as he frets over her when things hit the fan, alien-wise, in London, he encourages her to get out there and do what she can to help. And Wilf doesn’t just talk the talk: during the “stolen Earth” incident at the end of series 4, he takes to the streets with a paintball gun, planning to shoot the Daleks in the eyestalks and blind them (that is such a Doctor Who thing to do – I love it.)
Like I said, my overall feelings about “The End of Time” aside, I love that Wilf gets to be an actual companion. Like any other companion, his reactions to the big alien goings-on range from flabbergasted (calling the Vinvocci “cactus” people) to horrified (watching the Master subsume the human race) to awed (looking down on the Earth from his vantage point on the Vinvocci ship.) Unfortunately, he doesn’t get too many big moments as a companion. His most hands-on scene is probably the one where he uses the Vinvocci’s asteroid lasers to shoot the missiles the Master launches at them, and before the actual companioning starts, he does an impressive bit of sleuthing to track down the Doctor with the aid of the “Silver Cloak,” his pensioner friends with their ears to the ground. Aside from that, his larger purpose as a companion is to be someone the Doctor can have weighty conversations with. Not that this is always a good thing, since Ten is rapidly approaching critical angst mass within the first fifteen minutes of this story and throwing in a teary Wilf isn’t playing fair, so some of this can be a bit much. Other scenes between them, however, are really lovely. It’s to see the Doctor relating to an old man asan old man, and because Wilf has been connected to the Doctor through Donna but has never traveled with the Doctor himself, he’s as just about the right level of familiarity: close enough to be able to get what’s going on with the Doctor, but still removed enough that he can get real when he needs to.
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