Donna Noble

Donna Noble is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Portrayed by British actress and comedian Catherine Tate, she is a companion of the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors (both portrayed by David Tennant).

Originally appearing in the closing scene of the show's 2006 series and as a special guest star in its following Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride", Tate was not expected to reprise her role as Donna; for series 3 (2007), the Doctor travelled alongside medical student Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman). However, Tate expressed interest in returning to the role, and returned as a series regular in series 4 (2008), the subsequent 2009–2010 Christmas and New Year's special, and in the 60th anniversary specials in 2023.

Within the series' narrative, Donna begins as an outspoken Londoner in her mid-30s, a temp worker from Chiswick whose view of the universe is small in scope. Although she at first finds alien time traveller the Doctor terrifying, their initial encounter leaves her unsatisfied with her normal life, and she decides to travel alongside him when the next opportunity arises. Donna becomes an asset to the Doctor on his adventures and on being merged with Time Lord energy, becomes the DoctorDonna and ultimately saves the universe, albeit at the cost of the memories of her travels with the Doctor. Donna's memories are restored years later, when the Doctor returns as a new incarnation with a similar appearance, and the Doctor ultimately settles down with her and her family after bi-generating another incarnation.

In contrast to the Tenth Doctor's prior companions, who both harboured romantic feelings for him, Donna and the Doctor shared a strictly platonic relationship; and she did not feel the need to prove herself to be allowed to travel with the Doctor, who refers to her as his "best friend".

Donna Noble makes her first appearance, credited as "The Bride", in the closing scenes of the 2006 series finale "Doomsday"; she appears in a wedding dress, outraged to be inexplicably aboard the Doctor's TARDIS. The scene was kept a secret until broadcast, filmed with minimal crew, and was a humorous postscript to the sad farewell the Doctor shared with companion Rose (Billie Piper) moments prior. Donna's story is picked up in 2006 Christmas special "The Runaway Bride". Donna is a temporary secretary at HC Clements in London, a security firm which, unbeknownst to her, is a front organisation for the alien-investigating Torchwood Institute. Her parents are Geoff (Howard Attfield) and Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King). Donna discovers that she is a pawn in a scheme of the Empress (Sarah Parish) of the alien Racnoss, having been manipulated by her fiancé, Lance (Don Gilet). When the Doctor unleashes his fury upon the Racnoss, Donna snaps him out of it, and they escape together before the Torchwood facility floods. Donna is upset, having lost her job and her fiancé, and declines the Doctor's offer to become his companion, though she advises he find one. Donna does not appear in the 2007 series, but the character Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) appears in 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned"; in the 2008 series, he is introduced properly as Donna's grandfather, following the death of actor Howard Attfield.

In the series four opener "Partners in Crime" (2008), two years later, Donna has become dissatisfied with regular life and more interested in the bigger picture after her father died. When both are investigating the alien connection to Adipose Industries' Miss Foster (Sarah Lancashire), she and the Doctor are reunited, and she joins him in the TARDIS as a regular companion. In "The Fires of Pompeii", Donna shows her compassion when she argues and convinces the Doctor to save a family in Pompeii from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In "Planet of the Ood", Donna and the Doctor go to the Ood-Sphere and Donna defends the Ood from the abuses they suffer at the hands of humans.^{[better source needed]} In the two-parter "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky", Donna meets the Doctor's former companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) who works for UNIT and together they stop the Sontarans from using ATMOS to choke the world. In "The Doctor's Daughter", it is Donna who names the eponymous character "Jenny" (Georgia Tennant) and subsequently convinces the Doctor to accept Jenny. The Doctor and Donna meet Agatha Christie (Fenella Woolgar) in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" and have to solve their very own murder mystery with Agatha Christie and a giant alien wasp.

The two-parter episodes of "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" introduce River Song (Alex Kingston) and the Doctor accidentally shoves Donna into a cyber world while attempting to keep her safe from the Vashta Nerada. She then falls in love with Lee McAvoy and has two children with him. However, she discovers that the world she is in and her children are actually digital replications, the revelation severely traumatising her. "Midnight" gives Donna a break with a spa day while the Doctor has the most terrifying bus ride of his life. The episode "Turn Left" features a parallel universe wherein Donna never met the Doctor; consequently, the Doctor died, and the world comes to an end much sooner. In finale episodes "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End", Donna touches the Doctor's energised severed hand and is imbued with the totality of his knowledge, with which she is able to stop Davros (Julian Bleach) and his plan to destroy reality. However, because her mind cannot handle the knowledge, the Doctor is forced to wipe her memory of him against her wishes. He hopes that they never meet again, lest she remember and her mind "burn up".

Donna reappears in the two-part "The End of Time" (2009–2010). Early in the story, she buys her grandfather a book written by the episode's villain, which the Doctor takes to mean that the "DoctorDonna" is still trying to subconsciously lend a hand. When every member of the human race (apart from herself and Wilfred, attributed to Wilfred being shielded and Donna's DNA still being slightly altered after the meta-crisis) becomes a clone of the Doctor's nemesis the Master (John Simm), Donna's memories are nearly restored; however, a fail-safe installed by the Doctor protects her, as Donna generates a brief telepathic pulse that knocks out herself and the Masters in the vicinity. In the story's concluding moments, Donna is last seen when she marries new fiancé Shaun Temple (Karl Collins), becoming Donna Temple-Noble; the dying Doctor anonymously delivers her a winning lottery ticket to ensure her financial future, having borrowed the purchase price from Donna's late father in the past, making it a present from both him and the Doctor.