Why Donna Noble Tragically Can't Return to 'Doctor Who'
Donna Noble’s memories are gone, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for her to walk back into the world of Doctor Who in all her hilarious wedding gown glory.
Donna Noble herself — actor Catherine Tate — went on British talkshow Lorraine on October 20 to talk about something other than Doctor Who, but ended up discussing the show after prompts from the host. Tate pointed out that, due to Donna’s memories of the Doctor and her time with him being wiped, there’s no way for her to come back to the show moving forward.
But the host, Lorraine, pointed out that Doctor Who is about time travel after all, so what if the Doctor just so happened to run into Donna back before she ever met him?
“Go back to before I came into it,” Tate said. “That’s the way we get me back.”
The likelihood of Donna ever coming back to Doctor Who is, of course, next to nothing, but it’s fun to think about Donna running into Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. They’d spend all their time ranting and raving at one another, and then Donna would call him a “curmudgeon,” and he’d get offended … It would be brilliant!
But if Twelve were to run into Donna before he ever met her, back when she was a temp and had no idea of just how much there is to see in the universe, that could spell trouble. Donna having her entire memory of the Doctor wiped was a big deal, something that hurt the 10th Doctor deeply. While we’re sure the 12th Doctor would love to see her again, any interaction with Donna from before she ever met the Doctor — beyond him spotting her from across the street, muttering to himself and running away — could result in an enormous paradox/alternate dimension/shitshow that erases a big chunk of the Doctor Who timeline.
Time travel is complicated, and even though we adore Donna Noble and would love to see her onscreen even just once more on Doctor Who, maybe it’s too complicated. But it’s still nice to think about Donna popping in and mocking Peter Capaldi and his “spaceman” antics sooner rather than later.
