Billy Shipton

DI Billy Shipton was a police detective working in London during the early 21st century, who later became involved in the video production industry in the late 20th century.

Investigations
Stationed in London circa 2005, Shipton began investigating the disappearance of multiple individuals near an abandoned estate called Wester Drumlins. Eventually, anyone who reported someone missing in the vicinity would be automatically referred to Shipton. During Shipton's investigations, numerous automobiles were impounded, their occupants missing. Dubbed the "Wester Drumlins Collection", by 2007 the impounded vehicles even included a 1960s-era police box, although Shipton was familiar enough with these obsolete objects to identify some errors in its construction.

Meeting Sally Sparrow
In 2007, Shipton's investigations led him into contact with Sally Sparrow, who was herself investigating the disappearance of her friend Kathy Nightingale from Wester Drumlins. Sally and Billy immediately hit it off, with Shipton giving her the nickname "Gorgeous Girl" and convincing her to give him her telephone number, after showing her the "Wester Drumlins Collection."

Life in 1969
A few minutes after Sparrow's departure, however, Shipton was touched by the Weeping Angels and sent back in time to 1969 where he was found by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones and learnt his destiny was to send a message to Sally Sparrow when he eventually had lived his life back to 2007. An unfortunate aspect of the Doctor's instructions was that Billy received the knowledge of when he would eventually die.
 * Exactly when Shipton arrived in 1969 is not indicated, but it is likely during the first half of the year as Martha said he had the Apollo 11 moon landing to look forward to.

Marriage and Easter Egg
In the ensuing decades, Shipton married a woman who was also named Sally, and eventually became involved in the video publishing industry, including, eventually, DVDs. It was through his efforts that a videotaped message from the Doctor (which presumably he kept safe all these years) eventually ended up as an Easter Egg on seventeen different DVD releases, sparking interest on Internet communities which Sparrow's friend Larry Nightingale belonged to.



Death
Near the end of his life, Shipton found himself hospitalised not far from where his younger self was working at the police station and meeting Sally for the second time. For Sally only a few minutes had passed from her discovering that Billy had gone missing from the station's parking garage and receiving a phone call from the now-elderly Billy. She joined him in his hospital room, and it didn't take long for Billy to convince Sally that he was the same man she had just met and flirted with.

He revealed to Sally that he had married a woman named Sally after travelling to 1969, had gotten into the video publishing business and was responsible for the Doctor's Easter egg message appearing on a number of DVDs. He finally delivered the Doctor's message: "Look at the list," and said the Doctor had told him he would never understand what the message meant. He had come to terms with this, with his lost life in the 21st century, and with the fact that he knew when he would die, with the knowledge that he had a final meeting with Sally Sparrow to look forward to.

Knowing he would die when the rain outside stopped (Sally noted it was the same rainfall that was occurring when she first met him), Sally stayed with Billy until he passed away. Soon after, she realised that the "list" in Billy's message was a list of her complete DVD collection, leading her forward into resolving the paradox. (DW: Blink)