Barbara Wright's father

Wright was the father of Barbara Wright and the husband of Joan Wright. (PROSE: A Long Night, The Time Travellers)

Barbara recalled how, as a child, her father would kiss her on the forehead as he was leaving the breakfast table to go to work. (PROSE: The Plotters) Each Christmas, he and Joan would decorate their home and celebrate with Barbara. Sometimes he would dress up as Santa to get the presents ready. (PROSE: All I Want for Christmas)

There were differing accounts of what happened to him in his life during Barbara's later childhood.

According to some accounts, he fought in the early stages of World War II, where he was killed prior to Christmastime of 1940. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of that year, one of the Bansharai took his appearance in order to feed off the love of an older Barbara, by then an adult time travelling with the First Doctor. Reliving the memories of hearing about her father's death, Barbara fought against the Banshara after realising something was wrong. (PROSE: Tell Me You Love Me) Barbara kept a photograph of him and looked at it frequently to remember him. She saw an apparition of her father dressed as Santa when one of Vicki Pallister's Christmas wishes manifested itself. (PROSE: All I Want for Christmas)

According to other accounts, he was still alive in the years after the war. He took Barbara to visit the Tower of London when she was 13. (PROSE: Byzantium!) Later, when Barbara got her teaching job at Coal Hill School, her father took her out to an Italian restaurant called Vincenzo's to celebrate. (PROSE: Venusian Lullaby) In the 1970s, he and Joan looked after their grandson John while Barbara and her then-husband Ian were away assisting UNIT. (PROSE: The Face of the Enemy)

Behind the scenes
In terms of the conflicting accounts of the fate of Barbara's father, more stories make reference to him being alive after World War II. However, these are all passing references with very little detail and no huge relevance to the plot. Tell Me You Love Me is the only story to explore Barbara's father in some extensive detail. This is also the closest he has come to making an appearance in a story, as his physical form is taken by an alien, although he himself ultimately does not appear. In All I Want for Christmas, it is also claimed he died during the war.

The quick reference towards him in The Plotters is the only one not to necessarily contradict either version of events, as it is left vague exactly how far back into her childhood Barbara is remembering. This is reinforced by her recollections of childhood Christmases in All I Want for Christmas. For all the conflicting accounts, there is still scope for Barbara's mother to have remarried.