Pete Tyler

Peter Alan "Pete" Tyler (15 September 1954-7 November 1987) was the deceased father of Rose Tyler and the husband of Jackie Tyler.

Pete was a jack-of-all-trades and a budding entrepreneur, constantly involved in many money-making schemes, from selling flavoured health drinks (branded "Vitex") to trying to market solar power panels. Most of these schemes were unsuccessful, however, leading to tension in his marriage to Jackie, Rose's mother. Jackie also accused Pete of cheating on her on a few occasions. Pete died in a hit-and-run accident when Rose was less than a year old. (DW: Father's Day) Rose asked the Ninth Doctor to take her to 1987 to witness her father's death. Jackie had told Rose as a child that her father had died alone, and Rose wanted to be there for him. When faced with the reality, however, Rose impulsively rushed forward and saved Pete from being run down, changing history and causing a temporal paradox that damaged time. This attracted the destructive Reapers, who began to "sterilise" the wound in time by devouring everything in sight.

Pete figured out Rose was his daughter. When he heard what an ideal father he had been, he realised she was lying to cover up the fact he was supposed to be dead. Rose awakened Pete's paternal instincts. To save everyone and restore history, he deliberately stepped in front of the car that should have killed him, dismissing the Reapers and putting time back on track. History did change to a small extent. This time the driver did not flee the scene and Rose was there to hold his hand while he was dying. Pete died with a smile while looking on his daughter's face (DW: Father's Day). Although Pete was gone, it was his persistent spirit that Rose inherited, and a penchant for (as Jackie put it) "mad ideas" that pushed Rose to keep trying even when all hope seemed lost and save the world again.

Rose told her mother later that she had been the one to hold his hand as he died and tried to convince her mother that what she was trying to do (open the TARDIS to fly it back to the Doctor) was something he would have agreed with. Her mother told her off and left, but came back with the solution to Rose's problem, admitting she was right about her father. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)

Rose and the Tenth Doctor later encountered a parallel version of Pete in another universe, who eventually became Jackie's husband. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen, Doomsday)

Behind the scenes

 * Coincidentally or otherwise, "Peter Tyler" was credited as "Lighting Cameraman" on the TARDIS-Cam films which appeared on the early DVD releases.
 * Pete Tyler was originally going to be played by Simon Pegg, but he wasn't free when Father's Day was being filmed, so he played The Editor in The Long Game instead. (DWDVDF 4)
 * Rose calls Pete "a sort of Delboy" in Father's Day, a reference to the popular British sitcom Only Fools and Horses and its dodgy dealing main character. Shaun Dingwall went on to play Delboy's father Reg in the prequel series Rock and Chips.