Jackie Tyler

Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler (née Prentice), born 1 February 1967, was a resident of early 21st century London and the mother of Rose Tyler. She lived with Rose in a council flat on the Powell Estate. Jackie was a single mother. Her husband, Pete Tyler, had died in 1987 when Rose was six months old.

Prior to meeting the Ninth Doctor
In 1987, an older Rose travelled with the Doctor to meet Jackie and Pete. She had an idyllic image of her parents' marriage. The relationship she saw was stormy. Their fights were short-lived and it was clear Jackie and Pete loved each other despite the arguments. After Pete's death, Jackie told Rose about her father. Unknown to Jackie, her memories of the day Pete died were altered when Rose changed history. Jackie remembered a young woman kneeling over Pete's body. She did not know it was Rose from the future. (TV: Father's Day)

On 1 January 2005, Jackie told Rose not to stay out too late before heading off. This was witnessed by the Tenth Doctor just before his impending regeneration. (TV: The End of Time)

On or before 5 March of that year, Jackie took a telephone call from Rose whom she believed was working that day. From Rose's perspective however, her department store had already been destroyed by Autons and she had run off with the Ninth Doctor. The Doctor modified Rose's mobile to let her phone her mum from anywhere in time and space. Jackie was unknowingly speaking into outer space and nearly five billion years into the future. (TV: The End of the World)

Meeting the Ninth Doctor
Jackie first met the Ninth Doctor when he stumbled into her room by accident. She flirted with him to no avail. This set the stage for a frequently antagonistic relationship. During the final phase of the attempted Auton invasion, Autons attacked Jackie. She was saved when Rose and the Doctor destroyed the Nestene Consciousness.

When Rose left with the Doctor in his TARDIS, she intended to be back within hours. (TV: Rose)

When Rose returned to London, although it had only been a few days for her, a year had elapsed on Earth due to a miscalculation by the Doctor. Out of her mind with worry, Jackie had organised a poster campaign for her missing daughter. She even accused Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith of murdering her. When Rose returned, Jackie was furious with the Doctor for taking her away. She also could not understand why Rose would not tell her where she had been, but learned the truth when she saw the TARDIS. She was also nearly killed by a Slitheen disguised as a policeman. She began to understand how dangerous Rose's new life was when the Doctor ended the Slitheens' plans by calling down a missile strike on 10 Downing Street where Rose and he were trapped. (TV: Aliens of London / World War Three)

Jackie nearly fell for a scheme to take humans "on holiday" to fight in an alien war. A thug who lived in the council estate mugged her and took the "winning ticket" that qualified her for the vacation. Jackie ended up in hospital, but her assailant fared worse. He took her place as a remote-controlled soldier on an alien planet and was killed. (PROSE: Winner Takes All)

The time-lost Neanderthal Das flirted with Jackie at a London nightclub before Captain Jack Harkness steered him away from her. Jack and Jackie did not meet at this time. Jack scanned Jackie's DNA with his wrist device and identified her as Rose Tyler's mother. (PROSE: Only Human)

Rose used the "superphone" to call Jackie from a human colony world in the future. Jackie complained Rose had not let her know she had been in Cardiff during her recent visit to the city. (PROSE: The Stealers of Dreams)

When the Doctor sent Rose back to her own time to escape a Dalek attack, Jackie was glad to have her daughter home. She said she loved the Doctor for sending Rose out of danger. However, she eventually helped Rose open the TARDIS console, enabling her to return and help the Doctor. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

Jackie began dating a fruit vendor named Howard. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)

Trusting the Tenth Doctor
Jackie was one of the first people to encounter the Doctor after he regenerated into his tenth incarnation. Like Rose, it took Jackie a while to realise this younger-looking man was the same one she had met before. Her relationship with the Doctor was warmer than his earlier incarnation; she allowed the Doctor to attend Christmas dinner with Rose and her. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)

Jackie comforted Rose after she returned from a parallel world where Pete was alive and Jackie had been turned into a Cyberman. Mickey had decided to stay in that world, and the Doctor had to seal off the world, so Rose could never visit. (TV: The Age of Steel) Jackie was probably upset too. She and Mickey had become friends.

She befriended Elton Pope, a young man searching for the Doctor, unaware he was using her to get to the Doctor. Their relationship progressed to her forcing Elton to take off his clothes. The proceedings were interrupted by a call from Rose. Jackie discovered a photograph of Rose in Elton's coat and realised the truth. She angrily told Elton she would protect the Doctor and Rose, no matter what. She later told Rose about what Elton had done. Rose and the Doctor tracked down Elton so Rose could yell at him, leading to saving his life from a monstrous alien. (TV: Love & Monsters)

Jackie accepted the Doctor as part of her life, showering him with kisses upon one of his returns with Rose. In 2007, Jackie was one of many fooled into believing the ghosts appearing around the world were deceased relatives, in her case, her father. She was hostile to the Doctor's scepticism about this. Jackie found herself aboard the TARDIS when it dematerialised and arrived at Torchwood headquarters. Rose was sent out to reconnoitre. Jackie impersonated Rose when the Doctor and she were captured by Torchwood. (TV: Army of Ghosts)

A New Home
Jackie found herself in the middle of the Battle of Canary Wharf. Cybermen from an alternate Earth and Daleks battled over Earth. Jackie thought she was reunited with the ghost of her dead husband, Pete, only to learn that it was a version from the alternate Earth whose own Jackie had been assimilated by the Cybermen. They almost immediately began a relationship. Soon after, Jackie and Rose had to escape to the alternate world, with no apparent way to return to their Earth. Jackie and Rose were declared dead on their Earth, victims of the battle. On the parallel Earth, however, Jackie gave birth to a son, Tony Tyler. She also had to deal with comforting Rose, who was emotionally devastated by her separation from the Doctor, with whom she had fallen in love. (TV: Doomsday)

Fighting the Daleks
Over the next few years, Rose worked to find a way back to the Doctor to warn him about the impending collapse of reality. She returned to her original Earth after a detour into an alternate timeline. Soon after, Jackie and Mickey also returned to their original Earth to help Rose. One of the first people Jackie encountered was Sarah Jane Smith. Jackie and Mickey arrived as Sarah Jane was about to be killed by two Daleks. Jackie killed one of the Daleks while Mickey killed the other.

Now a more self-assured, less self-absorbed individual, Jackie worked alongside Sarah Jane, Mickey and Jack Harkness to rescue the Doctor and save Earth. While Mickey disagreed with Sarah Jane's plan to surrender to get to the Crucible, Jackie immediately agreed, knowing that the Doctor and Rose would be there. Jackie, Mickey and Sarah Jane were made test subjects for the reality bomb. Sarah Jane and Mickey escaped while Jackie comforted a fallen prisoner. In the nick of time, Jackie's teleport recharged and she escaped to safety. In the ensuing battle, Jackie was reunited with Rose and met Martha Jones and Donna Noble. When Earth was towed back to where it belonged, Jackie didn't pilot the TARDIS along with everyone else. The Doctor specifically told her, "No, no Jackie, not you, just stand back".

Afterwards, Mickey said his goodbyes to her. He wasn't returning to the parallel world. There was nothing left for him there and he said that he was going to miss her the most. Jackie embraced Mickey in a final goodbye. Following the defeat of Davros, the Doctor returned Jackie to the alternate Earth to reunite her with her husband and son. Jackie couldn't resist winding up the Doctor one last time by making him believe she had named her son "Doctor". She watched as the Doctor's clone agreed to stay behind and begin a life with Rose and the original Doctor departed for the last time. (TV: Journey's End)

Personality
Jackie had a very strong personality. While she cared greatly for Rose, she didn't like the Doctor very much. (TV: Aliens of London) She had no problem speaking her mind and didn't mind hitting someone;  she struck the Doctor. Over time she grew to like and respect the Doctor, especially after he stuck to his word and sent Rose back home safely from the Daleks, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and increasingly in his tenth incarnation.

While Jackie appeared flighty at times, she loved her daughter and was concerned for her safety, given the life the Doctor led. Her attitude towards the Doctor softened from hostility to grudging acceptance, but she continued to worry about Rose and awaited her daughter's return. The Doctor made an effort to return Rose home periodically, even if it seemed almost as if the whole purpose was to let Rose get some laundry done. (TV: Army of Ghosts)

She did not react well to terrifying situations. While running from Cybermen, she was so frightened she could barely tell the Doctor where she was. (TV: Doomsday) She was reluctant to help someone in need. She needed a lot of convincing to help Rose and Mickey out with their plan to save the Doctor, although she ultimately provided the solution to their problem. (TV: World War Three) This particular trait was less prominent later on. When she was unable to save a woman from Davros' reality bomb, she voiced deep regret. (TV: Journey's End)

When she learned Elton Pope was using her to get to the Doctor, she yelled at him and told him that it was hard for her to have to stay behind and not hear from Rose. She said that she would protect the Doctor for as long as she could. (TV: Love & Monsters)

In the year in which she thought Rose was missing, she blamed Mickey for her disappearance. She started a hate campaign and turned the rest of the estate against him. She was horrified to be rescued by him during the Slitheen invasion. Later they formed a close friendship. When Mickey returned to the normal universe for good, he told Jackie she was the one he was going to miss most.

When she returned to Earth from the parallel Earth to rescue her daughter from the Daleks, Jackie evinced more self-confidence, even handling a weapon. Nonetheless, the Doctor didn't allow her to work TARDIS controls. (TV: Journey's End)

Jackie went on dates with a number of men, (TV: The End of Time, The Parting of the Ways, The Christmas Invasion) even attempting to seduce those she was attracted to, (TV: Love & Monsters) but clearly never stopped loving Pete. (TV: Doomsday)

When she asked for alcohol, Mickey told her, "This ain't no time for a congo", implying she was intoxicated easily. (TV: Aliens of London)

Behind the scenes

 * Jackie was originally named "Judy".
 * Although generally not considered a companion, Jackie fulfils much of the duties of a companion during her unintentional sojourn in the TARDIS in Army of Ghosts and Doomsday. Her role in Journey's End would seem to indicate that she is considered to be a companion on some level, since the writers include her in the group of 'proper companions' who directly assist the Doctor in the episode, even though the Doctor does not let her so much as touch the TARDIS when the six other companions help pilot her.

Jackie Tyler