Bernie Wilson

Bernie Wilson worked at Henrik's department store from 1968 until his death on 4 March 2005, at the hands of the Autons. He had a reputation as a bit of a creep, but Rose Tyler felt she could handle him.

After a demotion in 1989, following an incident with a woman he fancied, Wilson was moved to the store basement, where he began a small black market, and soon found a way to exploit his co-workers by collecting money for bi-weekly lottery tickets. He died as his lies began to catch up with him. (PROSE: Rose)

A shady beginning
Wilson started out at Henrik's, in 1968, working in Kitchenware. He then moved up to Household Appliances, before his demotion at the 1973 Christmas party, when an incident with Miss Erica Forsyth led to a transfer to the basement, where Wilson became Junior Subordinate Caretaker.

Over his years working in the basement, Wilson ran a small black market, using the cleaners to smuggle in foreign cigarettes and alcohol, which he sold to pubs, and the maintenance staff to gain LPs, VHS tapes and DVDs from the stocks upstairs.

In the mid-80s, he wrote a personal letter to Miss Forsyth, whom he fancied, but never sent it. He kept that letter in a drawer for the next 20 years. (PROSE: Rose)

Unlawful earnings
After Wilson's promotion, in the summer of 1989, to Senior Caretaker, he found a way to exploit the Henrik's staff with company lottery draws, each Saturday. Beginning in 1994, Henrik's employees formed syndicates around the lottery. Wilson convinced the others to let him take charge, buying tickets for everybody at once. In 1997, the lottery introduced a Wednesday draw, meaning Wilson would "collect lottery tickets" twice a week; he actually kept the money, whenever possible.

With the introduction of the Lucky Dip, meaning people didn't know their ticket numbers, Wilson found more opportunities to make money without getting caught. One Christmas, he pretended Bedding had won £300, and enjoyed some wine with Miss Forsyth, in celebration of their win.

This carried on into 2005. By this point, he lived in the basement. In February of that year, Wilson began saving up for a silver Mazda 323 Hatchback, which he bought around the beginning of March while it was still on sale. As a result, he did not buy any of his co-workers lottery tickets that month.

By chance, Lydia Belmont's numbers won on the 2 March Wednesday draw, and she realised on 3 March. Wilson talked his way into having one more day to sort out his mess, and to come up with a solution to the lie he'd trapped himself in. (PROSE: Rose)

Death by plastic
On the night of 4 March 2005, Bernie Wilson planned to set fire to Henrik's, as a cover story to explain how they could lose the ticket. To his surprise, no one was around in the department store but some shop window dummies. He planned to set down his kindling beneath the fuse box, so the fire would seem to have arisen from an electrical fault, but inside the box was Nestene-controlled living plastic. Behind him, an Auton in a yellow t-shirt raised its hand to attack him. Bernie was introspective in his final moments about his own place in the wider story of life. (PROSE: Rose)

Legacy
Later that night, Rose Tyler took the lift to the Henrik's basement, intending to bring Wilson her department's lottery money for the Saturday draw. She called out his name, but received no reply. When the mannequins began moving, Rose at first suspected this was Wilson playing a trick on her. The Ninth Doctor encountered Wilson's body, and later revealed to Rose that "Wilson's dead."

His body was still in the building when the Doctor blew it up. In the aftermath, Wilson's corpse was recovered. Jackie Henrik comforted Erica Forsyth, who proclaimed that she had loved him.

Rudi Henrik's lawyers planned to blame Wilson for the explosion, in order to allow for a loophole which permitted them to refuse compensation to the other workers. (PROSE: Rose)

Behind the scenes
In the original television story, Rose, H.P. Wilson was Chief Electrician at Henrik's, rather than Senior Caretaker. Davies recalled that the character of Wilson had simply evolved in his mind since writing the original television script; he found that Wilson being the senior caretaker simply made for a better story.