Geoffrey Noble, or "Geoff" for short, was Donna Noble's father.
Biography[]
Early life[]
In the late 1960s, Geoff was a greaser going by the nickname "Elvis". (GAME: The Silent Streets of Barry Island [+]Jacqueline Rayner, Infinity (Tiny Rebel Games).)
Family life[]
Geoff married Sylvia Mott circa 1970 (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos) and had a daughter named Donna. (TV: The Runaway Bride [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2006 (BBC One, 2006).)
When he came home from a football match, Geoff once said, "veni, vidi, vici", to Donna. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii [+]James Moran, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) He would also reassure Donna that "every game start[ed] from scratch" as the "dice [didn't] know what the dice did last time" because "games [didn't] have a memory." (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Geoff lent £1 to the Tenth Doctor for a Celebration Lottery ticket. The Doctor gave the ticket to Donna as a wedding present in 2010, securing her and Shaun Temple's financial future as it had the winning numbers in a triple roll-over draw. (TV: The End of Time (part two) [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).)
On 24 December 2007, Geoff walked Donna down the aisle during her wedding to Lance Bennett when she disappeared in a burst of golden light due to huon particles. As baffled as anyone else, he took charge of seeing to the injured in the wake of the Robot Santas' attack on the wedding reception. Later that day, he and Sylvia returned home, and embraced near their Christmas tree as Donna and the Tenth Doctor talked. (TV: The Runaway Bride [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2006 (BBC One, 2006).) Geoff ultimately had to pay for the damage done to the wedding reception venue. (PROSE: Judge, Jury and Executioner)
Death[]
Geoff died on 15 May, in a filling station, having been ill for several months. The following year, Sylvia told her daughter that she had had a tough year "with [her] Dad". Geoff and Sylvia had been married for thirty-eight years. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos)
Legacy[]
A photo of Geoff with Donna on her wedding day was placed on the mantlepiece of Donna's house by 2023. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Russell T Davies, adapted from Doctor Who and the Star Beast (Pat Mills and John Wagner), Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Other realities[]
Donna's World[]
In a parallel world in which the Tenth Doctor died aboard the Webstar, Sylvia told Donna that Geoff would have loved the place they were staying in. Geoff died at roughly the same time in Donna's World as in the Doctor's universe. (TV: Turn Left [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
Behind the scenes[]
- Howard Attfield was due to reprise his role as Geoff Noble in Series 4, but he died in October 2007. His scenes were refilmed with Bernard Cribbins playing the character of Wilfred Mott, who had already been filmed for the Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2007 (BBC One, 2007)., and was subsequently changed to be Donna's grandfather. Attfield's scenes were later included on the DVD release of Series 4.
- The setting of the present day of Donna Noble's family in series 4 of Doctor Who, around a year after Geoff's death according to the novel Beautiful Chaos, is inconsistent, and their later appearance in the Christmas Special and New Year Special The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010). is not dated at all. In the television story The Fires of Pompeii [+]James Moran, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., Donna mentions the Doctor saving her in 2008. In Beautiful Chaos, set between the television stories The Poison Sky [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008). and The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., a newspaper at a newsagent gives the date as Friday 15 May 2009. During an in-universe episode of The Blue Box Files in the audio story SOS, Abby McPhail describes the events of the television story Partners in Crime [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008). as taking place in 2008. During the 2023 specials, Sylvia mentions Donna's memory loss happened "a long time ago, darling. fifteen years" in The Star Beast [+]Russell T Davies, adapted from Doctor Who and the Star Beast (Pat Mills and John Wagner), Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., while The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023). places the present day in 2023, heavily implying a 2008 setting for series 4.
