Physician Who‘s sixtieth anniversary is undoubtedly a joyous event, what with David Tennant and Catherine Tate again within the TARDIS and the model spanking new period of Ncuti Gatwa on the horizon. And but the present’s three-part diamond birthday bash additionally has a heartbreaking factor to it too.
The trilogy of specials which characteristic Tennant because the Fourteenth Physician and Tate as his greatest good friend Donna Noble co-stars quite a few acquainted faces from the 2005-2010 period of Physician Who, and that features Bernard Cribbins, an icon of the Whoniverse if there ever was as soon as. Sadly, Cribbins handed away in 2022, with particular 2, “Wild Blue Yonder,” devoted to his reminiscence.
Bernard Cribbins is memorialized in Physician Who‘s second sixtieth anniversary particular
Bernard Cribbins will probably be remembered by Physician Who followers for the remainder of time due to his universally adored efficiency as Wilfred Mott, Donna’s UFO-spotting grandfather. Cribbins, a British establishment whose profession on movie and TV screens reaches again to the Fifties, initially cameoed within the 2007 Christmas particular “Voyage of the Damned.” So well-liked was he, nonetheless, that his character was invited again and fleshed out in 2008’s “Companions in Crime” onward. Regardless of being the explanation Tennant’s Tenth Physician died in 2010’s “The Finish of Time,” the big-hearted former World Battle Two soldier has at all times been held firmly in Whovians’ hearts.
That’s why his return in “Wild Blue Yonder” is so poignant and bittersweet. Wilf seems within the second particular’s closing scene, wherein he has a tear-jerking reunion with the Physician and Donna. This scene was filmed in Might 2022, with an even bigger function for Wilf deliberate for the third and closing particular. Sadly, Cribbins was unable to commit resulting from his in poor health well being and he in the end handed away in July 2022 from pure causes. He was 93 years outdated.
It’s solely becoming, then, that “Wild Blue Yonder” ends with a touching dedication to the much-missed actor. “In loving reminiscence of Bernard Cribbins, 1928-2022,” reads a memorial message on the conclusion of the episode’s credit.
Contemplating Cribbins’ connection to Physician Who goes virtually all the best way again — he appeared within the non-canon theatrically launched movie Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150AD in 1966 — it’s extremely significant that he made one final look as a part of its sixtieth anniversary celebrations. RIP Bernard Cribbins, a real Physician Who diamond.