A believer in extraterrestrial life himself, Wilfred was proud of his granddaughter's adventures and helped to keep them a secret from her overbearing mother.

[6] Wilfred briefly appears in "The Giggle", portrayed by an uncredited stand-in and featuring usage of an archival audio recording of Cribbins from the 2008 episode "The Poison Sky".

[2] In the episode "Partners in Crime", Wilfred is revealed to be an amateur astronomer who spends his evenings stargazing with his telescope from an allotment.

After Donna joins the Doctor, the pair make a fly-by of the allotment in the TARDIS, its door open, which astonishes Wilfred.

Without the Doctor, the interstellar cruiser Titanic crashes into Central London, obliterating the metropolis in a massive nuclear explosion.

", though the anticipated aid is cancelled after millions in the U.S. are killed as a result of Miss Foster's selection of the U.S. as a breeding ground for the Adipose.

They share an apartment with an Italian immigrant family, who initially annoy the Nobles but who Wilfred quickly befriends.

References are made there to his military service: an Italian immigrant friend calls him "my captain" and salutes him as he leaves.

In "The Stolen Earth", Wilfred takes it upon himself to fight the Daleks, armed with a paintball gun, reasoning that shooting them in the eyepiece will blind them.

Due to Wilfred not owning a webcam, his computer can only provide Rose with one-way communication of former Prime Minister Harriet Jones' video conference with her militia of the Doctor's companions.

They go to Joshua Naismith's mansion, where the Master turns the human race into himself, but Wilfred is protected by the Doctor by placing him inside a chamber shielded from radiation.

On the alien ship after being rescued, Wilfred tries to convince the Doctor to take his gun and kill the Master but fails.

He informs the duo that he never lost faith about the Doctor returning to save Earth again, before utter bedlam ensues.

Wilfred was played by Bernard Cribbins who appeared in the 1966 Doctor Who film, Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, as companion Special Constable Tom Campbell, a character replacing that of Ian Chesterton from the television serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth on which the film was based.

Cribbins brought elements of his own costume for the role when filming "Voyage of the Damned", such as the hat with the Parachute Regiment badge from his National Service days.

[15] Producer Phil Collinson stated in an interview for SFX that Wilfred Mott will "crop up again in the series several times".

Wilfred is not "strictly speaking" linked to Series 4's joining thread, but in the commentary for the first episode, it was suggested that his meeting the Doctor in the Christmas special may not have been accidental.

[15] Cribbins played Mott for the final time in the 2023 special "Wild Blue Yonder", filmed in 2022 prior to his death in July of that year.

[7] Laura Pledger of Radio Times named Cribbins the best Doctor Who guest star, writing, "When he wasn't making you smile, Wilfred Mott broke your heart".