Danny Pink Rupert " Danny " Pink was a sergeant in the British Army . After a devastating mistake left him crushed , he decided to leave the army and became a mathematics teacher at Coal Hill School . He enjoyed a close relationship with Clara Oswald , another teacher at Coal Hill and a companion of the Twelfth Doctor . However , the difficulty of balancing her double - life strained this relationship , nor did Danny see eye - to - eye with the Doctor ' s way of doing things . In contrast to his hard - fought - for days as a soldier , Danny ' s life ended unceremoniously once he walked out into the path of an oncoming vehicle while talking to Clara on a mobile phone , without looking where he was going . Although he had been killed , Danny ' s consciousness was intercepted by the Nethersphere and placed in a form of mass storage , while his body was revived with Cyberman technology , awaiting his return when the Nethersphere reuploaded his mind to his upgraded self . Although this granted him new life , it was a hollow existence he likened to a living death . Danny ultimately chose to forfeit this false life so the Earth could be saved from a new world order of cyber - converted humans , and then turned down the chance to come back to life once more so he could finally amend for his mistakes while alive . Biography . Childhood . As a child , Rupert lived in West Country Children ' s Home in Gloucester for some time . He disliked his given name and wanted to change it to Danny when he got older . One night , he had a nightmare of someone under the bed grabbing his ankle , and he met the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald for the first time . They encountered a figure which the Doctor believed might be a creature that hid under the bed . The three of them turned their backs so the creature could leave unseen . After it departed , Clara attempted to put the child at ease by placing toy soldier s to guard under his bed . She designated one of them — which Rupert had called " Dan the soldier man " — as the one in charge : a soldier so brave , he didn ' t need a gun . Rupert ' s mind was then modified by the Doctor to prevent remembrance of this encounter . He instead would only recall a dream where he was " Dan the soldier man " . ( TV : " Listen " ) Military career . Later in life , Rupert started going by the name Danny and joined the army . For a time , he loved being enlisted in the army and grew used to listening to the commands of officers . They were evidently strict and emphasised perseverance , who pushed soldiers under their command to do things they didn ' t think they could do , or to overcome fear in situations where they should have been afraid . Danny did not suspect they might push him too far one day . ( TV : " Into the Dalek " , " The Caretaker " , " Kill the Moon " ) He was a sergeant and served five years in both the UK and Afghanistan , ( TV : " The Caretaker " ) where he performed a number of humanitarian tasks , such as building well s , alongside traditional military work . ( TV : " Listen " ) While on a mission in the Middle East , Danny accidentally shot and killed a young boy . ( TV : " Dark Water " ) He later referred to it as a " bad day " and the reason he left the army . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) Following his exit from the army , Danny became distressed when mention was made of him having killed while a soldier . ( TV : " Into the Dalek " ) Maths teacher and relationship with Clara Oswald . Despite leaving the army , he established the Coal Hill Cadet Squad when he began working as a teacher at Coal Hill School . It was here that he was introduced to Clara Oswald by Mr Armitage . She invited him to join her at Kathy ' s retirement party after work that day , which he initially declined — an act he immediately regretted . While reviewing this awkward moment to himself , Clara overheard him . Although this further embarrassed him , Danny gratefully accepted her offer to grab a drink together . ( TV : " Into the Dalek " ) Some time afterwards , Danny and Clara got locked in a supply cupboard together ; the small space within the cupboard caused the two to bump into each other repeatedly . ( COMIC : " Terrorformer " ) The two went for a drink at some point later , with mixed results . The couple argued several times , and Clara left twice . After an adventure with the Doctor , Clara came to Danny ' s flat later that night , and , after the two apologised for their behaviour , they kissed for the first time . ( TV : " Listen " ) Despite these difficulties , the two continued dating . They attempted to set up a date and share a kiss in an empty classroom , but were interrupted by a nosy student , causing both of them to scold , " OUT ! " ( TV : " Time Heist " ) Clara , however , continued to have adventures with the Doctor , ( PROSE : " The Crawling Terror " ) which led to him being puzzled at Clara ' s occasional discombobulation , including one incident where he found her wearing a space helmet for some reason . ( TV : " The Caretaker " ) Afterwards the Twelfth Doctor re - met Danny Pink as an adult , insisting that he was a PE teacher even after Danny said he was a maths teacher . Danny suspected the Doctor of doing malicious activity in Coal Hill when he found chronodyne generator s scattered around the school . Thinking them to be weapons , he disabled some , unaware that the Doctor had strategically placed them to lure out a Skovox Blitzer which had taken up residence on Earth and draw it inside the Time Vortex . Because of this , he ran into the Blitzer itself and the robot was merely sent a day into the future . The Doctor chastised Danny for meddling even though he was doing what he believed was the right thing , and ran into his girlfriend , who had trouble explaining the truth about what was going on . Danny instantly concluded that the Blitzer was an extraterrestrial and thought the Doctor and Clara were from space . He was half right , inevitably learning about the Doctor ' s alien origins and the TARDIS being bigger on the inside . Amazed and shaken up , he confronted Clara for leaving him in the dark about these details . She explained that she travelled with the Doctor to see wonders that she couldn ' t in her ordinary life . Danny , curious about how Clara acted around the Doctor , tagged along with her onto the TARDIS to see if she behaved just the same or not . He sneaked aboard using an invisibility watch given to him by Clara , snatched from the Doctor ' s own supplies . Danny realised the Doctor did not think highly of him and was repeatedly insulting his name . Danny deactivated his disguise , aware the Doctor had sniffed out his presence , after getting a tip - off from the Doctor ' s very pompous remarks about him . Irritated with the lack of respect he was given , Danny returned it . He provoked the Doctor ' s anger on purpose to gauge the true extent of his character . However , the Doctor ' s opinion of Danny changed when he helped stop the Skovox Blitzer by drawing its fire long enough that the Doctor could command it to shut down with a self - built communication device , demonstrating his military training with a skilled somersault through the air . He entered better terms with the Doctor , and knew he had to prove himself a worthy boyfriend for Clara in the Doctor ' s eyes . After learning the truth of the Doctor and Clara ' s exploits , Danny warned Clara that he wanted her to stop lying or it would spell the end of their relationship . He had also met men like the Doctor before who pushed people to get stronger , and recognised the officer mentality in him . Because one pushed Danny too far and made him do something he regretted , he told Clara to make a promise with him — that if the Doctor broke her trust in him and did something similar , she would immediately go to her boyfriend for help . ( TV : " The Caretaker " ) When Clara returned from her adventure on the Moon near the beginning of a work day at Coal Hill School , a tired Danny saw her pacing about frenetically in a classroom . From the look on her face , Danny immediately knew that the betrayal of trust he dreaded had struck . He recognised her forlorn expression as the same one he had after his love for the army was tarnished — the moment he decided he no longer wanted to be a soldier . Clara started to tell Danny what happened , but in her furious state , she revealed she was through putting up with the Doctor . Danny , unfazed at Clara ' s upset and frazzled mood , was prepared for this conversation to eventually take place . He stopped Clara from saying anything further , and contended that while she might have had a serious falling out with the Doctor , their relationship wasn ' t quite over yet , not as long as the Doctor could still make her angry . He likened it to the day he left the army , which he described as a " very bad day " . Danny advised his girlfriend to explain everything after she had cooled down , so they could work through the problem steadily . Clara embraced him and admired how he had grown so wise from his experiences . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) Danny was aware of Clara ' s supposed final outing with the Doctor ; he called twice during the unexpected adventure on the Orient Express , believing that Clara would resume a normal life . However , she lied to him , instead choosing to continue her adventures with the Doctor in secret . ( TV : " Mummy on the Orient Express " , " Flatline " ) Danny and Clara later took the Coal Hill Year 8 Gifted and Talented Group on a camping trip to London Zoological Museum . To their shock the next morning , trees had grown all over the world overnight . Forced by Clara , Danny helped lead the group to the TARDIS to get the Doctor ' s help . Danny assisted by keeping an eye on the group while the Doctor and Clara investigated the situation ; the trees had grown to protect the Earth from an impending solar flare that would exterminate all life on Earth . Though offered the chance to watch the event from space , Danny turned it down in favour of getting his class home . ( TV : " In the Forest of the Night " ) Death and the Nethersphere . Whilst in a telephone conversation with Clara , Danny was run over and killed by a car . After his death , Danny ' s consciousness was taken by 3W and uploaded to the Nethersphere . When he awoke , he was greeted by Seb , who offered him coffee . Seb asked him if he had killed anyone , having been a soldier . Danny soon found himself remembering the day he killed a young boy by accident . Seb told Danny the boy wanted to see him . Danny tried to say how sorry he was to the boy , only for him to run away in fear . Danny received , according to Seb , a very rare phone call from the " other side " . Upon being told it was Clara , he was overjoyed upon talking to her . However , Clara soon questioned him to prove himself to really be Danny . Unable to convince her and in fear she would attempt to kill herself to be with him , Danny told her he loved her , prompting Clara to cease the call , much to Danny ' s sadness . Seb offered Danny a way to rid himself of his emotions and the pain he would feel since he was still connected to his body . Seb gave him the opportunity to disconnect from his body . ( TV : " Dark Water " ) As a result of the boy ' s appearance , Danny chose not to accept Seb ' s offer of removing his emotions . With the boy beside him , Danny watched as the lights in the Nethersphere went out and Seb explained to him what was going on . The Cyber - pollen resurrected Danny as a Cyberman , but he retained control of himself as his choice meant his emotional inhibitor was off . He awoke in the morgue as a Cyberman and went to search for Clara . Destroying the three Cybermen interrogating her , Danny rendered Clara unconscious and took her to a graveyard where he removed his faceplate and revealed his disfigurement . Danny asked to have his emotional inhibitor switched on as he couldn ' t stand the pain of being a Cyberman , but Clara was unsure . She called the Doctor to ask for help , and he later showed up and attempted to convince them to leave it off as Danny would lose control and kill her . He then asked Danny to access the Cybermen hive mind to find out their plans for humanity , but Danny revealed that he needed the inhibitor on to do that . The Doctor reluctantly allowed Clara to activate it , but Danny ' s love for Clara allowed him to retain control and he revealed that the rain would start again and convert the living . teleported to the graveyard and put her bracelet on the Doctor ' s wrist , giving him control of the army to allow him to conquer the universe . However , the Doctor finally understood his role as just a man in a box and gave Missy ' s bracelet to Danny . Danny took control of the army and flew them into the clouds where they all self - destructed , burning up the clouds and saving the world . Two weeks later , Danny used the bracelet to open a portal from the Nethersphere to Clara ' s flat . He revealed that the Nethersphere was dying and while he could use the bracelet to return , it only had enough power left for one person and one trip . He instead sent back the boy he killed and remained behind in the afterlife , telling Clara that he was sorry and to reunite the boy with his family . ( TV : " Death in Heaven " ) Legacy . Some time after Danny ' s death , Clara entered a dream crab induced dream where Danny woke her up on Christmas morning dressed as Santa Claus and they spent the day together . The Doctor entered the dream and told Clara that Danny and everything else around her was " anaesthetic " keeping Clara happy while her brain was slowly being eaten and dissolved by the dream crab . Clara said she missed Danny , and Danny told her to miss him for five minutes of every day , while she got " the hell on with it " the rest of the time . He said that this Christmas they had together was their " last Christmas " , an " extra " , and it was time for Clara to wake up . Clara kissed Danny and she awoke from that layer of the dream . ( TV : " Last Christmas " ) While on the planet known as Unnamed BX - 4 , the sentient computer system known as the Jungle used Clara ' s memories to take on Danny ' s image as an organic avatar to gain Clara ' s trust . When Clara realised what was happening , she slapped the avatar for using the image of her dead boyfriend to befriend her . ( COMIC : " Spirits of the Jungle " ) After two days of solitude courtesy of Matthew Hopkins , Clara experienced a hallucination of Danny brought on by her insomnia . ( COMIC : " Witch Hunt " ) The name " Pink . R . D . " appeared on a list of both dead and missing staff and students at the renovated Coal Hill Academy . ( TV : " For Tonight We Might Die " ) Relationship with the Doctor . The Twelfth Doctor , at least initially , did not respect Danny Pink very much . He refused to acknowledge or remember that Danny taught maths , evidently not believing in his intellect , and instead frequently referred to him as a PE teacher . Danny , on the other hand , was initially jealous of the time Clara spent with the Doctor , but later started to respect the Time Lord . ( TV : " The Caretaker " ) On one occasion , Danny compared the Doctor to a general . However , while he pointed out that the Doctor was willing to use him to find out Missy ' s plans even if it meant sacrificing Danny ' s humanity , Danny also acknowledged that the Doctor was right in that he needed the information . When the Doctor realised he was just " an idiot in a box " , he referred to Danny ' s calling him an officer as he proclaimed that he was just an idiot who wanted to help before he gave Danny control over the Cyberman army , recognising his love for Clara . After Danny ' s sacrifice to save the world , the Doctor grew to respect Danny , finally calling him by name and giving Clara the chance to be with him when he thought Danny had returned . ( TV : " Death in Heaven " ) Other references . Colonel Orson Pink , a time travel ler who was originally from the 22nd century , bore a striking resemblance to Danny . When Orson took off his helmet , Clara thought it was Danny . According to " silly stories " told about one of Orson ' s great - grandparents , time travel ran in the family . ( TV : " Listen " ) According to the Twelfth Doctor , even though they had the same surname , Orson " [ did ] n ' t look anything like " Danny . Clara claimed that he looked " very like him " . The Doctor responded , " Does he ? I dunno . Who remembers a PE teacher ? " ( TV : " The Caretaker " ) At some point , Danny taught Clara self - defence . ( PROSE : " Deep Time " ) While facing incoming death by the Quantum Shade , Clara Oswald said she would " die right " , the way Danny Pink did . ( TV : " Face the Raven " ) Behind the scenes . Danny was dubbed by voice actor Felix Spieß in the German dub and voice actor Adilcan Demirel in the Turkish dub of the Netflix release in Turkey . In the script of " Into the Dalek " , Danny Pink was initially described thus ; " Late twenties , a strapping big lad , handsome . "