Final reward After saving Wilfred Mott ' s life at the cost of his own , the Tenth Doctor held off his regeneration and embarked on more travels in what he called his final reward . The final reward . Prelude . After returning the Time Lord s and Gallifrey to the end of the Last Great Time War and their deaths , the Doctor realised he had survived . Then he heard four knocks . Wilf was trapped inside a radiation control booth , about to be flooded with radiation . Despite his anger and Wilf ' s pleas to leave him , he released Wilf and took his place , receiving a fatal dose of radiation . At first it appeared the Doctor had survived this , but when a wound on his face suddenly healed itself , the Doctor realised that the regenerative process had begun . Unlike previous occasions , the actual regeneration did not immediately occur and the Doctor was able to return Wilf to his home and spend an unknown length of time travelling through time and space , revisiting his past companions , an act he referred to as his " reward " . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) The reward . The Doctor visited Martha Jones and Mickey Smith , now freelance alien fighters and married , saving them from the Sontaran , Jask . He went to 13 Bannerman Road where he saved Luke Smith from being run over by a car . Luke rushed to his house to tell his mother , Sarah Jane , of his appearance . She went outside and called out to the Doctor , who acknowledged her , but did not reply , before entering his TARDIS . Sarah Jane seemed to know what was going to happen , but was still glad to see him . He travelled to a bar , where Captain Jack Harkness was drowning his sorrows in a drink . He passed a note to Jack reading , " His name is Alonso " . Jack turned to see Midshipman Alonso Frame and the Doctor departed , after He and Jack saluted one and other , as the two began flirting . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) The Doctor entered a bookstore where Verity Newman , a descendant of Joan Redfern , was signing copies of her book , " A Journal of Impossible Things " , which was the journal the Doctor had written as John Smith . ( TV : " Human Nature " , " The End of Time " ) The Doctor had Verity sign his copy , and she realised who he was . The Doctor asked Verity if Joan had been happy in the end which she confirmed , but he refused to answer her question of if he was . He encountered Geoff Noble at some moment before the man ' s death , and borrowed a pound from him . He went to the future and used that pound to purchase a winning lottery ticket . He arrived at the wedding of Donna Noble and Shaun Temple , and asked Sylvia Noble and Wilf to give Donna the triple rollover - winning ticket as a wedding gift . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) The Doctor also visited Heather McCrimmon and Wolfgang Ryter in 2014 , saving their lives in the National Science Museum . ( COMIC : " Lucky Heather " ) At some point , the Doctor encountered George Litefoot , on the island of Minos , where they fought off the Gentlemen of the Dice . ( AUDIO : " The Jago & Litefoot Revival " ) The Eleventh Doctor would reveal to Sarah Jane and Jo Jones that he visited all of his former companions from all of his previous incarnations , seeing how they got on . He found that Jo had twelve grandchildren with a thirteenth grandchild on the way , and that the child would be dyslexic , but a good swimmer . ( TV : " Death of the Doctor " ) Regeneration . Finally , he went to the Powell Estate on 1 January 2005 , where he observed Rose Tyler and her mother , Jackie Tyler , months before Rose first met him , in his previous incarnation . Although he kept to the shadows , a sudden spasm of pain caught Rose ' s attention and the two exchanged New Year ' s greetings . The Doctor told Rose that she would have a " really great year " with tears in his eyes . After Rose departed , the pain of regeneration overwhelmed him and the Doctor collapsed in the street . Ood Sigma appeared and told him that while his song was ending , his story never would , and the universe would sing for him . Reaching the TARDIS , he piloted it into orbit around Earth , said " I don ' t want to go " and regenerated into the Eleventh Doctor . The energy released during the regeneration caused massive damage to the TARDIS . ( TV : " The End of Time " )