Bernard Cribbins Bernard Cribbins OBE ( born 29 December 1928 ) played Wilfred Mott in series 4 of " Doctor Who " his debut and final appearance spanning from 2007 to 2010 . In addition to this he originally played Tom Campbell in the film " Daleks ' Invasion Earth 2150 A . D . " , and voiced Arnold Korns in the Big Finish " Doctor Who " audio story " Horror of Glam Rock " . Career . A widely respected character actor in the UK , Cribbins has appeared in many films and TV series over the years . He is particularly remembered for his role in the film " The Railway Children " , and for being a reader on " Jackanory " more than a hundred times . His " Doctor Who " - related works have included appearing in an episode of Sydney Newman ' s series " The Avengers " , as well as an episode of Jon Pertwee ' s children ' s show " Worzel Gummidge " . He also played the taxi driver in the 1967 spoof James Bond film . Cribbins was one of the actors considered for the role of the Fourth Doctor , but was turned down after making a statement saying he wanted to bring violence into " Doctor Who " . He also narrated the audio version of the BBC novel " Beautiful Chaos " . Only weeks short of forty years after his appearance in the second Daleks movie , Cribbins joined the canon proper , when a photograph of him at a wedding was used in the BBC ' s tie - in website for Torchwood House , launched in conjunction with the airing of " Tooth and Claw " . A year and a half later , Cribbins made his debut on the series itself , playing news peddler Wilfred Mott in the 2007 Christmas episode , " Voyage of the Damned " . Cribbins contributed to Mott ' s back - story by wearing his own Parachute Regiment insignia on Mott ' s cap . Before the episode aired , Cribbins was contracted to portray Mott as on a recurring basis , as the maternal grandfather of incoming companion Donna Noble , in response to the death of actor Howard Attfield who had portrayed Donna ' s father a year earlier . ( TV : " The Runaway Bride " ) Cribbins thus appeared as Mott in the 2008 episodes " Partners in Crime " , " The Sontaran Stratagem " , " The Poison Sky " , " Turn Left " , " The Stolen Earth " ( which featured him fighting Daleks as he had done as Tom Campbell in " Daleks ' Invasion Earth 2150 A . D . " , before most of the cast were born ) and " Journey ' s End " , with the concept that Mott had had a bout of Spanish flu at the time of Donna ' s wedding in " The Runaway Bride " , explaining his absence . Showrunner Russell T Davies happily used Cribbins ' idea that a paint - gun could be used against the Daleks in " The Stolen Earth " — " bit of paint on the eye , it ' d be blinded ! " he told Davies — when Wilf uses a paint - gun against a Dalek ( which promptly clears the blockage and declares " My vision is " not " impaired ! " ) , and a cartoon depicting Cribbins v Dalek ( " Fighting the Daleks since ' 66 ! " ) was included in " The Writer ' s Tale " . Cribbins also ad - libbed one of the episode ' s best lines during shooting ; after Rose Tyler arrives to blow up the Dalek threatening Wilf , and seeing her huge sci - fi gun , he holds up his paint - gun and asks , " D ' you wanna swap ? " He returned to the role in 2009 for the final David Tennant specials , the two - part " The End of Time " . In these final episodes , Mott was identified as the Doctor ' s companion . Eighty years old at the time of filming , Cribbins became the oldest actor to ever play a companion . His long - maintained association with " Doctor Who " is surpassed only by those of Carole Ann Ford , William Russell and Nicholas Courtney . He is one of only a few actors to appear in both the TV series and one of the 1960s movies , and the only one to have portrayed a companion in both . In fact , he is the first actor to have portrayed two different companions , although the 1960s films and the TV series do not share continuity . Cribbins starred as Dangerous Davies in the 1970s movies based on " The Last Detective " series of books . Peter Davison would star as Dangerous Davies in the 2000s revival . Director Barnaby Edwards cast Cribbins in " Horror of Glam Rock " as fulfilment of a childhood dream , after Edwards had spent many years listening to Cribbins ' narrations of " Winnie the Pooh " . Both Cribbins and Edwards are fairly certain that Russell T Davies offered him the role of Wilfred Mott on the TV series because of his performance in " Glam Rock " . In March 2013 , Bernard once again partnered up with Jacqueline King in a " Doctor Who " edition of " " . Not only did they win a " Pointless " trophy each , but they also won the jackpot of £2 , 500 . While Jacqueline gave her share to the Northumbrian Lifeboats , Bernard gave his to Sparks . In October 2013 , he voiced his displeasure of not returning to Doctor Who for the 50th anniversary special . He also contributed to the charity reference book " " .