Billy Shipton DI Billy Shipton was a police detective working in London during the early 21st century , who later became involved in the video production industry in the late 20th century . Biography . Investigations . Stationed in London circa 2005 , Shipton began investigating the disappearance of multiple individuals near an abandoned estate called Wester Drumlins . Eventually , anyone who reported someone missing in the vicinity would be automatically referred to Shipton . During Shipton ' s investigations , numerous automobiles were impounded , their occupants missing . Dubbed the " Wester Drumlins Collection " , by 2007 the impounded vehicles even included a 1960s - era police box , although Shipton was familiar enough with these obsolete objects to identify some errors in its construction . ( TV : " Blink " ) Meeting Sally Sparrow . In 2007 , Shipton ' s investigations led him into contact with Sally Sparrow , who was herself investigating the disappearance of her friend Kathy Nightingale from Wester Drumlins . Sally and Billy immediately hit it off , with Shipton giving her the nickname " Gorgeous Girl " and convincing her to give him her telephone number , after showing her the " Wester Drumlins Collection . " ( TV : " Blink " ) Life in 1969 . A few minutes after Sparrow ' s departure , however , Shipton was touched by the Weeping Angel s and sent back in time to 1969 where he was found by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones and learnt his destiny was to send a message to Sally Sparrow when he eventually had lived his life back to 2007 . An unfortunate aspect of the Doctor ' s instructions was that Billy received the knowledge of when he would eventually die . ( TV : " Blink " ) Marriage and Easter egg . In the ensuing decades , Shipton married a woman who was also named Sally , with dark hair , and eventually became involved in the video publishing industry , including , eventually , DVD s . It was through his efforts that a videotaped message from the Doctor eventually ended up as an Easter egg on seventeen different DVD releases , sparking interest on Internet communities to which Sparrow ' s friend Larry Nightingale belonged . ( TV : " Blink " ) Death . Near the end of his life , Shipton found himself hospitalised not far from where his younger self was working at the police station and meeting Sally for the second time . For Sally only a few minutes had passed from her discovering that Billy had gone missing from the station ' s parking garage and receiving a phone call from the now - elderly Billy . She joined him in his hospital room , and it didn ' t take long for Billy to convince Sally that he was the same man she had just met and flirted with . He revealed to Sally that he had married a woman named Sally after travelling to 1969 , had gotten into the video publishing business and was responsible for the Doctor ' s Easter egg message appearing on a number of DVDs . He finally delivered the Doctor ' s message : " Look at the list , " and said the Doctor had told him he would never understand what the message meant . He had come to terms with this , with his lost life in the 21st century , and with the fact that he knew when he would die , with the knowledge that he had a final meeting with Sally Sparrow to look forward to . Knowing he would die when the rain outside stopped ( Sally noted it was the same rainfall that was occurring when she first met him ) , Sally stayed with Billy until he passed away . Soon after , she realised that the " list " in Billy ' s message was a list of her complete DVD collection , leading her forward into resolving the paradox . ( TV : " Blink " )