Sylvia Noble Sylvia Noble ( née Mott ) was the mother of Donna Noble and the daughter of Wilfred Mott . Biography . Sylvia was the daughter of Eileen ( PROSE : " Beautiful Chaos " ) and Wilfred Mott , ( TV : " Partners in Crime " ) the wife of Geoff Noble and the mother of Donna Noble . ( TV : " The Runaway Bride " ) Sylvia bought Donna a bottle of Odeur Delaware as a gift at Christmas 2001 . ( COMIC : " The Widow ' s Curse " ) On Monday 25 June 2007 , Sylvia insisted that Donna apply to work as the secretary of Jival Chowdry , who Sylvia knew , rather than working as a temp at H . C . Clements . Donna refused , and got a job at H . C . Clements . ( TV : " Turn Left " ) At Christmas 2007 , she attended her daughter ' s unsuccessful wedding to Lance Bennett . She did not believe Donna when she returned for the reception , but the party was soon attacked by Robot Santa s and killer Christmas trees . According to her daughter , Sylvia cooked enough for twenty every Christmas . ( TV : " The Runaway Bride " ) In 2008 , Sylvia lost her husband . Subsequently , Donna moved back at home with her mother and grandfather . Sylvia tried to persuade Donna to get a job and find a place of their own . In 2009 , during a night out with her friends at De Rossi ' s , one of them , Suzette Chambers , started producing Adipose infants . Along with other passers - by , Sylvia saw the nursery ship picking up the infant creatures . ( TV : " Partners in Crime " ) Encounters with the Doctor . When Donna briefly returned to her family , she chose not to tell Sylvia she was travelling with the Doctor . However , Sylvia met the Tenth Doctor again just before she saved her father from suffocating in her car by smashing the front window with an axe . She made it clear she didn ' t like him as she blamed him for what happened at the wedding and thought he had " blown up the car " upon activating the ATMOS placed in it . ( TV : " The Sontaran Stratagem " / " The Poison Sky " ) Medusa Cascade incident . When the Earth was moved to the Medusa Cascade , her father told Sylvia to stay inside as it was " the women " the aliens always wanted . Sylvia went out and with Wilf , witnessed the Dalek s killing an entire family in their own house using total extermination . In a bid to escape , Wilf , armed with a paint gun , fled from the Daleks with a hesitant Sylvia , but they were stopped by a Dalek scout . Wilf tried to disable its eyestalk with a paint gun , but the Dalek wiped the paint away . Sylvia told her dad to leave it . When the Dalek was about to exterminate them , Rose Tyler saved them by blowing the Dalek in half . Rose had been trying to find them to locate Donna . Sylvia and Wilf took Rose to their house and Sylvia was shocked when Wilf said " Donna phoned last time from the planet Midnight " . Sylvia had not figured out Donna was travelling with the Doctor across the stars and it took her father to open her eyes . When the subwave network broadcast came from Harriet Jones , Rose was unable to participate because of lack of a webcam , which Wilf said was because Sylvia thought they were naughty . Harriet Jones , Torchwood 3 , Sarah Jane Smith and Martha Jones sent a signal to the Doctor using the subwave signal and a telephone number as the message . Sylvia and Wilf contributed to sending the signal out with their own mobile phones . When contact was made with the TARDIS , Rose Tyler asked them to wish her luck and vanished from Sylvia ' s living room in a bright flash . ( TV : " The Stolen Earth " ) Sylvia was relieved when the Earth was returned to the solar system . She was resentful of the Tenth Doctor for wiping Donna ' s mind after the human - Time Lord Meta - Crisis and asked him to leave their home . After these events , she had a much healthier relationship with her daughter , as in her eyes , Donna was still the most important woman in the universe . ( TV : " Journey ' s End " ) Later life . Sylvia and Wilf never mentioned the Doctor to Donna . It was not till Christmas Day 2009 that she saw the Doctor again , when he was chasing his old enemy , . She was mad when she saw him . Wilf joined him in battling the Master rather than face her wrath . Later that day , when the Master took control of the Immortality Gate , she became a member of the Master Race . When Sylvia returned to normal , she watched as Gallifrey appeared in the Earth ' s sky and was then sent back by the Doctor . Sylvia finally accepted the Doctor , even praying for his help when Gallifrey appeared . When the Doctor returned Wilf home , she smiled at the Doctor , mildly scaring him . Sylvia later attended Donna ' s wedding to Shaun Temple and with Wilf said farewell to the Doctor . The Doctor gave them a winning lottery ticket as a wedding gift for Donna , securing their financial future . When Sylvia learned he had got the money for the ticket from her husband Geoff , she was shocked and touched by his actions , gaining more respect for him . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) Parallel world . In a parallel world , Sylvia ' s hectoring Donna to work for Jival Chowdry succeeded . Donna never went to work at H . C . Clements and never got engaged to Lance Bennett . Sylvia despaired when her husband Geoff Noble became ill and died . While at a hotel for a Christmas country holiday , Sylvia told her daughter how Donna ' s father would have loved the place they were staying in . Then the " Titanic " crashed on London . The Nobles were forced to move to Leeds , where a huge relocation scheme was running . The South of England was flooded with radiation and conditions became much harsher as Donna and her family shared a house with Rocco Colasanto ' s family . Sylvia slipped deeper and deeper into depression , thinking each day of someone she knew in London who was now dead , although she managed to occasionally do things like joining in group singing of " Bohemian Rhapsody " . As Sylvia ' s depression worsened , Donna asked if she had always been a disappointment in her mother ' s eyes , and Sylvia just answered , " Yeah " . ( TV : " Turn Left " ) Personality . Sylvia was bossy . She liked things her way and was rarely tactful , often insulting or condescending when speaking to her father or daughter . She seemed depressed after her husband ' s death and did not act as if she valued the rest of her family very much . She tended to be very practical and had a hard time believing in aliens , even when presented with very obvious encounters . ( TV : " The Stolen Earth " ) Sylvia deeply mistrusted and disliked the Doctor due to his actions at Donna ' s wedding to Lance . ( TV : " The Runaway Bride " ) Later , when the Doctor returned Donna to her for the final time , she was rude to him and kicked him out of the house . It should be noted though that this was after he blamed her for Donna never feeling she was anything more than " just a temp " and told her she should tell Donna more often how important she is to her . ( TV : " Journey ' s End " ) However , her attitude towards him later changed . She prayed for his help when Gallifrey appeared in the sky . His saving the world again apparently changed her attitude towards him as she gave him a smile when he returned Wilfred home and was very nice to him at Donna ' s second wedding , even being deeply touched by his actions to help them out . ( TV : " The End of Time " )