<\/p>
The words \u2018national treasure\u2019 are often overused, but there are few people who would argue against them being applied to describe the late Bernard Cribbins<\/a> OBE, who sadly passed away this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was only a few weeks ago that Doctor Who<\/a> fans\u2019 hearts swelled upon seeing paparazzi shots of the at-that-time 92-year-old actor, back as fan-favourite character Wilfred Mott, alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate for the upcoming Who 60th anniversary special.<\/p>\n When we last saw Wilf at the end of 2010\u2019s The End of Time<\/a> Part 2, tears in his eyes, saluting the regenerating Doctor, we were bidding adieu to him as much as to David Tennant. Then, lo and behold, 12 years later, we discover that Bernard Cribbins and Wilfred Mott are coming back \u2013 only this time it really will be goodbye.<\/p>\n Of course, Cribbins\u2019 relationship with Doctor Who stretches back further than Wilf. In 1966\u2019s feature film Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD he starred as the bumbling police officer Tom Campbell in the sequel to the previous year\u2019s Dr Who and the Daleks<\/a>.<\/p>\n He was already a familiar face by then, from movies such as Two-Way Stretch (1960) and The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) along with a couple of Carry Ons, 1963\u2019s Jack and 1964\u2019s Spying. He\u2019d also been something of a success in the pop charts too, having scored with a trinity of comedy songs overseen by The Beatles producer George Martin \u2013 \u2018The Hole In The Ground\u2019 (UK No.9), \u2018Right Said Fred\u2019 (No.10) and \u2018Gossip Calypso\u2019 (No.25).<\/p>\n Cribbins\u2019 return to Doctor Who 41 years later was never intended to be permanent. In 2007\u2019s Kylie Minogue-headlining Christmas special Voyage of the Damned<\/a>, the actor cameoed as a newspaper seller, still fearlessly manning his stand even when everyone else has stayed at home (\u201cLondon at Christmas?\u201d he tells the Doctor, \u201cNot safe, is it!\u201d), but that character was only retroactively ID\u2019d as the grandfather of Donna Noble.<\/p>\n