9. The Woman
For as little time as she spends in actual Doctor Who, the Woman packs one hell of a punch. We are almost completely sure from the beginning that she is not a figment of Wilf's imagination, but that is because nothing Doctor Who is really all in someone's head. (For examples, CAL proves that in Silence in the Library and the Doctor proves it in The Name of the Doctor.) She is never named and never actually identified. She looks like something out of Touched By An Angel, but could easily be cast as one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. She is a counselor and guide who eggs a pacifist towards an act of war. This is true when she taunts Donna's grandfather into taking a firearm with him. She is also the one who gives her consent and possibly encouragement to the Doctor who is balking at the idea of committing murder. On the other hand, the Woman is one of the two Time Lords/Ladies who votes against the final sanction. In the final confrontation between the Master, the Doctor and Rassilon, she is something of a passive pacifist if such a thing ever existed. When all is said and done and the Doctor has saved the Earth...again, Wilfred Mott asks who the Woman was. Here's where it gets ambiguous. I noticed that the Doctor immediately looks at Donna, Wilf's granddaughter. Then there were rumors that The Woman was the Doctor's mother. I still hold that she is Susan, the Doctor's original companion and granddaughter. I am, however, a stickler for the official story and went as close to the source as I could. I found the shooting script and when Wilf asks, "That woman. Who was she?", the stage direction reads: "The Doctor just looks. At Wilf. At Sylvia. At Donna, in the distance. Friends, mothers, brides. He's not saying. The script will not identify her. With this level of significance and this level of confusion, the character begs for a backstory. She demands a tale of her own. If nothing else, she insists on a reprise.