Jackie Tyler - Characterisation

Characterisation

In creating Rose as a new companion for the 2005 revival of Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies felt that it would be necessary to examine the questions of "do her family miss her?" and "has she gone missing?" which he believed to be unavoidable questions. Davies created Jackie and Mickey and provided a story structure that would see Rose return frequently to them in order to make her "real" and to "give her a life". Despite sometimes writing Jackie as a comic character, Davies chose to examine the sadder aspects of her character such as her loneliness and unwillingness to let Rose go. In his book The Writer's Tale, Davies expresses his contention that comedy and sadness are often inseparable and states that though “Jackie Tyler makes us laugh" he knew he would "uncover something sad at the heart of her”. He argues that even as far back as "Rose" Jackie is "holding Rose back" citing her suggestion her daughter work in a butcher's shop. Discussing Jackie's attempted seduction of the Doctor, Camille Coduri states that her character "has the hots for him" and in general "loves the company of men and is always looking for Mr Right".

Actress Billie Piper feels that in series one the relationship between Rose and Jackie is “like any mother-daughter relationship” in that as much as Rose loves her mother “there’s also this resentment there” because Jackie tries to stop her “moving forward”. Coduri felt Jackie to share similarities with herself, as she is "very protective of children" and a "bit gobby". Promoting her role in the 2005 Christmas special, Coduri describes Jackie as being “not very good in a crisis” and "a bit of a screamer" in contrast to Rose who is adept at saving the world. In the commentary for "Army of Ghosts" Davies expresses delight at having Jackie aboard the TARDIS. He stated that he had been “dying” to have Jackie take Rose's place for an episode. To explain Torchwood not realising that Jackie wasn’t Rose, Davies amended the script for "Love & Monsters" to mention that Torchwood's files on Rose had been corrupted by the Bad Wolf virus.

Davies had planned for the character to return in the fourth series finale since the episodes were first conceived and had asked Coduri to keep four weeks free for filming. In January 2008 whilst still writing the scripts Davies became "terrified that there's no room for Jackie" and her appearance was set to be reduced to a single scene at 'Bad Wolf Bay' at the end of "Journey's End". He also was concerned that because the character has a young son it would not have made dramatic sense for her "to enter a bloody battlezone." Eventually, he decided to pair the character with Mickey and Sarah Jane and reasoned that seeking her daughter provided enough motivation for her to get involved in the conflict. Returning to the series in 2008 for "Journey's End", Coduri initially felt it was “weird” to be playing Jackie again. She describes Jackie as being “braver” in this episode but frightened of “losing Rose full stop.” When asked in 2011 whether she would return to the series, Coduri stated that she would return if asked but felt it was not likely because she had already "been back to say goodbye at least twice" and believes that the story has been wrapped up.

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