Doctor Who specials feature local link - but there are more!

Fans had been eagerly awaiting her comeback and were not disappointed by the outcome.

The three special episodes, which see Donna, played by Catherine Tate, reunited with the recently-regenerated Fourteenth Doctor, who has the face of the Tenth Doctor, were met with critical acclaim. 

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Fans were overjoyed to see Donna back on their screens, and many praised the performances of both Tate and Tennant.

Donna told the Tenth Doctor during the 2008 episode Planet of the Odd that she was born in Chiswick. 

David Tenant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble (Image: BBC)

However, in the second of the three specials, Wild Blue Yonder which aired last Saturday, a surprising revelation was made: her mother had taken a trip to Southampton to visit her Aunt and it was there that Donna was born.

The finale of the three special episodes, The Giggle, is set to be aired this Saturday before the reigns are handed to the Fifteenth Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa of Sex Education fame.

Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. (Image: BBC)

But for now, we look at other connections Dr Who has had with Southampton:

• In April 1912, Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, arrived in Southampton. Here he was immediately welcomed by the Daniels family who graciously took him into their home while he lay unconscious. This act of kindness was repaid by the Doctor who stole their tickets for a voyage aboard the ill-fated Titanic.
• During the 1977 episode Horror of Fang Rock, Henry Palmerdale was on his way to Southampton in his steam yacht when it crashed into Fang Rock. The doctor at the time was Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor.
• During the ghost shift storylines of 2007, ghosts, actually Cybermen from Pete's World, were forecast to appear in Southampton. This was during David Tenant's term as the Tenth Doctor.

Christopher Ecclestone as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler (Image: BBC)

Southampton has also been referenced in Dr Who comics, audiobooks and in the television series Torchwood.