Danny Pink

Rupert "Danny" Pink is a fictional school teacher and soldier featured in the 2005 Doctor Who revival series. Played by actor Samuel Anderson, he was introduced in the second episode from series eight, "Into the Dalek". Actor Remi Gooding played young Rupert Pink in episode 8x04, "Listen". Danny Pink was a recurring character throughout the season.

Overview
Danny Pink is a man in his mid-twenties. He is a mathematics teacher at the Coal Hill school in England. A former soldier, Danny suffers from a mild form of post-traumatic stress syndrome and harbors great guilt over the actions he has taken in the past.

Early years
Danny Pink was born Rupert Pink in England. As a young boy growing up in the 1990s, he lived at an orphanage. Rupert suffered from night terrors and believed that monsters lived under his bed. He was not wrong.

The Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald visited the orphange and met young Rupert. Clara helped him to get over his fear of nightmares, despite the fact that a mysterious entity was present in the room. The Doctor gave him a pep talk, explaining that fear was his super-power and to combat the monsters under the bed, he needed only to turn his back upon it. With that, the entity disappeared. The Doctor used his Sonic screwdriver to wipe Rupert's memories of the event, replacing them with dreams of becoming a soldier, "Dan the Soldier Man". This manipulation of Rupert's psyche would have a lifelong affect upon him.

Having always hated the name Rupert, he began calling himself Dan. Inspired by the forgotten memories of the Doctor's visit, he eventually enlisted in the military. Very little is known about this period in Danny's life, but it is clear that he was forced to commit acts that would later haunt him. He preferred thinking back upon the good he did during his military service, not the least of which included digging twenty-three wells to provide drinking water for communities.

Modern era
After retiring from active service, Danny Pink took a job as a mathematics school at the Coal Hill School. The faculty and some of the students knew of his military history and often pressed him for information, such as, "Have you ever killed a man". Danny actively tried to avoid these topics.

Danny met fellow teacher Clara Oswald. Clara took a liking to Danny (having not yet embarked upon her time travel jaunt where she visited him as a child). After a few awkward "meet-cutes", the two decided to go on a date. This ended disastrously for both of them when Clara made a joke about his history and Danny blew up at her. Clara walked out on the date, but returned after her venture into the past. Even though she tried to make a fresh start with Danny, his sensitivity about his past got the better of him and the date was ruined a second time.

Danny and Clara attempted to go on a second date, but this never materialized because Clara found herself suddenly whisked away to another planet with the Doctor where she was forced to partake in a galactic bank robbery.

The future
There is a man from one-hundred years in the future named Orson Pink, who bears a strong resemblance to Danny Pink. It is likely that he may be Danny's great-grandson and it has been implied that Clara Oswald is part of Orson's family tree as well. Orson Pink is a pioneer of time travel from his era. He possesses a keepsake from his ancestor, the "Dan the Soldier Man" toy soldier.

Notes & Trivia



 * Actor Samuel Anderson also played the role of his own descendant, Orson Pink, which is why the two bear such a strong similarity to one another.


 * Playing young Rupert Pink is the first television acting work for Remi Gooding.


 * Clara Oswald had a dream wherein Danny Pink was still alive and waking her up on Christmas morning.