Theory:Timeline - Third Doctor

This page lists appearances of the Third Doctor in the order in which he experienced them. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. It is assumed, much like its TV story counterparts that for each novel or audio series their published/numbered order is the order they occur in. This does not apply to short stories which are often ambiguous about their placement. There are also many gaps between stories.

The layout of this timeline is in part based on the observations on Doctor Who Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, as well as Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Additionally there are statements on the back of Virgin Missing Adventures and many BBC Past Doctor Adventures novels that state between which TV stories the novel takes place between. These can be used to narrow the field, and should be viewed as the only placing for these novels.

Limiting factors
Any stories involving the Doctor travelling around several destinations in his TARDIS should take place following TV: The Three Doctors, prior to this he is limited to travels "on assignment" for the Time Lords. Any limited trip with Jo Grant must take place after TV: Colony in Space. Any story where he is not on assignment but travelling freely with Jo must take place after TV: The Three Doctors and before TV: The Green Death. Any story with Sarah Jane Smith must take place after TV: The Time Warrior and before TV: Planet of the Spiders.

Series basics
The Third Doctor's stories can be roughly grouped together by which companion he is travelling or featured alongside and/or what medium/series the stories are produced for.

TV created

 * Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Liz Shaw, John Benton
 * The Brigadier, Jo Grant, Mike Yates, Benton
 * Jo
 * Sarah Jane Smith

Annual created
to be added

Mediums

 * TV stories
 * Virgin Missing Adventures
 * BBC Past Doctor Adventures
 * TV Action
 * Doctor Who Annuals
 * Virgin Decalogs
 * BBC Radio Plays
 * BBC Books Short Trips
 * Big Finish Publishing Short Trips (books and audio)
 * The Companion Chronicles
 * Anything else

Timeline

 * TV: Spearhead from Space
 * COMIC: The Arkwood Experiments
 * COMIC: The Multi-Mobile
 * COMIC: Insect
 * TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians
 * PROSE: The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back
 * AUDIO: Old Soldiers
 * TV: The Ambassadors of Death
 * PROSE: The Mind Extractors
 * PROSE: Soldiers from Zolta
 * PROSE: The Ghouls of Grestonspey
 * PROSE: Caught in the Web
 * PROSE: Invaders Invisible
 * PROSE: The Dark Planet
 * PROSE: Caverns of Horror
 * PROSE: A Universe Called Fred
 * Given the familiarity between the Doctor and Liz in Inferno these stories likely take place prior to it.


 * TV: Inferno
 * AUDIO: The Blue Tooth
 * PROSE: The Scales of Injustice
 * Liz leaves UNIT at end of The Scales of Injustice


 * PROSE: Reconnaissance
 * Liz makes a decision to leave UNIT after encountering (and having her memory wiped of the encounter) the Master.


 * PROSE: Prisoners of the Sun
 * Liz has decided to leave UNIT.


 * PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune
 * PROSE: Country of the Blind
 * Liz has decided to leave UNIT, and has decided to tell the Doctor, placing it after Prisoner of the Sun where the Doctor finds out from the Brigadier.


 * COMIC: Trial of Fire
 * PROSE: Prelude White Darkness
 * Given how the Doctor and the Brigadier refer to the TARDIS and the lack of Liz likely this takes place early in their relationship.


 * TV: Terror of the Autons
 * PROSE: Dark Intruders
 * PROSE: War in the Abyss
 * PROSE: Hunt to the Death
 * PROSE: Doorway into Nowhere
 * PROSE: The Claw
 * PROSE: Saucer of Fate
 * PROSE: The Phaser Aliens
 * AUDIO: The Sentinels of the New Dawn
 * TV: The Mind of Evil
 * PROSE: Deadly Reunion
 * AUDIO: The Doll of Death
 * PROSE: UNIT Christmas Parties: Christmas Truce
 * PROSE: The Thousand Years of Christmas
 * COMIC: Change of Mind
 * PROSE: A Visit to the Cinema
 * TV: The Claws of Axos
 * PROSE: The Tip of the Mind
 * TV: Colony in Space
 * TV: The Dæmons
 * AUDIO: Degrees of Truth
 * TV: Day of the Daleks
 * COMIC: Time & Time Again
 * Ace sword fights with the Doctor in Sir Reginald's mansion.


 * TV: The Curse of Peladon
 * PROSE: The Face of the Enemy
 * The Doctor leaves for Peladon at the start of The Face of the Enemy.


 * COMIC: Death to the Doctor!
 * The Doctor is seen with Jo and the Brigadier and the Master is in a maximum security prison on an island.

COMIC: The Vogan Slaves) (COMIC: The Celluloid Midas) (COMIC: Backtime) (COMIC: The Plant Master (COMIC: The Eternal Present) . (COMIC: *Sub Zero) (COMIC: The Planet of the Daleks) (COMIC: A Stitch in Time)
 * TV: The Sea Devils
 * PROSE: The Eight Doctors
 * PROSE: The Touch of the Nurazh
 * COMIC: The Forgotten
 * COMIC: Timebenders)
 * COMIC: Gemini Plan)

. (COMIC: And Now for My Next Trick... (COMIC: The Enemy from Nowhere) (COMIC: The Ugrakks) (COMIC: Steelfist) (COMIC: Ride to Nowhere) (COMIC: Zeron Invasion) (PROSE: Countdown to TV Action) COMIC: Deadly Choice)
 * (COMIC: Who is the Stranger)
 * TV: The Mutants
 * PROSE: Where the Heart Is
 * The Doctor lists his work for the Time Lords Solos being the last one he mentions placing this story after The Mutants. This is also where UNIT acquires the manor house seen in The Three Doctors.

(PROSE: Morphology) (PROSE: Listen - The Stars) COMIC: The Time Thief) (COMIC: Menace of the Molags) PROSE: Jigsaw)
 * TV: The Time Monster
 * COMIC: Target Practice
 * PROSE: Verdigris
 * Verdigris leads into events of The Three Doctors.


 * TV: The Three Doctors
 * PROSE: The Wages of Sin
 * The Doctor goes on his first test flight since his time travel knowledge is returned.


 * PROSE: Categorical Imperative
 * PROSE: The House That Jack Built
 * PROSE: Revenge of the Phantoms
 * COMIC: Dead on Arrival
 * COMIC: After the Revolution
 * PROSE: ''Losing Track of Time'
 * PROSE: Deep Stretch
 * TV: Carnival of Monsters
 * PROSE: The Battle Within
 * The Doctor and Jo have been travelling in the TARDIS for some time, but Jo is not familiar with the Doctor's trances.


 * TV: Frontier in Space
 * TV: Planet of the Daleks
 * PROSE: Catastrophea
 * Continues immediately on from Planet of the Daleks.


 * PROSE: Nightdreamers
 * Jo is still musing on her romance with Latep.


 * PROSE: ...And Eternity in an Hour
 * Jo is familiar with the Doctor's comas where he goes cold and the TARDIS is operating normally.


 * TV: The Green Death
 * PROSE: She Knew
 * The Doctor lost Jo "the night before".


 * AUDIO: The Prisoner of Peladon
 * TV: The Time Warrior
 * AUDIO: The Paradise of Death
 * Set just after The Time Warrior, as that is Sarah Jane's only adventure with the Doctor before this story.


 * TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs
 * TV: Death to the Daleks
 * AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space
 * TV: The Monster of Peladon
 * PROSE: Alien Bodies
 * Sarah Jane and the Doctor have just left Peladon.


 * PROSE: Interference - Book One
 * PROSE: Interference - Book Two
 * The Doctor and Sarah have just finished with Laika and the asteroid as seen in Alien Bodies,
 * Note: Interference presents an alternate regeneration scene in which the Third Doctor regenerates in this novel. The paradox of this is resolved in PROSE: The Ancestor Cell.


 * AUDIO: Glorious Goodwood
 * Sarah Jane has been to Peladon at least once.


 * PROSE: An Overture Too Early
 * TV: Planet of the Spiders

Unplaced

 * TV: The Five Doctors
 * The Doctor is travelling with Sarah Jane, albeit not the Sarah Jane in this story.


 * AUDIO: The Magician's Oath
 * AUDIO: The Mists of Time
 * AUDIO: The Three Companions
 * AUDIO: Shadow of the Past
 * AUDIO: Find and Replace
 * AUDIO: The Sentinels of the New Dawn
 * AUDIO: Binary
 * AUDIO: The Rings of Ikiria
 * AUDIO: The Last Post
 * AUDIO: The Scorchies
 * AUDIO: A True Gentleman
 * AUDIO: Walls of Confinement
 * AUDIO: Seven to One
 * AUDIO: Pop-Up
 * AUDIO: Lost in the Wakefield Triangle
 * AUDIO: Vengeance of the Stones
 * PROSE: Dancing the Code
 * PROSE: The Eye of the Giant
 * PROSE: Downtime
 * PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy
 * PROSE: Speed of Flight
 * PROSE: Legacy (flashback cameo)
 * PROSE: All-Consuming Fire
 * PROSE: Last of the Gaderene
 * PROSE: Rags
 * PROSE: Amorality Tale
 * PROSE: The Suns of Caresh
 * PROSE: Island of Death
 * PROSE: Listen - The Stars
 * PROSE: Out of the Green Mist
 * PROSE: The Fathom Trap
 * PROSE: Talons of Terror
 * PROSE: Old Father Saturn
 * PROSE: Galactic Gangster
 * PROSE: The Time Thief
 * PROSE: Fugitives from Chance
 * PROSE: Before the Legend
 * PROSE: Scorched Earth
 * COMIC: The Thing from Outer Space
 * COMIC: And Now for My Next Trick...
 * COMIC: The One Second Hour
 * COMIC: Signal S.O.S.
 * PROSE: Smash Hit
 * PROSE: The Dragon of Hyacinth Lodge
 * PROSE: The Hungry Bomb
 * PROSE: Freedom
 * PROSE: Honest Living
 * PROSE: Countdown to TV Action
 * PROSE: Still Lives
 * PROSE: The Switching
 * PROSE: Five Card Draw
 * PROSE: Hidden Talent
 * PROSE: The Discourse of Flies
 * PROSE: The Glass Princess
 * PROSE: Come Friendly Bombs...
 * PROSE: Primitives
 * PROSE: The Seismologist's Story
 * PROSE: The Dead Man's Story
 * PROSE: The Juror's Story
 * PROSE: Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet
 * PROSE: UNIT Christmas Parties: First Christmas
 * PROSE: Angel
 * PROSE: Morphology
 * PROSE: Neptune
 * PROSE: Sedna
 * PROSE: The Lampblack Wars
 * PROSE: Danse Macabre
 * PROSE: The Bad Guy
 * PROSE: Separation Day
 * PROSE: Echoes
 * PROSE: Dream Devils
 * PROSE: Ancient Whispers
 * PROSE: Hide and Seek
 * PROSE: Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna
 * PROSE: Spoilsport
 * PROSE: Faithful Friends: Part 1
 * PROSE: The Sommerton Fetch
 * PROSE: Numb
 * PROSE: Rock Star
 * PROSE: Generation Gap
 * PROSE: Link
 * PROSE: Potential
 * PROSE: A Visit from Saint Nicholas
 * PROSE: Dateline to Deadline
 * PROSE: Interesting Times
 * PROSE: Lost and Founded
 * PROSE: Hiccup in Time
 * PROSE: The Science of Magic
 * PROSE: Once upon a Time Machine
 * COMIC: The Metal Eaters
 * COMIC: The Fishmen of Carpantha
 * COMIC: Doctor Who and the Rocks from Venus
 * COMIC: Doctor Who and the Robot
 * COMIC: The Kingdom Builders
 * COMIC: Children of the Evil Eye
 * COMIC: Nova
 * COMIC: The Amateur
 * COMIC: The Disintegrator
 * COMIC: Is Anyone There?
 * COMIC: Size Control
 * COMIC: The Magician
 * COMIC: The Metal-Eaters
 * COMIC: Petrified
 * COMIC: Lords of the Ether
 * COMIC: The Wanderers
 * COMIC: The Enemy from Nowhere
 * COMIC: The Ugrakks
 * COMIC: Steelfist
 * COMIC: Zeron Invasion
 * COMIC: Who is the Stranger
 * COMIC: The Glen of Sleeping
 * COMIC: The Threat from Beneath
 * COMIC: Back to the Sun
 * COMIC: The Labyrinth
 * COMIC: The Spoilers
 * COMIC: The Vortex
 * COMIC: The Unheard Voice
 * COMIC: Assassin from Space
 * COMIC: Undercover
 * COMIC: Castaway
 * COMIC: Levitation
 * COMIC: Who's Who?
 * COMIC: Ride to Nowhere
 * COMIC: The Hungry Planet
 * COMIC: Fogbound
 * COMIC: Secret of the Tower
 * COMIC: Doomcloud
 * COMIC: Perils of Paris
 * COMIC: The Time Thief
 * COMIC: The Man in the Ion Mask
 * COMIC: Under Pressure