Theory:Timeline - Ninth Doctor

This page lists appearances of the Ninth 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 that for each novel, comic or television series, their published, broadcast or numbered order is the order they occur in.

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, such as The Whoniverse, Doctor Who Reviews, Doc Oho's Book Reviews, The History of Doctor Who, The Discontinuity Guide, Clive Banks databanks, Whopix, and the Big Finish forums. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Limiting factors
Any story featuring Rose Tyler must be after TV: The End of the World, while stories featuring Captain Jack Harkness must be after TV: The Doctor Dances.

Likewise, any story featuring Adam Mitchell must take place between TV: Dalek and TV: The Long Game, and any story with Tara Mishra must come after COMIC: Official Secrets.

Stories where the Ninth Doctor is traveling alone without explaining away his companions whereabouts can be placed between TV: Rose and PROSE: The Beast of Babylon, while stories that present a newly regenerated Doctor traveling alone can be placed before TV: Rose.

Early days

 * TV: The Day of the Doctor
 * The Doctor regenerates from his war incarnation at the conclusion of the Last Great Time War. According to the novelisation, he smashes every mirror in the TARDIS afterwards, vowing never to look at his new face.


 * The Doctor is present at the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the eruption of Krakatoa. As he is depicted a different outfit at the assassination, it would seem he is still adjusting from his regeneration at the time, before adopting his standard leather jacket and v-neck jumper by Krakatoa. (TV: Rose)


 * AUDIO: The Bleeding Heart
 * The Doctor is searching for somewhere to relax and forget the regret he feels for his role in the Time War. He is even still using his predecessor's sonic screwdriver, but dismantles it to seal the rift at the heart of Galen.


 * AUDIO: Human Conflict
 * Authorial intent states that the Doctor is "fresh from the Time War", setting this shortly after The Day of the Doctor. Indeed, the Doctor is noted to be weary from "his own people's conflict".


 * PROSE: The Day of the Doctor
 * Still hiding from the pain of the Time War, the Doctor saves a robot clown and, after a week of trying to repair it, fills it with his memories and sets it loose in the TARDIS corridors.


 * AUDIO: The Oncoming Storm
 * The Doctor is hunting down a relic from the Last Great Time War to prevent a species from indivertibly wiping themselves out, setting this not long after The Day of the Doctor. While he is protecting those immediately around him, the Doctor is more reclusive and neutral to the wider battle around him, and has some lingering fury on matters of the Time War. He notes that he is "getting old".


 * COMIC: The Promise
 * Having still only just regenerated, the Doctor is still trying to forget his war incarnation, but has a much jollier mood to him.


 * AUDIO: Battle Scars
 * After being haunted by the outcome of the Time War for "ages", the Doctor decides to make the most of his second chance following the Time War. He has a much jollier mood about him, similar to his characterisation in Rose, and gains a liking for the word "fantastic". He also attends the launch of the RMS Titanic with the Daniels family.


 * TV: Rose
 * Though he is "in command" as "a man who knows himself", the Doctor still isn't familiar with his new body when he meets Rose Tyler at Henrik's, apparently catching his first glimpse of his face in Rose's mirror when he goes to the Powell Estate to retrieve an Auton's arm.

Solo travels

 * PROSE: Madame Vastra


 * PROSE: The Lost Diaries of Winston Spencer Churchill


 * The Doctor receives Sally Sparrow's Christmas homework after swordfighting with Sontarans. (PROSE: What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow)


 * The Doctor delivers letters for Peri Brown and Erimem from his fifth incarnation to Clarrie. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)


 * PROSE: The Albino's Dancer
 * The Doctor tends to Honoré Lechasseur's injuries.


 * PROSE: Double Falsehood


 * PROSE: What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow
 * Trapped in 1985, the Doctor uses Sally's homework to retrieve his TARDIS.


 * PROSE: The Hungry Night


 * PROSE: Little Rose Riding Hood


 * PROSE: The Patchwork Pierrot


 * AUDIO: I Was Churchill's Double


 * WC: Doctors Assemble!

Temporary companions

 * TV: Rose
 * Weeks after first meeting her, at least according to the novelisation, the Doctor is reunited with Rose Tyler when he thwarts the Nestene Consciousness's invasion attempt. He offers Rose a place in the TARDIS, but she declines.


 * PROSE: The Beast of Babylon
 * Immediately after being rejected by Rose in Rose, the TARDIS alerts the Doctor to the threat of the Starmen. The Doctor has become "calibrated" to his latest body. Ali convinces him to go back for Rose, leading directly into the final scene of Rose.


 * The Doctor returns to the moment he left Rose, in order to inform her that the TARDIS also travels in time. Rose then says goodbye to Mickey Smith and joins the Doctor inside the TARDIS. (TV: Rose)

Early adventures with Rose

 * TV: The End of the World
 * Rose is taking her first trip in time, going into the future, where she witnesses the Earth come to a natural end. After the ordeal, the Doctor opens up to Rose about the outcome of the Time War.


 * TV: The Unquiet Dead
 * Rose is taking her first trip into her past, meeting Charles Dickens on Christmas Eve 1869 in Cardiff. The Doctor's battle with the Gelth, specifically their destruction by Gwyneth, causes severe damage to a time rift in the Cardiff area. According to the Doctor, Rose is nineteen-years-old.


 * PROSE: Rose and the Snow Window
 * Rose recalls the events of The Unquiet Dead, and still considers the TARDIS translation circuits to be a novelty, suggesting this is set early in her travels with the Doctor.


 * TV:  Aliens of London
 * Returning to the Powell Estate, Rose's mother, Jackie, discovers Rose has been travelling with the Doctor; a full year has passed for her and Mickey, but only a few days have passed for Rose. The Doctor claims to be 900-years-old, setting this roughly one-hundred-years after The Day of the Doctor. Ending leads directly into World War Three.


 * TV: World War Three
 * The Doctor is formally introduced to the Slitheen family by the one posing as Margaret Blaine and to Harriet Jones by Rose, following brief encounters during Aliens of London.


 * COMIC: A Stitch in Time
 * Set during World War Three.

Continued adventures with Rose

 * COMIC: The Love Invasion
 * Rose still has her first hairstyle.


 * PROSE: The Clockwise Man
 * Rose thinks of Gwyneth from The Unquiet Dead and has travelled with the Doctor for more than a few days, setting this after World War Three.


 * COMIC: The Forgotten
 * Rose accuses the Doctor of not wanting to visit her mother, setting this after World War Three. Rose's visits to Earth's past and future are mentioned, and Rose is still uncomfortable with the idea that the Doctor is an alien.


 * PROSE: The Monsters Inside
 * Rose visits her first alien planet. The Slitheen family are mentioned, setting this after World War Three.


 * PROSE: Winner Takes All
 * Jackie knows about Rose travelling with the Doctor, setting this after World War Three. By this point, Rose hasn’t had a need for money in months suggesting that is how long she has been travelling with the Doctor.


 * PROSE: Doctor vs Doctor


 * PROSE: The Masks of Makassar
 * The Doctor's dreamscape for Rose includes the Powell Estate and Jackie Tyler, setting this after World War Three.


 * COMIC: Mr Nobody
 * Rose still has her first hairstyle.


 * PROSE: Pitter-Patter
 * Rose still has her first hairstyle.


 * COMIC: Art Attack
 * Rose now has her second hairstyle.


 * COMIC: The Cruel Sea


 * AUDIO: The Window on the Moor
 * Rose mentions the events of The Monsters Inside.

Temporary association with Adam

 * TV: Dalek
 * Rose has changed her hairstyle. Inside the Vault of Henry van Statten in 2012 Utah, the Doctor encounters a Dalek for the first time since the Time War ended. On Rose's suggestion, the Doctor lets Adam Mitchell enter the TARDIS.


 * AUDIO: The Other Side
 * Follows directly on from Dalek, with the Doctor trying to return Adam home. However, after Adam proves his worth against the Bygone Horde, the Doctor decides to keep him around. The Doctor decides to take Adam to the far future, leading into The Long Game.


 * TV: The Long Game
 * Adam takes his first trip into the future, going to the year 200,000, where he tries to filch information, causing the Doctor to return him home in disgrace. The Doctor theorises that someone is using Satellite Five to play a long game on the human race by providing a ninety year setback to their development.

Further adventures with Rose

 * GAME: Robot Rose
 * The Robot Rose recalls a series of past adventures, with the events of The Long Game being the last one brought up, suggesting this is set shortly afterwards.


 * TV: Father's Day
 * The Doctor takes Rose to 1987 to be with her father, Pete Tyler, as he dies, but she tries to change history by saving him, resulting in a brief fallout between the two. They make up when Pete ensures his demise to set history back on track.


 * COMIC: Four Doctors
 * The Doctor is entertaining Rose in a café, most likely setting this after her emotional ordeal in Father's Day.


 * COMIC: A Groatsworth of Wit
 * The Doctor mentions the events of Father's Day.


 * TV: The Day of the Doctor
 * The Doctor helps in the saving of Gallifrey on the last day of the Last Great Time War, and, in the novelisation, has a tea party with his other incarnations in the Under Gallery as a celebration. He is currently travelling with Rose. (DWM 475)


 * COMIC: Death to the Doctor!
 * The Doctor and Rose visit the Powell Estate, setting this after World War Three.


 * COMIC: Where's the Doctor?
 * The Doctor and Rose attend the coronation of Elizabeth II.


 * PROSE: The Red Bicycle
 * The Doctor recalls the events of Father's Day, and is beginning to experiment with changing history in the post-Time War universe. He also admits to himself that Jackie deserves more of his respect.


 * AUDIO: Retail Therapy
 * Rose and the Doctor are returning to the Powell Estate from the Moons of Fordice.


 * COMIC: Mystery Date
 * Adam returns for revenge on the Doctor by kidnapping Rose, leading directly into Endgame.


 * COMIC: Endgame
 * The Doctor joins with his other incarnations to rescue Rose from Adam and, and assists the other Doctors in saving their companions as well.

A TARDIS trio

 * TV: The Empty Child
 * Rose and the Doctor meet rogue Time Agent Jack Harkness while dealing with a plague in 1941 London. Ending leads directly into The Doctor Dances.


 * TV: The Doctor Dances
 * Intending to sacrifice himself to destroy the Empty Child plague, Jack is saved by the Doctor and joins the TARDIS team.


 * PROSE: The Deviant Strain
 * The Doctor is abrasive towards Jack, setting this early in their travels together.


 * PROSE: Only Human
 * Jack visits 21st century London for the first time and the Doctor is still abrasive towards him.


 * PROSE: Dr. Ninth
 * The Doctor is traveling with Jack Harkness, setting this after The Doctor Dances, and the pair combats an Auton attack in the 21st century, setting this after Only Human as well. Controversially, the Doctor and Rose Tyler appear to meet each other in this story, with the book ending with Rose being brought aboard the TARDIS with the astonished reaction to the size inside, but this can be seen as taking place before she met the Doctor in Rose from Rose's perspective.

Memory fiasco

 * COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction
 * Jack tells the Unon that he has only just met the Doctor and Rose, setting this shortly after The Doctor Dances. The Doctor places his mind up for auction on Fluren's World.


 * COMIC: Hacked
 * Taggani mentions the Doctor putting his mind up for sale during Weapons of Past Destruction. According to Doctormania, this is set soon after Weapons of Past Destruction.


 * COMIC: Supremacy of the Cybermen
 * The Doctor and Rose bring Jack to the 21st century, setting this after Only Human.


 * COMIC: Doctormania
 * According to the previously bio, some time has passed since Weapons of Past Destruction. The Doctor refers to the events of Weapons of Past Destruction and Hacked. After dealing with Slist Fayflut Marteveerthon Slitheen's impersonation of him, the Doctor is called to San Francisco by Mickey Smith, leading directly into The Transformed.


 * COMIC: The Transformed
 * The Doctor helps Mickey deal with a gargoyle mutation caused by a wormhole, but one gargoyle that Rose befriended goes through the wormhole, leading into Official Secrets.


 * COMIC: Official Secrets
 * Jack finds a picture of himself dressed as a 17th century priest among the UNIT files. Tara Mishra stows away in the TARDIS, thus becoming a member of the TARDIS crew.


 * COMIC: Slaver's Song
 * Set immediately after Official Secrets, with the TARDIS crew investigating the painting found in the UNIT files and taking Tara on her first trip back in time. After finding out someone he had assassinated may still be alive, Jack takes his leave of the TARDIS team.


 * The Doctor learns of the Sin-Eaters and frames himself for Tara's alleged murder to go undercover at the Hesguard Institute. (COMIC: Sin-Eaters) The Doctor is arrested by the Judoon for Tara's murder, leading into Sin-Eaters. (COMIC: Slaver's Song)


 * COMIC: Sin-Eaters
 * Tara is still a new addition to the TARDIS crew, and Rose is still hurt by Jack's recent departure.


 * PROSE: The Slist Show Christmas Special!
 * Jack's absence places between Slaver's Song and Secret Agent Man. Rose is less hostile towards Tara, but she is still considered a recent addition to the team.


 * COMIC: Secret Agent Man
 * The Doctor, Rose and Tara use Memgram to track down Jack. Ending leads directly into The Bidding War.


 * COMIC: The Bidding War
 * While connected to the Memgram, Rose has a vision of her cyber-conversion in Supremacy of the Cybermen. Addison Delamar tricks Jack using a Sin-Eater. After defeating the Cybermen, Jack rejoins the TARDIS and Tara decides to temporarily remain on Nomicae to help nurse those injured in the cyber-attack.


 * COMIC: The Lost Dimension
 * The Doctor takes Rose to be healed from the events of The Bidding Wars, while Jack picks up Tara. The Doctor and Rose meet Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint, while Jack and Tara end up on Skaro.

Final adventures

 * AUDIO: R&J
 * Prior to the events of Boom Town, the Doctor, Jack and Rose eat Kronkburgers together, and Jack saves the Doctor from an assassination attempt by River Song.


 * TV: Boom Town
 * While reencountering the Margaret Blaine Slitheen, the Doctor's TARDIS severely damages the Cardiff rift. After a fight with Mickey, Rose learns that the heart of the TARDIS can be used to fulfill desires. With Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen regressed back into an egg, the Doctor intends to take her to a hatchery on Raxacoricofallapatorius.


 * PROSE: The Stealers of Dreams
 * Jackie mentions the events of Boom Town.


 * AUDIO: Night of the Whisper
 * Rose has visited Woman Wept and Raxacoricofallapatorius, setting this after Boom Town. The TARDIS team spend a month on 23rd century New Vegas investigating the Whisper.


 * COMIC: Return of the Volsci
 * Set immediately before Bad Wolf, with the TARDIS team visiting Kyoto, Japan in 1336.

Last stand on Satellite 5

 * TV: Bad Wolf
 * Being abducted back to Satellite Five, the Doctor discovers that the Daleks somehow survived the Time War and were the ones responsible for delaying the human race's development in The Long Game. Ending leads directly into The Parting of the Ways.


 * TV: The Parting of the Ways
 * Finding that the Dalek Emperor has resurrected the Daleks by converting the human race, the Doctor sends Rose home to protect her from a delta wave he intends to use to kill both the humans and Daleks. Jack and the inhabitants of Satellite Five are all killed by the Daleks. Before the Doctor can be killed, Rose, having used the heart of the TARDIS to absorb the Time Vortex, returns and atomises the Dalek fleet, and restores Jack to life. To save Rose from the power of the vortex, the Doctor absorbs the energy, causing cellular damage to his body, forcing him to regenerate into his next incarnation.


 * PROSE: Shortness of Breath
 * Set during the Doctor's regeneration, as he looks back on his life.

Currently unplaced

 * These entries are placed here due to being part of an ongoing storyline that has yet to offer sufficient enough evidence to be placed in a specific part of this Doctor's timeline.

Awaiting placement

 * These entries are placed here until evidence presents itself that provides a clue as to where they happen in relation to other entries. Some of these are part of ongoing storylines that could present evidence towards the end of the plot.