2006 (production)


 * Early 2006 - According to his book, The Writer's Tale, Russell T Davies, David Tennant and others involved in Doctor Who, following production of Doomsday, agreed that after the fourth series the program would be rested for a year, except for the occasional special. This idea evolved into the 2009 Specials season and dovetailed with the eventual departures of Davies and Tennant from the series.
 * Early 2006 - The American network Sci-Fi Channel announced it had bought the rights to air the new version of Doctor Who. The first series aired beginning in March 2006, a year after their UK and Canadian broadcasts, and the network had the option of airing Series 2 as well.
 * 6 January - The final mix of Murray Gold's score to New Earth was performed. (DWMSE 14)
 * 10 January - At the request of Barbara Windsor, a rewrite of Army of Ghosts known as a "pink revision" was made. This covered Windsor's material as Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders. (DWMSE 14)
 * 16 January - Doctor Who won a poll on the BBC website as Best Drama of 2005. Christopher Eccleston won Best Actor and Billie Piper won Best Actress. (DWMSE 14)
 * 17 January - The shooting script for The Idiot's Lantern was prepared. (DWMSE 14)
 * 17 January - The BBC announced a new Doctor Who-themed magazine show for CBBC initially titled Doctor Who Friday, it would later be renamed Totally Doctor Who.
 * 18 January - A read-through for The Idiot's Lantern was held. (DWMSE 14)
 * 19 January - Rewrites known as "pink revisions" or "pink script amendments" were made for The Idiot's Lantern and Fear Her. These covered the both Lantern and Fear Her's opening sequences, Tommy Connolly outside Grandma Connolly's room, the arrival of the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler at the Connolly's house, the Doctor and Rose's conversation with Tommy, Crabtree abducting Grandma Connolly, Tommy confronting Eddie Connolly, the attack at Magpie Electricals, the Doctor following Mr Magpie up Alexandra Palace, and the defeat of the Wire, from the Dame Kelly Holmes Close residents confronting the Tenth Doctor through to Chloe Webber telling Trish Webber she was busy drawing, from the Doctor analysing the scribble creature through to Rose Tyler entering Chloe's bedroom, from Chloe talking to the Doctor in the kitchen through to Trish calming Chloe with song, the Doctor discussing the Isolus inside the TARDIS, from the Doctor vanishing to Rose trying to get past the police officer, the departure of the Isolus, Chloe trying to get out of her home and Rose watching the Doctor light the Olympic torch. (DWMSE 14)
 * 20 January - Rehearsals for The Idiot's Lantern were held. (DWMSE 14)
 * 22 January - A tone meeting was held for The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. Executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies considered "tough" the key word for this story. (DWMSE 14)
 * 25 January - Rewrites for Fear Her known as "yellow script amendments" covered the Tenth Doctor discussing the size of an Isolus family through to Chloe Webber watching the Doctor and Rose Tyler enter the TARDIS. (DWMSE 14)
 * 25 January - This was the date of the scripts of Tardisode 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 11. (DWMSE 14)
 * 26 January - This was the date of the script for Tardisode 1. (DWMSE 14)
 * 27 January - New Earth was screened to international buyers of Doctor Who at the BBC Showcase Event in the Grand Hotel Brighton. (DWMSE 14)
 * 31 January - Rewrites of Fear Her known as "green script amendments" covered the Tenth Doctor describing the Isolus pod to Rose Tyler. (DWMSE 14)
 * Late January - Casting for The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit took place. (DWMSE 14)
 * January-February - Post-production company The Mill worked on Tooth and Claw. (DWMSE 14)
 * Early February - Dan Zeff signed on to direct Love & Monsters. (DWMSE 14)
 * 8 February - Rewrites of The Idiot's Lantern known as "blue script revisions" were made. These included the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler's arrival on Florizel Street, and the duo talking to Rita Connolly in the living room. (DWMSE 14)
 * 10 February - The shooting scripts for The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit were prepared. (DWMSE 14)
 * 13 February - Rewrites known as a "yellow rewrite" or "yellow script revisions" were made for Rise of the Cybermen and The Idiot's Lantern. These added a new pre-titles sequence with Dr Kendrick for Rise and also covered Lantern's opening scene, Mr Magpie talking to the Wire at Magpie Electricals and the Doctor breaking into Magpie Electricals. (DWMSE 14)
 * 16 February - Rewrites for Rise of the Cybermen and The Idiot's Lantern known as "green rewrites" or "green revisions" were made. These covered a scene inside a news studio, and the scene where the Tenth Doctor discovered Rose Tyler's face had been removed. (DWMSE 14)
 * 23 February - The final draft script for Love & Monsters was produced. (DWMSE 14)
 * 27 February - Rewrites known as "pink amendments" were made for The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. These covered Rose Tyler and Danny Bartock discussing the Ood, the Tenth Doctor discussing the urge to descend into the pit, the Doctor preparing the capsule cable for abseiling, Jefferson preparing to hold off the Ood in the access tunnel, the party escaping from the Ood in the access tunnel, the Ood being knocked out, Ida Scott telling Rose that the Doctor fell into the pit, the Doctor working out the working of the Beast's prison, and the last couple of scenes. (DWMSE 14)
 * 28 February - The shooting scripts for Tardisode 8 and 9 were prepared. (DWMSE 14)
 * First week of March - The dub of School Reunion was finished. (DWMSE 14)
 * 2 March - DWM 367 (cover dated 29 March) announced a series of short prequels for each episode of Doctor Who series 2. These were known as "Vortext" in DWM, but by the end of March, the name was changed to "Tardisodes". (DWMSE 14)
 * 2 March - Totally Doctor Who launched its recruitment for its "Companion Academy" competition, to win a Doctor Who set visit. Entrants had to be aged 7-12 and send in a 1 minute video of themselves explaining why they should be one of the eight cadets.
 * 6 March - Rewrites for Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel covered a news studio scene in Steel and extended John Lumic's voiceover during the upgrade demonstration. (DWMSE 14)
 * 6 March - The shooting script for Tardisode 10 was prepared. (DWMSE 14)
 * 8 March - The shooting script for Love & Monsters was issued. (DWMSE 14)
 * 8-9 March - An orchestral score composed by Murray Gold for The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit was recorded at Air Studios. (DWMSE 14)
 * 10 March - The age limit for Totally Doctor Who's "Companion Academy" competition was increased from 12 to 14, after the production team noticed that there were many 13 and 14-year-olds that had tried to apply.
 * 11 March - The "Fan film" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 1 was recorded. (DWMSE 14)
 * 15 March - The final edit and dub for Tooth and Claw was prepared. (DWMSE 14)
 * 17 March - Rewrites known as "Yellow amendments" for The Impossible Planet and "Blue Amendments" for The Satan Pit were made. Most of Planet was subject to such amendments, with the only unchanged elements including the arrival of the TARDIS, the first appearance of the Ood, the Tenth Doctor realising Storage Six had vanished, Toby Zed seeing the strange marks on his face, and some of the 27 February revisions, while Pit's revisions covered Danny Bartock and Rose Tyler figuring out how to knock out the Ood. (DWMSE 14)
 * 19 March - Rewrites for Love & Monsters known as "pink script amendments" were made. These covered Elton Pope explaining where he grew up on Stadium Terrace, Elton comforting Jackie Tyler and the Abzorbaloff's revelation and demise. (DWMSE 14)
 * 21 March - Rewrites for The Satan Pit known as "yellow amendments" covered Danny Bartock talking about a virus that could defeat the Ood. (DWMSE 14)
 * 21 March - Deadline for entries to Totally Doctor Who's "Companion Academy" competition.
 * 22 March - Barney Harwood recorded a location report from the set of Love & Monsters for Totally Doctor Who episode 11. (DWMSE 14)
 * 28 March - Barney Harwood recorded the "UFO hunters" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 9. (DWMSE 14)
 * 29 March - As part of the Impossible Planet production block, a scene in the Doctor's TARDIS was secretly shot, with Catherine Tate in a wedding dress. This scene would serve as the cliffhanger for Doomsday, leading into The Runaway Bride. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 29 March - The shooting scripts for Tardisode 12 and 13 were issued. (DWMSE 14)
 * 31 March - Liz Barker & Barney Harwood recorded the Totally Doctor Who trailer for CBBC. (DWMSE 14)
 * 31 March-2 April - Totally Doctor Who's "Companion Academy" is recorded over three days on Stage A at Halliford Film Studios, Shepperton, Middlesex. (DWMSE 14)
 * 5 April - TDW 1 & TDW 3 were recorded in Studio C1 at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff. (DWMSE 14)
 * 8 April - Barney Harwood recorded the "Haunted school" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 3. (DWMSE 14)
 * 9 April - Barney Harwood recorded the "DWM comic strip studio" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 12. (DWMSE 14)
 * 13 April - Liz Barker recorded the "Visual effects studio" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 6. (DWMSE 14)
 * 15 April - Beginning with this day's issue, the BBC's promotional magazine, Radio Times, began extensive coverage of Doctor Who, with weekly features called "Who's Watch" that ran for the duration of each new season.
 * 18 April - Liz Barker recorded the "Foley studio" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 7. (DWMSE 14)
 * 19 April - TDW 2 & TDW 4 were recorded in Studio C1 at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff. (DWMSE 14)
 * 24 April - The Times announced that an animated spinoff called K9 Adventures featuring K9 was to enter development with Jetix Europe in collaboration with Park Entertainment. (DWMSE 14)
 * 27 April - Liz Barker recorded the "Dalek factory" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 4. (DWMSE 14)
 * 3 May - TDW 5 & TDW 6 were recorded in Studio C1 at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff. (DWMSE 14)
 * 4 May - Liz Barker recorded the "Costumes warehouse" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 5. (DWMSE 14)
 * 7 May - At the BAFTAs, Doctor Who won Best Drama Series and the Pioneer Audience Award. (DWMSE 14)
 * 17 May - TDW 7, TDW 8 & the first half of TDW 9 were recorded in Studio C1 at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff. (DWMSE 14)
 * 19 May - Liz Barker recorded the "History of British television" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 8. (DWMSE 14)
 * 31 May - The last half of TDW 9, TDW 10 & TDW 11 were recorded in Studio C1 at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff. (DWMSE 14)
 * 12 June - Liz Barker recorded the "How to write a story" featurette for Totally Doctor Who episode 11. (DWMSE 14)
 * 16 June - TDW 12 & TDW 13 were recorded in Studio C1 at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff. (DWMSE 14)
 * 29 June - The read-through for The Runaway Bride took place. Sophia Myles read Donna Noble's lines for Catherine Tate, who was unable to attend. (PROSE: About Time 8)
 * 4 July - Filming on The Runaway Bride began, with some shots on location of the Thames Barrier. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 5 July - Filming on The Runaway Bride continued, with shots of traffic from above, on location in Chiswick, on the junction between the A4 and the M4. Most of the car chase scene itself would be shot 10 days later. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 6 July - The first location shots with Catherine Tate took place, with the TARDIS exterior on a helipad on Shoe Lane, two days before the broadcast of her Doomsday reveal. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 7-8 July - During the next two days, filming took place at (the new) Upper Boat Studios, mostly on the set of the TARDIS. The climax to Doomsday, with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, was refilmed for continuity. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 11 July - Further scenes were filmed with Catherine Tate as Donna. These were flashbacks, shot on location, with her chasing Don Gilet's Lance down a staircase, and begging him to marry her. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 14 July - The Runaway Bride wedding scene was filmed at, on Trinity Street, Cardiff. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 15-16 July - The car chase scene in The Runaway Bride was filmed on location, on the A4232 Ely Link Road in Cardiff. The crew had a police escort, and two 4-hour periods over the weekend allotted, in which the road could be closed for production. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 24 July - Location filming took place on St Mary's Street, where the Doctor and Donna are trying to catch a taxi. A large crowd of fans were in attendance. The bank notes that fly out from the ATM bore either the face of David Tennant or Phil Collinson, together either with the phrase "No Second Chances", or the famous Fourth Doctor line about being childish sometimes. (REF: About Time 8)
 * 25 July - Location filming continued on The Runaway Bride. Donna freaks out about the TARDIS on Churchill Way, on first exiting the ship, and runs off. At night, the scene in which a tank shoots down the Webstar was recorded. (REF: About Time 8)
 * August - Doctor Who won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, the first time the Doctor Who franchise won an international award of this magnitude. The award was presented for the Steven Moffat two-parter The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. Two other episodes from the 2005 series were also nominated in this category: Father's Day and Dalek. The competition in the category also included "Pegasus", an episode of Battlestar Galactica; Jack-Jack Attack, an animated short spun-off from the film The Incredibles; Lucas Back in Anger, a short film; and, controversially, the opening segment of the previous year's Prix Victor Hugo Awards Ceremony. Moffat was nominated for his Doctor Who episodes for the next three consecutive years, winning the award in 2007 and 2008 and coming a close second place in 2009.
 * 21 August - BBC News revealed details of a cancelled Doctor Who spin-off. Entitled Rose Tyler: Earth Defence, the special would have followed Rose Tyler from the events of Doomsday. Russell T Davies, however, vetoed the idea.
 * 24 August - The approved an official definition of the term "planet" which resulted in Pluto and several newly discovered Pluto-like worlds being disqualified from planetary status. The decision was immediately controversial, with attempts at overturning it expected in the future. The Doctor Who franchise, retroactively, had made its opinion known by establishing Pluto as a planet in The Sun Makers.
 * 28 November - Recording for The Beautiful People took place at Sound Magic Studios.
 * 2 December - Recording for Fear of the Daleks took place at Sound Magic Studios.
 * 7 December - Recording for Frostfire took place at Sound Magic Studios.
 * 30 December - Recording for The Blue Tooth took place at Sound Magic Studios.