2003

Likely the most significant event of 2003 was the deaths of millions of people on the planet Earth caused by Agent Yellow virus and the subsequent sterilisation of the Earth's surface to rid the planet of the virus by the Doctor. (NA: Eternity Weeps)

The new US state of Malebolgia was granted provisional statehood in 2003, with TV evangelist Brigham Elisha Dashwood III announcing his candidacy for first state Governor. (BFA: Minuet in Hell)

On 23 August, the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield arrived at the Pinehill Crest Hotel in time for a demonstration of spiritual channelling, a show of a temporal accelerator and a cross stitch convention and an attempt by the Scourge to manifest in the Doctor's reality. (BFA: The Shadow of the Scourge)

Individuals

 * January - Supposed birth of the Tenza boy George to his human parents Alex and Claire. (DW: Night Terrors)
 * 2003 saw Ruby Duvall became a reporter for the Sunday Seeker. (NA: Iceberg)
 * Liz Shaw died of the Agent Yellow virus on the Moon. By the time of her viral-related death, she had become Chief of Operations at Tranquility Base on the Moon. (NA: Eternity Weeps)

January

 * BFA: No Place Like Home was first released as an exclusive CD with Doctor Who Magazine. The CD also included Episode 1 of BFDE: Dalek War: Chapter One.
 * BFA: Jubilee was first released.
 * BFDE: Dalek War: Chapter One was first released, launching Big Finish Productions' second Dalek Empire mini-series.
 * TN: Rip Tide was first published.
 * First issue of Miranda, a comic book series featuring Miranda Dawkins, a character introduced in EDA: Father Time, was published.
 * 01 - Cyril Shaps, who had appearances in DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen, DW: The Ambassadors of Death, DW: Planet of the Spiders and DW: The Androids of Tara, died.

February

 * EDA: The Domino Effect was first published.
 * BFA: Nekromanteia was first released.
 * BFDE: Dalek War: Chapter Two was first released.
 * BBV: Sabbath Dei - Protocols: Volume 3 was first released.
 * 03 - DW: Resurrection of the Daleks was released to DVD in Region 4.
 * 07 - Stephen Whittaker died.
 * 09 - The BBC's third UK network, naturally named BBC Three, was launched.
 * 14 - Neil Seiler, who played a radio operator in DW: The Sea Devils and Commander Stewart in DW: Death to the Daleks, died.
 * 17 - DW: The Seeds of Death was released to DVD in the UK.

March

 * PDA: Blue Box] was first published.
 * ST: Short Trips: Companions was first published.
 * BFA: The Dark Flame was first released.
 * MB: Kaldor City: Taren Capel was first released.
 * 04 - DW: Vengeance on Varos and The Aztecs are released to DVD in Region 1.

April

 * EDA: Reckless Engineering was first published.
 * BFA: Doctor Who and the Pirates was first released.
 * TN: Wonderland was first published.
 * BFDE: Dalek War: Chapter Three and BFDE: Dalek War: Chapter Four are first released, concluding Big Finish Productions' second Dalek Empire mini-series.
 * BBV: In the Year of the Cat - Protocols: Volume 4 was first released.
 * REF: The Nth Doctor, 2nd edition, was published.
 * 28 - DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang was released to DVD in the UK.

May

 * PDA: Loving the Alien was first published.
 * BFA: Creatures of Beauty was first released.
 * DWU: Auld Mortality was first released. This was the first of a new series of audio dramas entitled Doctor Who Unbound, which feature "alternate reality" or "What if?" versions of the Doctor. Geoffrey Bayldon plays the Doctor, with Carole Ann Ford as Susan.
 * TN: Shell Shock was first published.
 * Second issue of the comic book series Miranda was published. At least four more issues are published throughout 2003.
 * Extra Jack Pitt (who appeared during the William Hartnell era) died from bronchial pneumonia.
 * 02 - The BBC's website launches a six-part webcast production of WC: Shada, remounting the TV story of the same title that was abandoned back in 1979. In this version, Paul McGann appears as the Eighth Doctor, with Lalla Ward and John Leeson reprising their original roles.
 * 05 - DW: The Seeds of Death was released to DVD in Region 4.
 * 09 - WC: Shada webcast Episode 2 was released.
 * Bernard Spear died.
 * 16 - WC: Shada webcast Episode 3 was released.
 * 23 - WC: Shada webcast Episode 4 was released.
 * 30 - WC: Shada webcast Episode 5 was released.

June

 * EDA: The Last Resort was first published.
 * BFA: Project: Lazarus was first released.
 * DWU: Sympathy for the Devil was first released. This Doctor Who Unbound story features David Warner as an alternate reality Doctor. Future Doctor David Tennant also appears in this drama.
 * ST: Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors was first published.
 * 06 - WC: Shada webcast Episode 6 was released. Final episode.
 * 09 - DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth was released to DVD in the UK.
 * 30 - DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang was released to DVD in Region 4.

July

 * PDA: The Colony of Lies was first published.
 * BFA: Flip-Flop was first released.
 * DWU: Full Fathom Five was first released. This Doctor Who Unbound story features David Collings as the Doctor.
 * TN: The Cabinet of Light was first published. This novella features an unspecified incarnation of the Doctor, and results in a spin-off series of books, Time Hunter, featuring characters introduced here.
 * 02 - James Saxon, who played Oscar Botcherby in DW: The Two Doctors, died after suffering a heart attack in Chichester, England.
 * DW: Carnival of Monsters and Resurrection of the Daleks are released to DVD in Region 1.
 * 25 - Michael Mundell died.
 * 28 - Peter Russell died.

August

 * EDA: Timeless was first published.
 * BFA: Omega was first released.
 * TN: Fallen Gods was first published.
 * The first issue of a comic book based upon Faction Paradox was published by US-based Image Comics.
 * 12 - Anne Tirard, who played Locusta in DW: The Romans and the Seeker in DW: The Ribos Operation, died.
 * 13 - DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth was released to DVD in Region 4.
 * 14 - DW: Vengeance on Varos was released to DVD in Region 4.
 * 18 - DW: Earthshock was released to DVD in the UK.

September

 * PDA: Wolfsbane was first published.
 * BFA: Davros was first released.
 * DWU: He Jests at Scars... was first released. This Doctor Who Unbound release features Michael Jayston as the Valeyard.
 * ST: Short Trips: The Muses was first published.
 * BFBS: Life During Wartime was first published. This was the only book release in the Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Series this year.
 * FP: This Town Will Never Let Us Go was first published.
 * MB: Kaldor City: Checkmate was first released.
 * 01 - BBCR: Doctor Who at the BBC was first released by BBC Audio, the first in an ongoing series of compilations released under the Doctor Who at the BBC banner over at least the next six years.
 * 04 - Ben Aris died.
 * 08 - DW: The Two Doctors was released to DVD in the UK.

October

 * EDA: Emotional Chemistry was first published.
 * BFA: Master was first released.
 * DWU: Deadline was first released. In this Doctor Who Unbound story, Derek Jacobi (later to portray two different versions of the Master) plays the Doctor.
 * DWU: Exile was first released. Also a Doctor Who Unbound story, this features Arabella Weir as a female incarnation of the Doctor. David Tennant plays a Time Lord in this story.
 * The second and final issue of the Faction Paradox comic book series was published by Image Comics. The series was cancelled after this issue, mid-story.
 * 01 - DW: Earthshock was released to DVD in Region 4.
 * 06 - DW: The Curse of Fenric was released to DVD in the UK.
 * 07 - DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang and The Dalek Invasion of Earth are released to DVD in Region 1.

November

 * PDA: Deadly Reunion was first published.
 * BFA: Zagreus was first released. Considered a milestone for Doctor Who audio dramas, this story was the first to feature not only the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors, but thanks to the availability of some recorded dialogue from an unreleased fan film, Devious, the late Jon Pertwee was also featured. This was Big Finish Productions' 50th Doctor Who audio drama, and was also marketed as a 40th anniversary story.
 * BFA: The Wormery was first released. First regular-series Doctor Who Big Finish story to feature Iris Wildthyme.
 * BFA: Living Legend was first published; this was a single-episode story released exclusively with Doctor Who Magazine. The disc also includes a documentary featurette on the making of BFA: Zagreus.
 * TN: The Eye of the Tyger was first published.
 * BBC Wales announces that it will produce a new series of Doctor Who for broadcast in 2005, returning the series to weekly television after a 16-year hiatus. Named executive producer was Russell T Davies, best known as the creator of the controversial Queer as Folk series, but who also was a longtime fan of the franchise who even wrote a novel for the Virgin New Adventures book series, NA: Damaged Goods. Julie Gardner was also named an executive producer on the series. Little was revealed about the proposed series at this point except that it will be a continuation of the 1963-89 series and not a remake. The immediate impact on Richard Grant's status as the recently unveiled "Ninth Doctor" was not known.
 * 05 - Brian McDermott died.
 * 12 - DW: The Three Doctors was released to DVD in Region 4. This was the first time a Doctor Who story has been released to DVD in Region 4 before being issued in the UK.
 * 13 - The BBC website launches a new webcast serial, WC: Scream of the Shalka, introducing Richard E. Grant as what would come to be known as the Shalka Doctor. At the time of its production and promotion, publicity held that Grant was the official Ninth Doctor, with future Doctor Who adventures expected to be produced in the webcast format. By the time the first episode was uploaded, however, the BBC had already announced the return of Doctor Who to television, with another actor in the lead role of the Ninth Doctor. Episode 1 features the first appearance of Derek Jacobi as the Master (although a different incarnation than he would later play in DW: Utopia). Sophie Okonedo was introduced as Alison Cheney, who as intended to become an ongoing companion for Grant's Doctor.David Tennant, more than a year before his appointment as the Tenth Doctor, voices a supporting character.
 * 20 - WC: Scream of the Shalka episode 2 was released.
 * THN: The Winning Side was first published. This was the first in a series of novellas published by Telos Publishing in the Time Hunter series, a spin-off from from the Doctor Who novella, TN: The Cabinet of Light.
 * 22 - Doctor Who's 40th anniversary was marked by a cover feature in the Radio Times. This was the last Radio Times cover produced before the series returned in 2005.
 * 23 - 40th anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who.
 * 24 - DW: The Three Doctors was released to DVD in the UK.
 * 27 - WC: Scream of the Shalka episode 3 was released.

December

 * BFA: Scherzo was first released.
 * BFA: Shada was first released. This was an audio version of the webcast WC: Shada.
 * ST: Short Trips: Steel Skies was first published.
 * TN: Companion Piece was first published. A new companion, Catherine Broome, was introduced.
 * BBV: Movers - Protocols: Volume 5 was first released.
 * REF: Howe's Transcendental Toybox, 2nd edition, was first published.
 * 04 - WC: Scream of the Shalka episode 4 was released.
 * 11 - WC: Scream of the Shalka episode 5 was released.
 * 16 - Alfred Lynch who appeared as Commander Millington in DW: The Curse of Fenric, died from cancer.
 * 17 - Alan Tilvern, who played Forester in DW: Planet of Giants, died in London.
 * 18 - WC: Scream of the Shalka episode 6 was released; final episode. Final appearance of Richard E. Grant as the "Shalka Doctor", and as of 2010 the final production of its kind by the BBC (although it would later produce a series of made-for-Internet live-action video shorts entitled WC: Captain Jack's Monster Files).
 * 25 - Comic penciller Art Wetherell died.
 * 29 - Dinsdale Landen, who portrayed Dr. Judson in DW: The Curse of Fenric died from mouth cancer.

Unknown dates

 * An unofficial audio adaptation of Graham Williams' TME: The Nightmare Fair was produced for CD by Argolis. The release was a fund-raiser for the charity Sense, and includes liner notes by Anthony Read.
 * John Bleasdale died.
 * The Britney Spears song, "Toxic" was recorded. It would later be featured in The End of the World, though without specific date attribution.