Theory:Timeline - Paternoster Gang

This page lists the order of stories featuring the Paternoster Gang, consisting of Vastra, Jenny Flint, and/or Strax. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

Timeline

 * In the 1880s, Silurian warrior Vastra is awaken during the construction of an extension of the London Underground, and is convinced not to give into revenge by the Doctor, and instead integrates herself into humanity's culture. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War) She gains the title of "Madame" and takes up residence at Paternoster Row after saving Queen Victoria from a Zygon plot. (COMIC: The Lost Dimension) Jenny Flint is hired as her maid after her life is saved by the Doctor, and she and Vastra eventually start a romance. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

The Silurian and the Housemaid

 * 1886 - COMIC: The Lost Dimension
 * Vastra and Jenny discover an island of quarantined Silurians with the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler.

Repaying old debts

 * 1888 - TV: A Good Man Goes to War
 * Set in 1888. After consuming Jack the Ripper, Vastra and Jenny are recruited by the Eleventh Doctor to partake in the Battle of Demons Run, alongside Rory Williams, Strax, Dorium Maldovar, and the crew of the Fancy. During the battle, the Headless Monks decapitate Dorium and kill Strax. Strax claims to be nearly 12-years-old.


 * WC: The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later
 * Shortly after A Good Man Goes to War, Vastra and Jenny revive Strax, and invite him to join them in Victorian London, an offer he accepts after some hesitation.

Strax joins the gang

 * PROSE: The Red-Eyed League
 * While the story is claimed to be set in 1884, Strax is living at 13 Paternoster Row, setting this after A Good Man Goes to War, which took place in 1888. Vastra and Jenny are celebrating their second anniversary as a couple.


 * COMIC: Love Thy Neighbor
 * Strax is traveling with the Doctor, going with him to visit Amy Pond and Rory Williams.


 * COMIC: Time Gentlemen, Please!
 * Strax is traveling with the Doctor, going on a "pub crawl" across the universe with him and Rory Williams.


 * c. 1889 - COMIC: The Crystal Throne
 * Vastra has a sonic screwdriver, and Strax claims to nearly be 13-years-old, setting this almost a year after The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later.

Working with the Doctor

 * Winter 1892 - TV: The Great Detective
 * After he retires from adventuring, the Paternoster Gang try to rouse the Doctor's spirits, but he continues to mourn the loss of his companions.


 * December - PROSE: Devil in the Smoke
 * Strax is still talking about his Moonite theory, setting this shortly after The Great Detective.


 * December 1892 - WC: Vastra Investigates: A Christmas Prequel
 * After a case involving identical twins, a poison undetectable to science and an ancient Egyptian curse, Jenny notices it is snowing in the absences of the clouds, setting this shortly before The Snowmen. According to Jenny, Strax is still "new" to dealing with people.


 * 23 December-25 December 1892 - TV: The Snowmen
 * While facing down Walter Simeon and the Great Intelligence, the Doctor assists the Paternoster Gang with the aid of Clara Oswin Oswald, but she dies in the process of defeating the Intelligence. However, at Clara's funeral, the Doctor tells Vastra and Jenny that she had died before, and then left in his TARDIS. Vastra says that she and Jenny are married.

Further investigations

 * 1893 - TV: The Crimson Horror
 * While infiltrating Sweetville, Jenny finds the Doctor in the company of Clara Oswald, and exact double of the deceased Clara Oswin Oswald.


 * 1893 - TV: The Name of the Doctor
 * Set in 1893. Given the space-time co-ordinates to the Doctor's tomb on Trenzalore, the Paternoster Gang are kidnapped by the Great Intelligence, facing the villain for the first time since The Snowmen. After the Intelligence enters the Doctor's time stream, Clara follows to defeat it, scattering herself throughout history, though the Doctor is able to save her.


 * 1893 - PROSE: The House of Sorrows


 * 1893 - PROSE: The Tudor Engagement


 * 1893 - PROSE: The Case of the Curious Fugitive


 * February 1894 - PROSE: The Curious Case of the Miniature Menaces


 * Spring 1894 - PROSE: The Singular Case of the Blue Men of the Minch


 * June 1894 - PROSE: The Phantom of the Music Hall


 * AUDIO: A Photograph to Remember
 * Vastra and Jenny are married, and Jenny takes Strax for an "afternoon break" a concept he seems to be formerly unaware of. Strax starts to learn Cockney rhyming slang.


 * September 1894 - PROSE: The Singular Case of the Time Machine


 * September 1894 - AUDIO: The Ghosts of Greenwich
 * 3 September was "about three weeks ago". When Strax ages forty-two years, he states that he must be "nearly sixty", meaning he is actually "nearly" eighteen, setting this six years after A Good Man Goes to War when he said he was "nearly 12". Strax is clumsily employing his Cockney slang, setting this after A Photograph to Remember.


 * Early Autumn 1894 - PROSE: The Curious Case of the Misery Diary


 * 15 November 1894 - PROSE: The Spectre of Paternoster Row


 * December 1894 - PROSE: The Case of the Dissolving Man


 * 12 December 1894 - PROSE: The Evolution Episode


 * 14 February 1895 - PROSE: The Importance of Being Strax


 * AUDIO: The Haunting
 * Strax spends some time with Henry Gordon Jago and George Litefoot in 1895.


 * 1895 - PROSE: The Pernicious Plots of the Big Game Hunter


 * 1895 - PROSE: The Pneuman League


 * Early 1896 - PROSE: The Inscrutable Illusionist


 * Summer 1897 - PROSE: The Giant's Heart


 * Autumn 1897 - PROSE: The Terror of the Thames


 * 1898 - TV: Prequel to Deep Breath
 * While guiding a crashing spaceship away from London, Vastra is alerted to a dinosaur appearing in the Thames, leading directly into Deep Breath.


 * 1898 - TV: Deep Breath
 * Information displayed by the adverts in the The Times can be used to place this story between January and September 1898. The Paternoster Gang meet the Twelfth Doctor for the first time, and help him and Clara recover from his thirteenth regeneration.


 * PROSE: Silhouette
 * Set during January. The Paternoster Gang solve a case with the Twelfth Doctor and Clara, setting this after Deep Breath.


 * PROSE: The Pest of Paternoster Row
 * Strax uses his sonic lorgnette from Deep Breath.


 * PROSE: The Dangerous Dilemma of the Dream Doorway
 * Vastra uses her sonic hat-pin from Deep Breath.


 * COMIC: The Adventures of Strax & the Time Shark


 * 1899 - AUDIO: Young Winston
 * Vastra meets Winston Churchill.

Currently unplaced

 * PROSE: The Confounding Case of the Planetary Prankster


 * PROSE: The Fear Factory


 * PROSE: The Insidious Ideas of the Danger Thinkers


 * PROSE: The Howling on the Hills


 * PROSE: Assassin on the Railroads


 * PROSE: The Curious Case of the Weirdling Woods

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.


 * AUDIO: Inside Every Warrior
 * Set Thursday 8 March, giving the possible in-range years as 1888, 1894, and 1900. Jenny uses her Sonic gauntlet, and Vastra uses her Sonic hat-pin from Deep Breath. Vastra says that Jenny is "getting the hang of this" implying that this story is set early in their detective work together.

Heritage

 * AUDIO: Prelude Heritage


 * AUDIO: The Cars That Ate London!
 * The works of H. G. Wells are referred to, setting this at least after 1895 when The Time Machine was first published, but probably later to accommodate his other works. Also, the Deptford power station has apparently "not been running long" and according to the real world, the power station was founded in 1891.


 * AUDIO: Dining with Death


 * AUDIO: The Screaming Ceiling


 * AUDIO: Spring-Heeled Jack