1998

Events

 * 12 - Thomas Hector Schofield, who later became a companion of the Seventh Doctor, was born to Cassandra Schofield in the Royal Bolton Hospital. (AUDIO: The Harvest, AUDIO: Thicker than Water, AUDIO: Project: Destiny)

Unknown dates

 * The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith prevented the Voracian invasion of Earth. (PROSE: System Shock)
 * Sarah Jane Smith, then using the name Sarah Jane Morley, addressed the Nobel Academy. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)
 * The war between the Uvodni and the Malakh ended. The Mistress kept this a secret from her servant, General Uvlavad Kudlak, as to her peace did not compute. Kudlak continued collecting human children via Combat 3000 as soldiers for a war he didn't know was over. It was ten years until Luke Smith told him the truth. (TV: Warriors of Kudlak)
 * Torchwood Three under Alex Hopkins was alerted to the existence of Cell 114 by an alien named Iannamet, who had tracked a Cell agent to Earth through the Cardiff rift and killed it. The agent had taken on a human disguise, indicating there was already a Cell incursion on Earth with which it was attempting to make contact. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)
 * The Eighth Doctor and Samantha Jones prevented the Khameirian to launch a nuclear strike from Station Nine. (PROSE: Option Lock)


 * 2 January - PROSE: Tempest was first published.
 * 5 January - PROSE: Kursaal was first published.
 * 5 - PROSE: The Face of the Enemy was first published. Although published as a Past Doctors Adventure, this book actually focused on the Master.


 * 2 February - PROSE: Option Lock was first published.
 * 2 - PROSE: Eye of Heaven was first published. It was the first BBC Past Doctor Adventures novel to feature the Fourth Doctor.
 * 3 February - PROSE: Walking to Babylon was first published.
 * 5 February - Actor Wilfred Carter died.
 * 19 - Actor John Acheson died.


 * 2 March - PROSE: Longest Day was first published.
 * 2 - PROSE: The Witch Hunters was first published. It was the first BBC Past Doctor Adventures novel to feature the First Doctor.
 * 2 - PROSE: Oblivion was first published.
 * 3 March - PROSE: Short Trips was first published. This was the first of three volumes of short stories (similar to Decalog) published by BBC Books, and the first of dozens of Short Trips collections published over the next decade.
 * 18 - Actor Peter Lawrence died.
 * 29 - BBC America, a US-based cable network with an arms-length relationship to the main BBC, was launched. It aired classic Doctor Who and Torchwood. Beginning in 2009, it became the main US broadcaster of the Doctor Who revival series.


 * 2 April - PROSE: The Medusa Effect was first published.
 * 6 April - PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks was first published. The novel featured the return of Susan Foreman.
 * 6 - PROSE: The Hollow Men was first published.
 * 23 - Actor Denis Goacher died.
 * 27 - The Metropolitan Police District in London filed an official opposition to the BBC's 1996 trademark application for the police box design.


 * 3 May - PROSE: Dry Pilgrimage was first published.
 * 4 May - PROSE: Dreamstone Moon was first published.
 * 4 - PROSE: Catastrophea was first published.
 * 7 May - Actor Seymour Green died.
 * 10 - Dalek Operator Robert Jewell died in Melbourne, Australia.
 * Dance instrumentalist Jack Mackrel released a 3-track EP on Template Records called Tardis. The three tracks were built around, or suggested by, the TARDIS dematerialisation sound effect.


 * 1 June - PROSE: Seeing I was first published.
 * 1 - PROSE: Mission: Impractical was first published.
 * 2 June - PROSE: The Sword of Forever was first published. It was the final monthly release in the Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures line; hereafter the frequency of release was reduced.
 * 24 - Actor Ken Barker died from prostate cancer.


 * The Left Hand of Darkness was first released. It was the first of two "Professor-lite" audio dramas in The Time Travellers series, focusing on the character of "Ace". The two released were notable for their mildly racy cover photos of Sophie Aldred.
 * 6 July - PROSE: Placebo Effect was first published.
 * 6 - PROSE: Zeta Major was first published.
 * 20 - Actress Sinead Michael was born.
 * 21 - Actor Kenneth Watson died from pancreatic cancer.


 * 3 August - PROSE: Vanderdeken's Children was first published.
 * 3 - PROSE: Dreams of Empire was first published.
 * 10 - The British Broadcasting Corporation filed its reply to the Metropolitan Police's opposition to its application to trademark the police box design.
 * 11 - Actor Derek Newark died
 * 20 - PROSE: Another Girl, Another Planet was first published.


 * BFBS: Oh No it Isn't, a dramatised audio adaptation of the 1997 novel of the same title, was released by Big Finish Productions. This was the first of a series of Bernice Summerfield audio dramas to be produced by Big Finish, and also the production company's first official production related to the Doctor Who franchise; a year later, the company began publishing dramas with a more direct connection to the TV series, and continued a prolific slate of productions into 2009. Many of those involved in these ventures went on to write or perform for Doctor Who when it returned to TV in 2005.
 * The Other Side was first released. It was the second of two "Professor-lite" episodes of The Time Travellers series.
 * 7 September - PROSE: The Scarlet Empress was first published.
 * 7 - PROSE: Last Man Running was first published.
 * 10 - Actor Carl Forgione died from cancer.
 * 30 - Actor Marius Goring died from cancer.


 * 5 October - PROSE: The Janus Conjunction was first published.
 * 5 - PROSE: Matrix was first published.
 * 5 - REF: Doctor Who: The Television Companion was first published.
 * 6 October - Tom Baker's autobiography, REF: Who on Earth was Tom Baker?, was published in paperback.
 * 15 - PROSE: Beige Planet Mars was first published.
 * 19 - Future Doctor Who co-star Billie Piper (at this time promoted only as "Billie") released her first album, Honey to the B, which sparked several hit singles, including the title track which became a hit again in 2007.
 * 23 - Actor Christopher Gable died.


 * Guests for the Night was first released. This was the last entry in The Time Travellers series in which Sylvester McCoy's character was referred to as "the Professor" and was considered the Doctor in all but name; similarly, this was the last episode in which Sophie Aldred's character was called Ace.
 * 2 November - Actor Tommy Duggan died.
 * 4 November - Actor Bear McCausland was born.
 * 16 - PROSE: Beltempest was first published.
 * 16 - PROSE: The Infinity Doctors was first published. Promoted as celebrating the thirty-fifth anniversary of Doctor Who, this novel featured an unspecified incarnation of the Doctor and reinstated elements of the Doctor's continuity (see Cartmel Masterplan) from the Virgin New Adventures books.
 * 16 - REF: Doctor Who From A to Z was first published.
 * 19 - REF: Five Rounds Rapid!, a biography of Nicholas Courtney edited by John Nathan-Turner, was first published.
 * 19 - REF: Doctor Who - The Handbook: The Seventh Doctor was first published. This concluded a series of handbooks that began in 1992; this volume also included information on the Eighth Doctor and an index to all seven volumes.
 * 23 - This date was the thirty-fifth anniversary of the first episode of Doctor Who being broadcast.


 * 2 December - PROSE: Where Angels Fear was first published.
 * Actor Peter Mayock died.
 * 7 December - Actor Michael Craze died from a heart attack at his home.
 * 20 - "Mayored to the Mob," an episode of the American series The Simpsons, was broadcast. The episode included a cameo appearance by a caricature of the Fourth Doctor in a scene set at a science fiction convention.
 * 21 - Actor Roger Avon died.