Theory:Timeline - Luke Smith

This page lists appearances of Luke Smith in the order 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, audio or television series, their published, broadcast or numbered order is the order they occur in.

Fan sources like the Doctor Who Reference Guide should not be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Bannerman Road gang begins

 * TV: Invasion of the Bane
 * Set in August 2008. Luke is "born a thirteen year old boy" due to being made artificially by the Bane, is adopted by Sarah Jane Smith after he befriends Maria Jackson.


 * TV: Revenge of the Slitheen
 * Set in September 2008, shortly after Invasion of the Bane. A new school year has started at Park Vale Comprehensive School, and Maria and Luke, who is now "fourteen", befriend Clyde Langer, who joins the Bannerman Road gang while foiling a plot by the Slitheen family. Luke and Clyde are classmates in form 10B. Sarah Jane begins letting Luke call her his mother, at Clyde's urging.


 * TV: Eye of the Gorgon


 * TV: Warriors of Kudlak
 * Luke has been experimenting with jokes, and asks Clyde about girls after receiving his first kiss. Luke, Maria and Clyde go into space for the first time.


 * AUDIO: The Glittering Stone


 * AUDIO: The Thirteenth Stone


 * TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?


 * TV: The Lost Boy
 * Set five months after Invasion of the Bane at the most. Mr Smith reveals himself to be a Xylok with intentions of destroying the world, but he is rebooted into a benevolent being by the Armageddon virus. Sarah Jane meets Celeste Rivers at the Pharos Institute, and Clyde meets K9 for the first time.


 * TV: The Stolen Earth
 * Set in 2009, between May and June. With Maria and Alan in Cornwall, and Clyde staying to protect his mother, Sarah Jane and Luke join with Torchwood Three, Martha Jones and Harriet Jones on the Sub-Wave Network to summon the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble to Earth after it is moved to the Medusa Cascade by the New Dalek Empire. Leaving Luke under Mr Smith's protection, Sarah Jane goes to find the Doctor, leading directly into Journey's End.


 * TV: Journey's End
 * Luke, Mr Smith and K9 assist the Children of Time in returning the Earth to its proper location, and Sarah Jane returns to them. Luke is still "fourteen".

After the Dalek invasion

 * TV: The Last Sontaran
 * Maria and Alan move to Washington, DC in America six weeks after the Bannerman Road gang defeat Commander Kaagh of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. Alien life is now common knowledge on Earth, implying a setting after Journey's End.

Rani joins the gang

 * TV: The Day of the Clown
 * Set in October 2009. Rani Chandra moves into 36 Bannerman Road and becomes a part of Sarah Jane's gang during their fight with the Pied Piper. While it has been a "while" since the disappearance of Park Vale Headmaster Greg Blakeman in Revenge of the Slitheen, Headmaster Haresh Chandra observes that Luke has shown impressive results over the "past year", but it is unclear if he is referring to the year date or the school year. Maria notes in an email that it "feels like only yesterday" that she left Bannerman Road. According to Luke, the Bannerman Road gang has saved the world "twelve times".


 * TV: Secrets of the Stars
 * According to Martin Trueman, Rani has still only "just moved house", setting this shortly after The Day of the Clown. Luke is given an official birthday.


 * TV: The Mark of the Berserker


 * AUDIO: The Time Capsule
 * Set at least a whole year after Invasion of the Bane.


 * AUDIO: The Ghost House
 * Mr Smith recalls the recent events of The Lost Boy.


 * TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
 * Rani and Luke experience time travel for the first time when the Trickster tries to manipulate Sarah Jane into preventing her parents' deaths in 1951, only for them to sacrifice their lives to stop him. Clyde recalls the events of Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? as happening "last year".


 * TV: Enemy of the Bane
 * As Luke would recount in Sarah Jane's Alien Files: Episode 3, the events of The Last Sontaran are still a recent affair. When Mrs Wormwood and Kaagh return for revenge, Sarah Jane visits Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart for the fist time in a "long time" to get his help in retrieving the Tunguska Scroll from the Black Archive. When Wormwood betrays Kaagh when she tries to find Horath, Kaagh drags her into anther dimension. UNIT do not know about Luke's origins, and Clyde shows an interest in joining them.


 * TV: From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love
 * Rani appears to already know K9.

Recording the Alien Files

 * TV: Prisoner of the Judoon
 * After they assist in the capture of Androvax, Clyde and Rani are issued an order of confinement to Earth by the Judoon Captain Tybo, effectively making them "grounded".


 * TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic
 * When Rani is contacted by her old friend Samuel Lloyd, who she had told of her adventures with Sarah Jane, the Bannerman Road gang travel to Danemouth, where they help power Ship with the black hole K9 Mark IV is guarding, closing the singularity and allowing K9 to return to 13 Bannerman Road. Luke, who is now roughly "fifteen", has fully grasped the concept of deception, and Sarah Jane is told she will soon be reunited with the Doctor.


 * COMIC: Monster Hunt
 * K9 has returned to 13 Bannerman Road, setting this after The Mad Woman in the Attic.


 * TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
 * Sarah Jane nearly marries Peter Dalton as part of a plot concocted by the Trickster. The Tenth Doctor arrives to foil his plans, meeting Clyde and Rani for the first time, as well as meeting Luke in person for the first time since Journey's End.


 * TV: Mona Lisa's Revenge
 * Luke and Clyde are now in form 11T, as is Rani.


 * TV: The Gift
 * Sarah Jane prevents the Slitheen-Blathereen family from poisoning the world with Rakweed. Luke is still only "fifteen".


 * GAME: Sound
 * Set during The Gift.

Luke's final adventures

 * COMIC: Return of the Krulius
 * Sequel to Monster Hunt.


 * AUDIO: The Shadow People
 * Rani recalls meeting the Doctor, setting this after The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.


 * AUDIO: The White Wolf
 * Set during November 2009.


 * AUDIO: Deadly Download
 * Set during November 2009.


 * TV: The End of Time
 * Shortly after Christmas 2009, Luke is saved from being struck by a car by the Doctor, who quickly leaves without speaking a word.


 * AUDIO: Wraith World


 * TV: The Nightmare Man
 * Though Luke has only just started Sixth form, setting this near September 2010, he takes his A levels a year early and leaves for Oxford University with K9.

Life at university

 * TV: The Vault of Secrets
 * Luke has settled into Oxford, but Sarah Jane is still coping with his absence.


 * TV: Death of the Doctor
 * Luke has still only "just left for university".


 * TV: SJAF 3
 * Luke visits 13 Bannerman Road from Oxford with his laundry, and learns of the new Alien Files for the first time.


 * TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
 * Luke visits from Oxford to help save Sarah Jane from a Qetesh called "Ruby White".


 * TV: SJAF 6
 * Luke visits 13 Bannerman Road from Oxford while Sarah Jane is researching a fossilised Silurian egg at the Pharos Institute with Clyde and Rani.


 * TV: Sky


 * TV: The Man Who Never Was
 * Luke and Sky meet face-to-face for the first time, and come to embrace each other as siblings. Luke has begun pairing Clyde and Rani together, calling them "Clani".

Later life

 * WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane
 * Luke attends Sarah Jane's wake with friends of hers and the Doctor, and helps repel a final attack from the Trickster. K9 leaves with Ace, and Luke, Clyde and Rani shut down Mr Smith when they lock up 13 Bannerman Road, as per Sarah Jane's last request. Though no date is given, Luke has been married to his husband for five years, and Jo is still alive, which would set this before 2028. Going by how little Luke, Rani and Clyde have aged, it is implied that Sarah Jane died in 2020, the year the story was released.