Theory:Timeline - 20th century

This page lists the order of stories in the Doctor Who Universe timeline from 1 January 1900 to 31 December 2000. (For the purposes of this timeline, 1900 and 2000 will both be included given the 0|"Year 0" discrepancy.) This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

The layout of this timeline is in part based on the observations on Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, as well as Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations, such as Doctor Who Reviews, Clive Banks databanks, and LegoK9's timeline. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Timeline rules:


 * Only list stories. References to dates that the story does not take place in are to be excluded.
 * Stories without any clear indication of an era should be omitted. (e.g. TV: Mummy on the Orient Express)
 * Many stories will contradict each other, so these contradictions should be noted but treated equally. (e.g. TV: The Enemy of the World and other stories set in 2018)
 * Direct quotes indicating the time period the story takes place should be provided. (Quotes sourced from another story should indicate the story it is from.)

Format (list all available):


 * Day Month Year - MEDIUM: Story title
 * CHARACTER/TEXT/NOTE: Indication of time period

1900s

 * 190X - TV: Horror of Fang Rock
 * REUBEN: Last time that beast was seen on Fang Rock, eighty year ago now, two men died that very same night.
 * VINCE: 'Ere, Reuben. You don't really think what happened before, back in the twenties, you don't really think it's happening again, do you?


 * 1902 - TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
 * African Plains 1902 A.D.


 * Between 1903 and 1915 - TV: Pond Life
 * DOCTOR: Met Mata Hari in a Paris hotel room.

1910s

 * 1911 - TV: Pyramids of Mars
 * SARAH: But he didn't, did he. I mean, we know the world didn't end in 1911.


 * 10-11 November 1913 - TV: Human Nature / The Family of Blood
 * MARTHA: I can prove that wrong for you, sir. Here's the morning paper. It's Monday, November tenth, nineteen thirteen, and you're completely human, sir. As human as they come.


 * 25 December 1914 - TV: Twice Upon a Time
 * DOCTOR: Any other day it wouldn't make any difference, but this is Christmas 1914, and a human miracle is about to happen. The Christmas Armistice.

1920s

 * 5 December 1920 - TV: Blink
 * The Hull Times, 5th December 1920


 * 1921 - TV: The Daleks' Master Plan
 * QUOTE? [Hollywood scene with Charlie Chaplin and Bing Crosby]


 * 11 June 1925 - TV: Black Orchid
 * DOCTOR: Three o'clock, June the 11th, 1925.


 * 8 December 1926 - TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp
 * DOCTOR: No policewomen in 1926.

1930s

 * 1 November 1930 - TV: Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks
 * MARTHA: November first, 1930


 * 1935 - TV: The Abominable Snowmen
 * DOCTOR: That attack in 1630, what was the outcome?
 * THOMNI: It disappeared three hundred years ago.
 * ANNE (The Web of Fear): Yes. Yes, he seems to. And you met him, when was it you said? In 1935? In Tibet?


 * 3 April 1938 - TV: The Angels Take Manhattan
 * AMY: Yes, hang on. Oh, April 3rd, 1938.


 * 1938 - TV: Let's Kill Hitler
 * JIM: Hang on! This is 1938. We're too early. We need to go later in his time stream.


 * 24 December 1938 - WC: Prequel / TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
 * MADGE: Oh, don't be silly. It's Christmas Eve. No one should be alone at Christmas.

1940s

 * 1941 - TV: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances
 * DOCTOR: I make it 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now.


 * 1941 - TV: Victory of the Daleks
 * QUOTE?


 * 1941 - TV: The Pandorica Opens
 * Cabinet War Rooms, London 1941


 * 24-25 December 1941 - TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
 * MADGE: England, 1941. And there's a war on.


 * 1943 - TV: The Curse of Fenric
 * ACE: I didn't know they had personal stereos in 1943.


 * 1943 - TV: Rosa
 * TEXT: Montomgery, Alabama 1943


 * 1947 - TV: Dreamland
 * Roswell crash


 * c. 1947 - TV: Knock Knock
 * DOCTOR: He's been keeping her alive with the bugs for about 70 years.

1950s

 * 1952 - TV: A Christmas Carol
 * Hollywood 1952.


 * 1 June 1953 - TV: The Idiot's Lantern / WC: Tardisode 7
 * DOCTOR: Oh! Is this 1953?

30 November-1 December 1955 - TV: Rosa
 * DOCTOR: Today is Wednesday, November 30th, 1955. Tomorrow Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat.


 * 1958 - TV: Dreamland
 * 11 years after the Roswell crash in 1947


 * 1959 - TV: Delta and the Bannermen
 * TOLLMASTER: Your prize. Hang about. You have won our fabulous Fifties tour. A week, a whole week, in Disneyland, planet Earth. And this time, they're going back to 1959. The rock and roll years.

1960s

 * 1963 - TV: An Unearthly Child
 * IAN: So that when we go out of that door, we won't be in a junkyard in London in England in the year 1963?


 * 29-30 November 1963 - TV: Remembrance of the Daleks
 * ACE: But this is Earth, 1963. Well, someone would have noticed. I'd have heard about it.


 * 1965 - TV: The Chase
 * IAN: London, 1965!


 * 25 December 1965 - TV: The Daleks' Master Plan
 * DOCTOR: Oh, Christmas. Oh, is it? Of course. Yes, yes, yes, yes. That accounts for the holly in the hall.


 * 1966 - TV: The Chase
 * MORTON: 1966 Ma'am. Say, you wouldn't be trying to have a bit of fun with me now, would you?


 * 20 July 1966 - TV: The War Machines
 * SUMMER: Gentleman, ladies, may I have your attention please? Well, you're heard the backroom boys, now it's about time you my turn. C Day, that is Computer Day, will be next Monday, July the 16th, that is in four days time.


 * 20 July 1966 - TV: The Faceless Ones
 * BEN: Don't you see, Duchess? July the 20th, 1966 is when it all began! We're back to when it all started. Well, I think.


 * 20 July 1966 - TV: The Evil of the Daleks
 * Picks up from The Faceless Ones


 * Later than 1968 - TV: The Underwater Menace
 * BEN: Mexico Olympiad....That's right, it wasn't due till 1968.
 * POLLY: Right, so now is any time later than that.


 * 1968 - TV: Fury from the Deep
 * QUOTE?


 * March or April 1969 - WC: Prequel (The Impossible Astronaut)
 * NIXON (The Impossible Astronaut): It's a direct call every time. Every day for the last two weeks, usually late at night.


 * 8 April 1969 - TV: The Impossible Astronaut
 * AMY: Washington D.C., April the eighth, 1969. So why haven't we landed?


 * 1969 - TV:  Blink
 * DOCTOR: 1969. Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to.


 * June 1969 - TV: Planet of Giants
 * Date according to PROSE: House of Giants


 * 20 July 1969 - TV: Day of the Moon
 * Three months later - July 1969.

UNIT Dating

 * All UNIT stories set in the 1970s and/or 1980s should be placed here. See UNIT dating controversy.''


 * c. 1975? - TV: The Web of Fear''
 * ANNE: Yes. Yes, he seems to. And you met him, when was it you said? In 1935? In Tibet?
 * TRAVERS: But it can't be. Why, that's over forty years ago.


 * 7 June 1977 - TV: Mawdryn Undead
 * DOCTOR: June the seventh, 1977. Well done, Brigadier. Come on.
 * NOTE: Despite being promoted between The Web of Fear and The Invasion, the Brigadier retired in 1976 and was a maths teacher.


 * c. 1979? - TV: The Invasion
 * BRIGADIER: That's right, McCrimmon, in the underground. Must be four years ago now.


 * 19XX - TV: Spearhead from Space
 * 19XX - TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians
 * 19XX - TV: The Ambassadors of Death
 * 19XX - TV: Terror of the Autons
 * 19XX - TV: The Mind of Evil
 * 19XX - TV: The Claws of Axos
 * 19XX - TV: The Dæmons
 * 19XX - TV: The Sea Devils
 * 19XX - TV: The Three Doctors
 * 19XX - TV: The Green Death
 * c. 1980 - TV: The Time Warrior
 * SARAH JANE (Pyramids of Mars): Oh, that's just the Doctor. We travel in time, Mister Scarman. I'm really from 1980.


 * c. 1980 - TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs
 * c. 1980 - TV: Planet of the Spiders
 * c. 1980 - TV: Robot
 * c. 1980 - TV: Terror of the Zygons
 * c. 1980 - TV: The Android Invasion
 * c. 1980 - TV: The Seeds of Doom
 * c. 1980 - TV: The Hand of Fear

1970s

 * 1970 - TV: Day of the Moon
 * MELODY: It's all right. It's quite alright. I'm dying. But I can fix that. It's easy, really. See?


 * 25 November 1974 - TV: Hide
 * PALMER: Excellent, then. Excellent. Caliburn House, night four, November 25th, 1974. 11:04 PM.


 * c. 1976 or 1977 - TV: Love & Monsters
 * ELTON [memory]]: What was it? I must have been three or four years old. Middle of the night, went downstairs, and there was this man.
 * NOTE: A deleted scene put Elton’s birthday as 1973.


 * 1977 - TV: Image of the Fendahl
 * NOTE: Not said on screen, only in a trailer.


 * 1978 - TV: The Pirate Planet
 * QUOTE?


 * 1978? - TV: The Stones of Blood
 * QUOTE?


 * 1979 - TV: City of Death
 * DOCTOR: Ah well, yes. It's 1979 actually. More of a table wine, shall we say. Ha! The randomiser's a useful device but it lacks true discrimination. Should we sip it and see?


 * October 1979 - TV: Shada
 * CHRONOTIS: Yes! Young Parsons. Born 1956, graduated 1978, honours degree in chemistry, currently engaged in sigma particles.
 * DOCTOR: It's October.

1980s

 * 1980 - TV: The Leisure Hive
 * QUOTE?


 * 1980 - TV: Meglos
 * QUOTE?


 * 1980 - TV: Before the Flood
 * DOCTOR: (The Doctor wets a finger and holds it up.) 1980.


 * 1981 - TV: The Keeper of Traken
 * QUOTE?


 * 28 February 1981 - TV: Logopolis
 * DOCTOR (Four to Doomsday): When was your flight again? ... February the twenty eighth, 1981. Oh, you'll have time for a cup of tea. It's only sixteen fifteen hours.


 * 1981 - TV: Four to Doomsday
 * QUOTE?


 * Autumn 1981 - TV: The Rings of Akhaten
 * Clara’s parents meet: The Doctor is hiding behind the Beano Summer Special 1981


 * c. 1982 - TV: Time-Flight
 * TEGAN: This is the 1980s, Nyssa. Police boxes went out with flower power.


 * 1983 - TV: Arc of Infinity
 * QUOTE?


 * 1983 - TV: Mawdryn Undead
 * DOCTOR: If these readings are correct, it's 1983 on Earth.


 * 1983 - TV: Cold War
 * CLARA: Yeah, but the world didn't end in 1983, did it, or I wouldn't be here.


 * 1984 - TV: The Awakening
 * TURLOUGH: We're not. I checked the time monitor. It is 1984.


 * 1984 - TV: Resurrection of the Daleks
 * DOCTOR: Well, the instruments are still affected by turbulence, but I think it's 1984, London. Found it!


 * 9 May 1984 - TV: Planet of Fire
 * Date according to AUDIO: The Reaping.


 * 1985 - TV: Attack of the Cybermen
 * DOCTOR: In your sun's solar system, in the year that you would calculate as 1985. I was, in fact, taking you to Earth.


 * c. 1985 - TV: The Two Doctors
 * QUOTE?


 * c. 23 November 1986 - TV: The Rings of Akhaten
 * CYBERMAN (Death in Heaven): [Clara Oswald was] born 23rd November, 1986.


 * December 1986 - TV: The Tenth Planet, The Doctor Falls, Twice Upon a Time
 * CALENDAR: December 1986.
 * POLLY: 1986! Oh no, and I thought we'd be able to get home.


 * 7 November 1987 - TV: Father's Day
 * DOCTOR: November the 7th?
 * ROSE: 1987.


 * 23 November 1988 - TV: Silver Nemesis
 * DOCTOR: In a matter of months since I was last here, he's calculated the exact time and date when a comet called Nemesis will land on this planet. The twenty third of November.
 * ACE: 1988


 * c. 1989 - TV: Survival
 * 198# - TV: The Rings of Akhaten
 * Toddler Clara.

1990s

 * 199# - TV: The Bells of Saint John
 * Primary school age Clara


 * c. 1992 - TV: Father's Day
 * NOTE: Young Rose in her flashback was portrayed by Julia Joyce, born in 1998, was 6 in 2005. Rose was born in 1986.


 * 24 December early 1990s - TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio
 * DOCTOR: Ho-ho-ho-ho. Merry Christmas, Grant!
 * DOCTOR: Grant, how long have you known this woman?
 * GRANT: Since elementary school. Twenty four years.


 * 1994 - TV: Good Night
 * DOCTOR: Your saddest ever memory was at a fairground in 1994.


 * Mid 199# - TV: Listen
 * DOCTOR: The West Country Children's Home. Gloucester. By the ozone level and the drains, mid-nineties. You must have been here when you had the dream.


 * 7 April 1996 - TV: The Eleventh Hour
 * AMELIA: Dear Santa. Thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish. It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you, but honest, it is an emergency.


 * c. 7 April 1996 - TV: The Angels Take Manhattan
 * AMY: There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond. And this how it ends.


 * c. 7 April 1996 - TV: The Big Bang
 * DOCTOR: Amelia's house. When she was seven. The night she waited.


 * 1996 - TV: The Chase
 * TICKET BOOTH: Festival of Ghana 1996


 * 199# - TV: Let's Kill Hitler
 * Amy, Rory, and Mels in primary school.


 * 1997 - TV: Battlefield
 * DOCTOR: Earth. A few years in your future.

NOTE: Date from PROSE: The Dying Days.
 * Late 1990s - TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio
 * GRANT: A couple of years after high school, I ran into her again.


 * 31 December 1999 - 1 January 2000 - TV: Doctor Who
 * BRUCE: December thirtieth.
 * LEE: 1999.
 * LEE: Right! Thanks. Thanks, Doctor! See you around, Grace. Happy new year!