First Day of the Doctor (short story)

First Day of the Doctor was the fourth short story and thirteenth release exclusively published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023 by Penguin Group and written by Paul Lang.

The short story, stylised as diary entries written by a selection of Doctors after their first adventures, was notable for being the first work of fiction released to explicitly feature the Fifteenth Doctor, and the first to mention Ruby Sunday.

The Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor writes that he was in the middle of a spin class set up by his friend Mel when the TARDIS was forced to land on the planet Lakertya, causing him to regenerate after the crash landing. His assailant was the Rani, an old schoolmate of his, who had gone "rogue" and was trying to feed geniuses into a giant brain as part of some "preposterous plan" to achieve time manipulation on a large scale while he set about to stop her. The Doctor concludes, needn't specifying the outcome, as it was to him, obvious.

The Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor writes in his diary about how he, after his regeneration, had a nap in the Powell Estate when a ship containing the Sycorax arrived in London's sky, and Rose Tyler attempted to handle the situation. However, the Doctor was still needed, so after a cup of tea, he "sent the Sycorax packing with just a well-aimed satsuma". He then ate turkey and stuffing, thanks to Jackie Tyler preparing it, and afterwards he picked out a suit which he hoped not to get it "raggedy".

The Thirteenth Doctor
The Thirteenth Doctor writes in her diary that the last thing she wanted to do while wearing in her new pair of feet was to deal with a Stenza warrior travelling to Earth on a hunting expedition, but, thanks to a group of incredible people she met — Ryan, Yaz, and Graham — her new fam. After a regretful joke about them being fam-tastic, she then mentions how Tim Shaw had teeth embedded in his face and how Grace would've been brilliant in the TARDIS.

The Twelfth Doctor
The Twelfth Doctor writes about how his lack of a grin was justified by being swallowed by a dinosaur, riding around on a horse, almost being harvested for his flesh and organs, fighting a robot with half a face in a hot-air balloon, and had to deal with the trouble Madame Vastra and her friends got into, following his regeneration.

The Fifteenth Doctor
The Fifteenth Doctor's diary entry is obscured, and while most of the text is unintelligible, a quote — "what the h[...] here?" — is visible, as well as a mention of "Ruby S", but her surname is cut off.

Characters
(In order of appearance)
 * Seventh Doctor
 * The Rani
 * Tenth Doctor
 * A Sycorax
 * Thirteenth Doctor
 * Tim Shaw
 * Ryan
 * Yaz
 * Graham
 * Grace
 * Twelfth Doctor
 * A dinosaur
 * Fifteenth Doctor

Referenced only

 * Mel
 * Rose Tyler
 * A horse
 * Robot with half a face
 * Madame Vastra
 * Her friends
 * Ruby S

Worldbuilding

 * The Seventh Doctor mentions there was confusion involving a ginger curly wig.

Continuity

 * The Seventh Doctor's portion of the story recaps the events of Time and the Rani, albeit ignoring the later explanations of the Sixth Doctor's regeneration given in sources from Spiral Scratch to The Brink of Death.
 * The Tenth Doctor mentions the town of Christmas, which was introduced in the episode The Time of the Doctor.
 * The Tenth Doctor's portion of the story recaps the events of The Christmas Invasion.
 * The Thirteenth Doctor's portion of the story recaps the events of The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
 * The Twelfth Doctor's portion of the story recaps the events of Deep Breath.

Gallery
to be added