Theory:Timeline - Melanie Bush

This page lists appearances of Melanie Bush in the order in which she experienced them. This timeline is based on observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events in each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. It is generally assumed, much like their TV story counterparts, that each novel, comic or audio series their published/numbered order is the order they occur in.

The layout of this timeline is based in part on the observations on Doctor Who Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations, such as DocOhoReviews, The History of Doctor Who, The Discontinuity Guide, Clive Banks Databanks, the Big Finish forums, The Whoniverse and The Divergent Universe forum. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Travels with the Sixth Doctor

 * PROSE: Business Unusual
 * After a period of avoiding Mel out of fear that travelling with her would lead him on the path to becoming the Valeyard, the Doctor decides to bow down to destiny and accept her as his companion when circumstances lead him to Pease Pottage and Mel helps him defeat a Nestene invasion with the Brigadier.


 * PROSE: Mortal Thoughts
 * The Doctor is described as wearing the clothes he wore in Business Unusual.


 * PROSE: A Wee Deoch an ...?


 * PROSE: The Deal
 * The Doctor is depicted wearing the clothes he wore in Business Unusual.


 * PROSE: A Tourist Invasion


 * PROSE: Swamp of Horrors


 * AUDIO: Catch-1782


 * AUDIO: Intuition


 * AUDIO: The Seeds of War
 * The Doctor recommends avoiding the work of agronomist Sarah Lasky, suggesting a pre-Terror of the Vervoids setting. The Doctor is depicted wearing the clothes he wore in Business Unusual.


 * PROSE: Fairy Tale of New New York
 * The Doctor is illustrated as wearing the clothes he wore in Business Unusual.


 * PROSE: Dr Cadabra
 * Mel and the Doctor are aiming for New Year's Eve, setting this immediately before Millennial Rites.


 * PROSE: Millennial Rites
 * The Doctor and Mel haven't encountered the Vervoids yet.


 * AUDIO: Thicker Than Water
 * Second depiction of Mel meeting with Evelyn, and Evelyn's life after traveling aboard the TARDIS. The Doctor is depicted wearing the clothes he wore in Business Unusual.


 * PROSE: The Man Who Wouldn't Give Up
 * The Doctor is on a diet at Mel's insistence, setting this near Terror of the Vervoids.


 * TV: Terror of the Vervoids


 * AUDIO: The One Doctor
 * The Doctor attributes his good eyesight in the dark to lots of carrot juice, meaning he is on the diet Mel had him on in Terror of the Vervoids. He is also depicted wearing the clothes he wore in Terror of the Vervoids. Mel mentions the "running gag" that she has the memory of an Elephant, setting this after Terror of the Vervoids when this joke first came about.


 * AUDIO: The Juggernauts
 * Mel encounters the Daleks for the first time, and changes her hairstyle to the one from The Ultimate Foe.


 * TV: The Ultimate Foe
 * Around this time, the Doctor and Mel take a trip to Oxyveguramosa, where Mel is taken by the Master to give testament at the Doctor's trial, (PROSE: Business Unusual) and later returned by the past Doctor after a brief stop at Pease Pottage. (AUDIO: The Wrong Doctors)


 * PROSE: Sold Out
 * Diamond Sharp references the Doctor's role in Terror of the Vervoids.


 * PROSE: The Best Joke I Ever Told
 * Mel knows the Daleks, and feels she needs to brush up on her knowledge of future technology.


 * PROSE: Old Boys
 * The Doctor and Mel defeat the Rainbow.


 * PROSE: Fegovy
 * Set after The Best Joke I Ever Told, as Mel has updated her knowledge of future technology. She has been travelling in the TARDIS for several months by now.


 * AUDIO: The Wishing Beast
 * According to the audio's blurb, this story is set sometime after Thicker Than Water. The Doctor claims that his cavalier days are long since passed, setting this after Terror of the Vervoids, where Mel states that she hasn't seen the Doctor on guard before.


 * AUDIO: The Vanity Box
 * Set immediately after The Wishing Beast.


 * AUDIO: Spaceport Fear
 * Set immediately after The Vanity Box. Although the Doctor is depicted wearing his blue coat on the CD cover, he is described in the story itself as wearing his multi-coloured one.


 * PROSE: The Eyes Have It
 * Set after The Vanity Box.


 * PROSE: The Quantum Archangel
 * Mel recalls the events of Millennial Rites. The Doctor is depicted wearing the clothes he wore in Time and the Rani.


 * PROSE: Instruments of Darkness
 * First depiction of Mel meeting with Evelyn, and Evelyn's life after traveling aboard the TARDIS. Mel mentions the events of Terror of the Vervoids.


 * PROSE: Change Management


 * PROSE: Home Fires
 * In Paradise Towers, Mel recalls the Doctor jettisoning the leaking swimming pool from the TARDIS, suggesting she was inside the TARDIS during this story.


 * PROSE: Curtain Call
 * Set immediately prior to Spiral Scratch.


 * PROSE: Spiral Scratch
 * In the second depiction of his regeneration, while the Doctor is suffering from chronon energy starvation after his confrontation with the Lamprey, the TARDIS is attacked by the Rani and the Doctor bangs his head, fatally injuring him. The Doctor and Mel had recently visited Kolpasha in Instruments of Darkness beforehand.


 * AUDIO: The Brink of Death
 * In the third depiction of his regeneration, the Doctor is exposed to focused beams of a radiation lethal to Time Lords as a consequence of the Rani's attack on the TARDIS, due to a future version of himself sending him a message on how to defeat the Valeyard's master plan with his death.

Travels with the Seventh Doctor

 * TV: Time and the Rani
 * The Doctor completes his regeneration into his next incarnation.


 * AUDIO: Unregenerate!
 * The Doctor is still recovering from the effects of his recent regeneration, as indicated by the large amount of the lindos hormone in his system.


 * PROSE: Daisy Chain
 * The Doctor brings a new hat stand back into the TARDIS console room. He acts much like his immediate predecessor, suggesting he is still recovering from the regeneration.


 * COMIC: Plastic Millenium
 * Mel is wearing the same clothes she wore in Paradise Towers.


 * PROSE: 24 Crawford Street
 * Mel is wearing the same clothes she wore in Paradise Towers.


 * TV: Paradise Towers
 * PROSE: Special Weapons
 * Pex's sacrifice from Paradise Towers is still on Mel's mind.


 * PROSE: The Invertebrates of Doom
 * AUDIO: We Are The Daleks
 * AUDIO: The Warehouse
 * The Doctor's whangee umbrella is damaged, and he says he'll get a new one. All stories where the Doctor has his red question mark umbrella should be placed after this one.


 * AUDIO: Terror of the Sontarans
 * AUDIO: Flip-Flop
 * The audio's blurb sets this between Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannermen, and the Doctor is carrying his red question mark umbrella, setting this after The Warehouse. The two versions of the story detail what happens when the Doctor is coerced into changing the past, but offers no conclusion about which of the versions is the "correct" one.


 * TV: Delta and the Bannermen
 * The Doctor is using an umbrella with a large red question mark designed handle.


 * PROSE: Driftwood
 * Set after Delta and the Bannermen.


 * AUDIO: Red
 * The Doctor is carrying his red question mark umbrella, so this is placed after The Warehouse, and gets a proverb wrong, so this is placed before Bang-Bang-a-Boom!


 * PROSE: Pulling Strings
 * The Doctor is carrying his red question mark umbrella, setting this after Delta and the Bannermen.


 * PROSE: Uranus
 * The Doctor still acts lighthearted, but Mel is starting to feel alienated by him.


 * AUDIO: Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
 * The Doctor promises to stop mangling proverbs, so this is placed after Delta and the Bannerman.


 * AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan
 * The Doctor acts more brooding, something Mel claims to have never seen in him before.


 * PROSE: Have You Tried Turning It Off and Then Back On Again?
 * PROSE: Just War (one scene, not main narrative)
 * The Doctor and Melanie meet Emil Hartung. The Doctor realises he will have to leave Mel soon, or else her morals compromise his agendas.


 * TV: Dragonfire
 * On Iceworld, the Doctor and Mel bump into Sabalom Glitz again, and also meet a time-displaced 16 year old girl named Ace. Mel leaves the Doctor to travel with Glitz. The Doctor offers to let Ace travel with him in the TARDIS, and she accepts.


 * PROSE: Head Games
 * Mel leaves Glitz after travelling with him for 6 months, before getting stuck on Avalone for a further 6 months. She discovers that the Doctor manipulated her into leaving with Glitz and they part on bitter terms.


 * PROSE: Heritage
 * Mel is killed on the planet Heritage, due to manipulations in the timeline caused by the Council Of Eight. Following their defeat and the restoration of multiple timelines to the universe, this fate is no longer set in stone.

Reunited with the Doctor and Ace

 * AUDIO: A Life of Crime
 * Mel rejoins the TARDIS crew.


 * AUDIO: Fiesta of the Damned
 * AUDIO: Maker of Demons
 * AUDIO: The High Price of Parking
 * AUDIO: The Blood Furnace
 * AUDIO: The Silurian Candidate
 * AUDIO: Red Planets
 * AUDIO: The Dispossessed

After the Doctor

 * PROSE: Business as Usual
 * Mel returns to Pease Pottage circa 1991 after years of travelling with the Doctor.


 * PROSE: Message in a Bottle
 * Mel sends a message in a Bottle into space, hoping the Doctor will find it.


 * PROSE: Death of the Doctor
 * Mel is working with A Charitable Earth to help provide PCs to children in Africa.