Spain

Spain was a country in southwestern Europe. It was bordered to the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean, to the north by France via the Pyrenees and to the south by Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.

15th century
By the 15th century, it was against Spanish customs to engage in the slave trade. (AUDIO: Trouble in Paradise)

16th century
In the 1550s, Philip II was King of Spain, married to Queen Mary I of England. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy)

During the late 16th century, Spain fought a war with England. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz, AUDIO: Voyage to the New World)

In 1587, Sir Francis Drake launched an attack on the Spanish Armada in the port of Cadiz. The destruction suffered by the Spanish fleet delayed them until 1588. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz)

17th century
In 1603, shortly before her death, Queen Elizabeth I told the Seventh Doctor that the defeat of the Spanish Armada "saved [her] realm." (PROSE: Birthright)

In 1658, Spain was at war with England. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam)

20th century
The Spanish Civil War took place in the 1930s. It saw two large political parties and their supporters fight for control of Spain. During this time, many previously small factions came into play. Anarchists, communists and fascists all took part in the war.

The Eighth Doctor, Anji Kapoor and Fitz Kreiner visited Spain in 1937. They stayed in the anarchist-held Barcelona while studying anomalies in history. (PROSE: History 101)

Spain remained neutral during World War II, making it a prime destination for Resistance fighters and other people seeking to escape Nazi-occupied France. (AUDIO: Resistance)

In 1962, Barbara Wright went on holiday to Toledo. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz)

In 1966, the country was a destination of the villainous Chameleon Tours. (TV: The Faceless Ones)

As a child, Ace holidayed in Spain on several occasions. (AUDIO: Fiesta of the Damned)

In 1985, a Sontaran-Androgum group landed in Seville, taking over a local villa. Shockeye, along with the Second Doctor (who had been given genetic material that temporarily turned him into an Androgum), headed into town to try one of the local restaurants. (TV: The Two Doctors)

21st century
Elton Pope was fond of Spain, as he noted in his video diary. (TV: Love & Monsters)

During the "Cyberman invasion" of 2007, Donna Noble was scuba-diving in Spain and didn't witness them even though, as the Tenth Doctor noted, "They had Cybermen in Spain too". (TV: The Runaway Bride)

At 8:40AM GMT on a Wednesday in September 2009, Spain was among the numerous places across Earth in which RTAs occurred as a result of the 456 compelling every human child to suddenly stop and proclaim their message: "we are coming." (TV: Children of Earth: Day One)

Shortly after Miracle Day in 2011, Spain nearly went into bankruptcy. (TV: End of the Road)

In 2014, Liz Shaw visited Spain on a P.R.o.B.e. case to deal with a centuries-old ghost. Patsy Haggard later decided to quit her job at the Ministry of Defence and to move to Spain. She invited Liz to join her. (HOMEVID: When to Die)

By 2059, Spain was involved in space travel, conducing the Spacelink project. When the Tenth Doctor arrived at Bowie Base One, it was theorised that he might be part of a Spanish Mars mission. (TV: The Waters of Mars)

22nd century
By 2108, Malaga was an independent state. (AUDIO: The Two Irises)

Behind the scenes

 * As of 2018, Doctor Who has filmed seven stories in Spain. The first was Planet of Fire, which was shot in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic. This was followed by The Two Doctors, shot in Seville. In the seventh series of the revived series, Spanish mountain range Sierra Nevada served as the surface of the Dalek Asylum in Asylum of the Daleks, while Almeria's legendary Spaghetti Western sets were used to depict Mercy, Nevada in A Town Called Mercy. In series 8, the BBC Wales production team shot in Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, to depict the surface of the Moon in Kill the Moon. The New Mexico scenes for series 9 episode The Zygon Invasion were filmed in Fuerteventura, another Canary Island. The colony planet scenes for series 10 episode Smile were filmed in the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències) in Valencia. In series 11, the scenes in India and Pakistan were filmed in the province of Grenada in Demons of the Punjab.

Sbaen