Theory:Timeline - Clara Oswald

This page lists appearances of Clara Oswald in the order in which she 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.

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 the Big Finish forums. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Early life

 * Clara is born to Ellie and Dave Oswald. She first meets the Eleventh Doctor as a young child, unintentionally kicking a ball into his face. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten)


 * WC: The Bells of Saint John: A Prequel
 * Clara has a brief encounter with the Eleventh Doctor in her childhood.


 * At the age of nine, Clara visits a tower block near Southport with her father. (PROSE: Normality)


 * A teenaged Clara mourns her mother's death in 2005. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten)


 * TV: The Snowmen
 * An adult Clara visits a graveyard.

Travels with the Eleventh Doctor

 * TV: The Bells of Saint John
 * Having been given his phone number by "the ", Clara calls the Doctor to 2013, who helping him defeat the Wi-Fi plot of Rosemary Kizlet and her "client". The Doctor invites her to join him in the TARDIS, but she asks him to return later so she can think about it.


 * TV: The Rings of Akhaten
 * After traveling down her timeline to find out who she is, the Doctor takes Clara to Tiaanamat of the Sun-singers of Akhet, where they face the Old God Akhaten with Queen of Years Merry Gejelh.


 * The Doctor and Clara observe the Tonnchenform. (PROSE: Normality)


 * COMIC: The Mystery of the Mould


 * COMIC: The Planet That Went Backwards


 * COMIC: Teacher's Pet
 * The Doctor is now wearing his waistcoat from The Rings of Akhaten.


 * TV: Cold War
 * Clara has, by this point, official joined the Doctor as his traveling companion, and learns about the TARDIS translation circuit and Hostile Action Displacement System while facing Skaldak the Ice Warrior aboard the Firebird during the Cold War, as well as being told about time being in flux and rewritable.


 * COMIC: A Wing and a Prayer
 * The Doctor and Clara meet Amy Johnson. Clara hasn't realised the magnitude of time travel yet, setting this before Hide.


 * HOMEVID: Clara and the TARDIS
 * Clara and the Doctor's TARDIS are not getting along, setting this before Hide.


 * TV: Hide
 * The Doctor takes Clara to Caliburn House to get empathic psychic Emma Grayling's opinion of her, learning that there is nothing unusual about Clara. Clara begins to understand the ramifications of travelling in time, such as visiting someone in the past before their death or seeing her own grave in the future.


 * COMIC: Sky Jacks


 * COMIC: Coral Maze


 * COMIC: Sandblasted


 * COMIC: Tunnel Terrors!


 * COMIC: Dead Man's Hand
 * Clara is not familiar with the Last Great Time War at this point and Doctor refuses to tell her about it, setting this before The Name of the Doctor. The Doctor has not yet taken Clara to Shoreditch, setting this before Shroud of Sorrow. The Doctor is depicted wearing his clothes from Nightmare in Silver.


 * PROSE: Shroud of Sorrow
 * The Doctor refers to the events of Hide.


 * COMIC: Nova


 * COMIC: Line of Battle


 * TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS


 * COMIC: The Curse of the Gibwyn


 * COMIC: Gumfight


 * COMIC: The Hat Trick


 * COMIC: Gnome Guard


 * COMIC: Strictly Fight Monsters


 * COMIC: Planet Void


 * COMIC: The Door to a Winter Long Ago


 * COMIC: Night Light


 * COMIC: Reprogramme


 * COMIC: Shipwrecked


 * COMIC: Eye of the Storm


 * COMIC: Whale Tale


 * COMIC: Faceache


 * TV: The Crimson Horror
 * After an adventure with the Paternoster Gang in 1893 Yorkshire, the Doctor returns Clara home, where she learns that her charges, Angie and Artie Maitland, have discovered her ability to travel in time.


 * TV: Nightmare in Silver
 * The Doctor and Clara take Angie and Artie on a daytrip to Hedgewick's World of Wonders, where they face the Cybermen.


 * TV: The Name of the Doctor
 * Returning to collect Clara from her home, the Doctor learns that the Great Intelligence has taken the Paternoster Gang to Trenzalore to gain access to his tomb. When the Intelligence enters the Doctor's time stream to destroy it, Clara follows after him, resulting in her being splintered across time and meeting the Doctor during Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen. Entering his own time stream to save her, the Doctor is confronted by a memory of the War Doctor.


 * COMIC: Time Trick
 * Clara recognises the First Doctor on sight, setting this after The Name of the Doctor.


 * COMIC: The Birthday Boy


 * COMIC: Welcome to Tickle Town
 * Clara refers to the events of Nightmare in Silver.


 * COMIC: John Smith and the Common Men
 * Clara is said to have lived "many lives" on "many worlds", setting this after The Name of the Doctor.


 * COMIC: The Choice
 * After Adam Mitchell kidnaps Clara, the Doctor goes to investigate Adam's whereabouts, and finds him and in an alliance and holding a majority of his companions hostage, leading directly into Endgame.


 * COMIC: Endgame
 * The Doctor is joined by his previous incarnations to rescue Clara and the other companions from Adam and the Master. After Adam realises that the Master plans to destroy the universe to spite the Doctor, he stands up for the Doctor, only to be killed stopping the Master, though not before the Doctors admit their acceptance of Adam.


 * TV: The History of the Doctor
 * The Doctor is wearing his waistcoat from The Rings of Akhaten.


 * PROSE: Clara and the Maze of Cui Palta


 * PROSE: Normality
 * Having become a teacher at Coal Hill School, Clara takes a break from the TARDIS to live a normal live for a while.


 * TV: The Day of the Doctor
 * After picking Clara up from Coal Hill School, the Doctor is brought back into the Last Great Time War with his tenth incarnation by the Moment to help the War Doctor, which results in Clara convincing them to find an alternative to destroying Gallifrey, and the Doctors joining with their past incarnations to lock Gallifrey in a pocket dimension. With the Time Lords saved, the Eleventh Doctor decides to go looking for Gallifrey. The Eleventh Doctor meets Petronella Osgood, and gives his age as "1200-and-something", but admits he could be wrong. By this point, he has told Clara about the Last Great Time War and his role in it.


 * COMIC: Dragon Attack


 * COMIC: The Holly and the Ivy
 * Clara is preparing to celebrate Christmas, taking the Doctor Christmas shopping to get her father a present, setting this shortly before The Time of the Doctor.


 * COMIC: By the Book


 * COMIC: Creatures from the Deep


 * COMIC: Invaders of the Vortex


 * PROSE: Into the Nowhere
 * Set between The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor.


 * COMIC: A Tangled Web


 * COMIC: Ball-Pit Beast


 * COMIC: T-Shirt Terror


 * COMIC: Fans


 * COMIC: Pay the Piper
 * The Doctor loses the TARDIS, setting up the events of The Blood of Azrael.


 * COMIC: The Blood of Azrael


 * COMIC: Universally Known


 * COMIC: Thrill-Seeker


 * COMIC: Wintervention


 * COMIC: A Long Way Down


 * COMIC: The Killer Weed


 * COMIC: Eternity Springs


 * COMIC: Robot vs Robot


 * COMIC: Jungle Jam


 * COMIC: Swarm


 * AUDIO: False Coronets
 * Clara uses the alias "Miss Oswald of Coal Hill", setting this after she begins working at Coal Hill School.


 * TV: The Time of the Doctor
 * Tracing a signal to Trenzalore, the Doctor spends 900 years waging the Siege of Trenzalore. Clara convinces the Time Lords to assist the Doctor, and they comply by giving the Doctor a new regeneration cycle, allowing him to use the regeneration energy to destroy the Dalek ships and save Trenzalore. After saying goodby to Clara, the Doctor regenerates into his next incarnation.

Travels with the Twelfth Doctor

 * TV: Deep Breath
 * After recovering from his regeneration with the Paternoster Gang in Victorian London, Clara sends the Doctor for coffee in 2010s Glasgow.


 * TV: Into the Dalek
 * Clara meets Danny Pink at Coal Hill School, and the Doctor returns with coffee, three weeks after she sent him off.


 * COMIC: Road Rage
 * Clara resumes her ongoing travels with the Doctor.


 * COMIC: Untitled
 * The Doctor and Clara share chips together.


 * COMIC: Planet of the Diners
 * The Doctor mentions the chips that he and Clara recently shared in Untitled, and the TARDIS gets a scratch.


 * COMIC: The Inversion of Time
 * The Doctor has just removed the scratch on the TARDIS, setting this immediately after Planet of the Diners.


 * COMIC: The Bin Dilemma
 * The Doctor is still assessing what kind of person he has become.


 * PROSE: Silhouette
 * The Doctor entertains the idea of letting Clara decide their next destination, setting this before Robot of Sherwood. Clara also worries that the Doctor is mistaking her for Jenny Flint, setting this not long after Deep Breath.


 * TV: Robot of Sherwood
 * Deciding to let Clara decide their next destination, the Doctor ends up meeting Robin Hood in 1190 Sherwood Forest.


 * COMIC: Chime Time


 * COMIC: Once Bitten


 * COMIC: Crash Landing


 * PROSE: The Blood Cell
 * Clara is friendly with Danny, but does not call him her boyfriend, setting this before their date in Listen.


 * COMIC: The Court of Birds


 * TV: Listen
 * Clara goes on her first date with Danny.


 * COMIC: The Monsters of Coal Hill School
 * The Doctor is picking Clara up from Coal Hill School.


 * COMIC: More Than Meets the Eye


 * COMIC: Witch Work


 * TV: Time Heist
 * The Doctor is picking Clara up for some adventures while she prepares for another date with Danny.


 * The Doctor and Clara are left to the mercy of sand piranhas while chained to posts on a desert planet. (TV: The Caretaker)


 * PROSE: The Crawling Terror
 * Clara has a boyfriend, setting this after her and Danny's second date in Time Heist.


 * The Doctor picks up Clara from her flat, and the two rendezvous with fish people. (TV: The Caretaker)


 * PROSE: When the Wolves Came


 * The Doctor and Clara outrun soldiers to get to the TARDIS. (TV: The Caretaker)


 * COMIC: Gift Snatched!


 * COMIC: Freeze


 * TV: The Caretaker
 * While facing a Skovox Blitzer at Coal Hill School, the Doctor meets Danny Pink and learns he's Clara's boyfriend after the two get off on the wrong foot due to Danny's military service. The Doctor takes Courtney Woods on a brief trip in the TARDIS to dispose of the Skovox Blitzer.


 * COMIC: Terrorformer
 * The Doctor and Clara have faced the Daleks, Robot Knights and the Skovox Blitzer by this point, setting this after The Caretaker.


 * COMIC: Petrified


 * COMIC: The Swords of Kali


 * PROSE: A Long Way Down


 * PROSE: Silver Mosquitoes


 * COMIC: The Wheelers


 * COMIC: Five a Day


 * COMIC: The Very Hungry Snake


 * COMIC: The Fractures
 * Clara says she would do anything to reclaim someone she lost, setting this before Dark Water.


 * COMIC: Four Doctors
 * Set before Dark Water, with cryptic references to Clara betraying the Doctor's trust.


 * COMIC: Open Mic Night
 * Set during Four Doctors.


 * COMIC: The Doctors Do... Classic Comedy
 * Set during Four Doctors.


 * TV: Kill the Moon
 * Enough time has passed since The Caretaker for Courtney to have increased her disruptive behaviour. After taking Courtney to the Moon leads to a dilemma about ending an unborn life that the Doctor leaves her to sort out, Clara falls out with the Doctor, and tells him to leave her alone.


 * TV: Mummy on the Orient Express
 * Clara and the Doctor meet up to have a last adventure together on the Orient Express spacecraft, which leads to them making up after the Doctor proves himself by saving Maisie Pitt from the Foretold. Inspired by a talk she had with Maisie, Clara begins lying to Danny about no longer travelling in the TARDIS and having ended it with the Doctor. All stories with Clara acting more like the Doctor take place after this one.


 * COMIC: The Body Electric
 * Clara is considering what kind of companion she is, probably because of her recent fall out with the Doctor in Kill the Moon.


 * COMIC: Empire's Fall


 * COMIC: The Big Hush


 * TV: Flatline
 * After the TARDIS exterior shrinks with him still inside, the Doctor has Clara carry the shrunken TARDIS in her handbag while they and Rigsy deal with the Boneless. During his predicament, the Doctor learns that Clara has been lying to him and Danny after the events of Mummy on the Orient Express. After the TARDIS is returned to normal, the Doctor begins to suspect that Clara has started to act like him.


 * COMIC: The Eye of Torment
 * The Doctor comes to a definite conclusion to his theory of Clara starting to think like him, setting this after Flatline.


 * COMIC: The Instruments of War
 * Clara mentions "carrying [the Doctor] around next to [her] hairbrush and keys last week", setting this after Flatline.


 * COMIC: Doctor in a Bottle
 * The Doctor is picking Clara up from Coal Hill School.


 * The Doctor and Clara foil a plot by Zorgo the Terrible, (COMIC: Zorgo the Terrible) and meet Diana Winter. (AUDIO: The Gods of Winter)


 * COMIC: Gangland


 * COMIC: Doctor on the Menu
 * The Doctor is picking Clara up from Coal Hill School.


 * COMIC: Trust


 * COMIC: Unearthly Things


 * TV: In the Forest of the Night
 * The Doctor was alone when Maebh Arden found him. When the world is overran by trees, Danny discovers Clara is still travelling with the Doctor after assuming they hadn't been speaking for three months. Once the crisis is averted, Danny tells Clara to go home and "think about it" before telling him the truth.


 * COMIC: Space Invaders!


 * PROSE: All the Empty Towers
 * Clara mentions the events of In the Forest of the Night.


 * COMIC: Blood and Ice
 * Authorial intent places this towards the end of Series 8.


 * TV: Dark Water
 * After traveling alone for a while, the Doctor learns that Danny was killed in a hit and run when Clara called him to explain everything to do with her travels. Deciding to help Clara find closure, the Doctor takes her to the 3W Institute and learns that, now in a female body and calling herself "Missy", is preparing to invade London with the Cybermen, leading directly into Death in Heaven.


 * TV: Death in Heaven
 * Missy, who is revealed to be the one who gave Clara the Doctor's phone number, is captured by UNIT as the Cybermen take flight, and the Doctor is made "President of Earth" in the face of the Cybermen rising from the graves. Missy kills one of the Osgoods, while Danny, having fought off the cyber-conversion, sacrifices himself to stop the Cybermen, and Missy is apparently killed by a cyber-resurrected Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart after giving the Doctor the coordinates to Gallifrey. Wanting the Doctor to return to Gallifrey, Clara lies about Danny using the Nethersphere to restore his life, and the two part ways again.


 * TV: Last Christmas
 * Clara is collected by the Doctor during an encounter with Santa Claus, and explains that the two are being attacked by Dream crabs. Encouraged by a dream of her growing old alone, Clara returns to the TARDIS after she and the Doctor tell each other the truth about Gallifrey and Danny being lost to them.


 * COMIC: The Partying of the Ways
 * The Doctor throws Clara a surprise birthday party with duplicates of herself, including the Elderly Clara from Last Christmas.


 * COMIC: Silver Screenesis


 * The Doctor and Clara admire some dogs, not realising that they were almost trapped in a time eddy by Zorgo. (COMIC: Zorgo the Terrible)


 * COMIC: Briarwood
 * The Doctor and Clara steal the portrait of Lady Josephine, which takes on a life of her own due to animae particles. The Doctor takes the painting, calling herself Josie Day, to his old cottage to meet the Eighth Doctor.


 * AUDIO: The Gods of Winter
 * Clara references Danny's death.


 * COMIC: Selfie


 * COMIC: A Matter of Life and Death
 * The Doctor checks on his eighth incarnation and Josie with Clara. The Doctor has shorter hair and is hiding his softer side from Clara behind a grumpy demeanour, setting this before The Hyperion Empire.


 * COMIC: Spirits of the Jungle
 * Clara is on speaking terms with the Doctor, and states that Danny Pink is dead, setting this after Last Christmas.


 * AUDIO: The House of Winter


 * COMIC: Zorgo the Terrible
 * The Doctor is reencountered by Zorgo, and has to deal with his time dragon, leading directly into Super Gran.


 * COMIC: Super Gran
 * Zorgo's time dragon takes the Doctor and Clara to the Doctor's old friend, Gertie, and she and her grandson, Charlie Baker, take a brief trip to Mars in the TARDIS.


 * PROSE: Sunset Over Venus
 * Devika mentions the events of Kill the Moon.


 * AUDIO: The Sins of Winter


 * COMIC: The Hyperion Empire
 * The Doctor is still traveling with Clara and has previously been "President of Earth", setting this after Last Christmas.


 * AUDIO: The Memory of Winter
 * The Doctor uses his green-emitter sonic screwdriver.


 * COMIC: Hyperballad
 * The Doctor is now wearing his clothes from Last Christmas.


 * COMIC: Relative Dimensions
 * The Doctor is wearing his clothes from Last Christmas, and wields his sonic screwdriver.


 * PROSE: Royal Blood
 * The Doctor is depicted with the clothes he wore in Last Christmas.


 * COMIC: The Board Games


 * PROSE: Deep Time
 * The Doctor recalls the events of Royal Blood and is depicted with the clothes he wore in Last Christmas.


 * TV: The Magician's Apprentice 


 * TV: The Witch's Familiar


 * COMIC: Beauty Sleep
 * The Doctor picks up Clara from Coal Hill School.


 * TV: Under the Lake
 * Encountering ghosts on a mining facility, the Doctor decides to go back in time to find the source of the paranormal activity, leading directly into Before the Flood.


 * TV: Before the Flood
 * The Doctor defeats the Fisher King, and makes arrangements for the ghosts to be dealt with by UNIT.


 * COMIC: Day of the Tune
 * Ending leads directly into The Meddling of Clara's Song.


 * COMIC: The Meddling of Clara's Song
 * Ending leads directly into The Abominable Showmen.


 * COMIC: The Abominable Showmen
 * As The Magician's Apprentice made it clear Clara had not seen Missy since the events of Death in Heaven, The Abominable Showmen has to be set after the events of The Witch's Familiar. Ending leads directly into The Five Masters.


 * COMIC: The Five Masters
 * Ending leads directly into One! Two! Three! Four! To Doomsday.


 * COMIC: One! Two! Three! Four! To Doomsday


 * COMIC: Epilogopolis
 * Follows on from One! Two! Three! Four! To Doomsday.


 * COMIC: The Highgate Horror
 * The Doctor and Clara meet Jess Collins at the Highgate Cemetery in 1972.


 * COMIC: Time and PR in Space
 * The Doctor uses his sonic sunglasses and is now wearing his Season 9 clothes.


 * TV: The Girl Who Died
 * After remembering where he got his face from and what it stands for, the Doctor uses Mire technology to render a young Viking girl, Ashildr, immortal and unable to age.


 * TV: The Woman Who Lived


 * TV: The Zygon Invasion


 * TV: The Zygon Inversion


 * COMIC: Clara Oswald and the School of Death
 * The Doctor comes to pick Clara up from her flat. The Doctor reclaims the spare sonic screwdriver he gave Clara in The Fractures, and resumes using it regularly. It is September 2015 in Clara's time. The presence of two Osgoods sets this after The Zygon Inversion.


 * COMIC: The Dragon Lord
 * The Doctor uses his green-emitter sonic screwdriver, and hugs Clara as he did in The Girl Who Died.


 * COMIC: Theatre of the Mind
 * The Doctor uses his green-emitter sonic screwdriver.


 * COMIC: Witch Hunt
 * The Doctor was traveling alone when Clara phoned him, and is using his green-emitter sonic screwdriver. It is Halloween Night in Clara's time, and, after a few months, she opens an IT suite in Danny's memory, stating that doing so has given her closure over his death.


 * TV: Sleep No More


 * COMIC: The Fourth Wall
 * The Doctor uses his green-emitter sonic screwdriver.


 * COMIC: The Day at the Doctors
 * The Doctor is using his blue-emitter sonic screwdriver.


 * COMIC: The Faceless Two


 * COMIC: Surfshock


 * COMIC: Planet of the Rude


 * TV: Face the Raven
 * Reuniting with Rigsy to combat Ashildr, Clara is killed by a Quantum Shade and the Doctor is sent away to an unknown location, leading directly into Heaven Sent.

Travels with Ashildr

 * TV: Hell Bent
 * The Doctor uses his power as Lord President of Gallifrey to save Clara from the Quantum Shade using a extraction chamber. However, he forces himself to lose his memories of Clara when he realises how far he went to get her back.


 * Clara spends an indeterminate amount of time with Ashildr going "the long way round" in a TARDIS before ultimately going back to Gallifery to meet her fate on the trap street.