Theory:Timeline - Donna Noble

This page lists appearances of Donna Noble 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, anthology, comic, audio or television series, their published, broadcast or numbered order is the order they occur in.

Before the Doctor

 * TV: Turn Left
 * Donna chooses to "turn left", leading to her job at H.C. Clements. The Trickster's Brigade attempts to alter the course of this event through a Time Beetle, but the Donna from Donna's World sacrifices herself to set history on the right track with the help of Rose Tyler.


 * TV: The Runaway Bride
 * Donna is spirited away from her marriage to Lance Bennett, whom she met at HC Clements, through huon energy on Christmas Day.


 * TV: Doomsday
 * Takes place during the teaser of The Runaway Bride, Donna inexplicably appears in the Doctor's TARDIS to the bewilderment of the Tenth Doctor.


 * TV: The Runaway Bride
 * Donna discovers that Lance was using her, having worked with the Empress of the Racnoss in her bid to bring forth her children only to be fed to them. Losing her husband and her job, Donna declines an invitation to join the Doctor, planning to explore the world.

Traveling with the Doctor

 * TV: Partners in Crime
 * Over a year after The Runaway Bride, Donna regrets her decision and seeks out the Doctor. To that end, she investigates Adipose Industries and ends up reuniting with the Doctor. After witnessing the March of the Adipose, the Doctor welcomes Donna aboard the TARDIS.


 * TV: The Fires of Pompeii
 * Donna takes her first trip in the TARDIS, arriving in Pompeii on the eve of Mount Vesuvius's eruption.


 * TV: Planet of the Ood
 * Donna visits her first alien planet; the Ood Sphere, where she and the Doctor free the Ood from enslavement.


 * COMIC: Untitled (10DY3 11)
 * The Doctor and Donna are dealing with the fallout of Partners in Crime. Donna is still adjusting to life in the TARDIS.


 * COMIC: Nightmare on the Boulevard


 * AUDIO: Death's Deal
 * Donna claims she is still "a bit new" to meeting aliens, setting this early in her travels in the TARDIS.


 * PROSE: Ghosts of India
 * Donna recalls the events of Planet of the Ood.


 * COMIC: Fuel


 * PROSE: The Doctor Trap
 * Donna refers to her visits to Pompeii and the Ood Sphere.


 * COMIC: Windswept


 * PROSE: Shining Darkness
 * Donna recalls the events of The Doctor Trap and notes that this is only the third time that she has met machine intelligences, setting this before Pest Control.


 * TV: The Sontaran Stratagem
 * Donna meets Martha Jones, the Doctor's former companion who summons him to assist UNIT in investigating the ATMOS factory. Donna visits her family for the first since traveling with the Doctor, and the Doctor is formally introduced to her grandfather, Wilfred Mott. The Doctor finds the Sontarans are behind the ATMOS plot, leading directly into The Poison Sky.


 * TV: The Poison Sky
 * After foiling the Sontarans' plot, Martha bids the Doctor and Donna farewell in the TARDIS, which takes off of its own accord with her still inside, leading directly into The Doctor's Daughter.


 * TV: The Doctor's Daughter
 * Arriving in a Human-Hath War on Messaline, the Doctor's DNA is taken to create a female clone; Jenny, who appears to die shielding the Doctor from a bullet. Donna learns the severed hand in the TARDIS once belonged to the Doctor.


 * The Doctor eventually gets Martha back home, and continues to travel with Donna.


 * COMIC: Any Old Iron
 * Ending leads directly into Merchant of Menace.


 * COMIC: Merchant of Menace


 * AUDIO: Pest Control


 * PROSE: Blood Will Out


 * COMIC: The Continuity Cap


 * COMIC: Wormhole


 * COMIC: The Black Hole Gang


 * PROSE: The Lonely Computer


 * COMIC: CitiZen's Arrest


 * COMIC: The Lavender Hill Blob


 * COMIC: Shark Bait


 * TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp
 * The Doctor and Donna meet Agatha Christie, and learn the circumstances of her disappearance. The Doctor recalls the events of The Lonely Computer.


 * PROSE: The Tempest - A Work in Progress
 * The Doctor and Donna are preoccupied with "dinosaur business" while the Doctor is helping Shakespeare write The Tempest.


 * AUDIO: Technophobia


 * COMIC: Mad Martha
 * Donna knows Martha, setting this after The Doctor's Daughter.


 * COMIC: The Black Sea
 * Ending leads directly into Sting of the Serpent.


 * COMIC: Sting of the Serpent
 * Ending leads directly into Attack of the Rats.


 * COMIC: Attack of the Rats
 * Ending leads directly into The Zantraan Invasion.


 * COMIC: The Zantraan Invasion


 * PROSE: Disappearing Act


 * PROSE: Hello Children, Everywhere


 * PROSE: Grand Theft Planet!


 * PROSE: Cold


 * PROSE: Bing Bong


 * PROSE: Island of the Sirens


 * PROSE: Hold Your Horses


 * COMIC: The Immortal Emperor


 * COMIC: Attack of the Mange Mites!


 * COMIC: The Greatest Mall in the Universe


 * PROSE: Once Upon a Time


 * COMIC: The Time Sickness


 * PROSE: Most Beautiful Music


 * COMIC: Death Disco


 * AUDIO: The Forever Trap
 * Donna knows of the Sontarans, setting this after The Doctor's Daughter.


 * AUDIO: Time Reaver
 * Authorial intend places this before Silence in the Library.


 * COMIC: Pawns of the Zenith
 * Ending leads directly into Swarm of the Zenith.


 * COMIC: Swarm of the Zenith
 * Ending leads directly into Prey of the Zenith.


 * COMIC: Prey of the Zenith
 * Ending leads directly into Lair of the Zenith.


 * COMIC: Lair of the Zenith


 * TV: Silence in the Library
 * Ending leads directly into Forest of the Dead.


 * TV: Forest of the Dead


 * COMIC: Autopia


 * COMIC: The Widow's Curse
 * Donna has already visited Mercury, Venus, Pluto, the rings of Saturn and seen the death of the Mestophelix Galaxy.


 * PROSE: Beautiful Chaos
 * The Doctor mentions "spoilers", implying that this takes place after Forest of the Dead.


 * COMIC: By Order of the Bonemenders


 * COMIC: The Alice in Wonderland Circuit


 * COMIC: Washed Away!


 * COMIC: Titanoleum Tourists


 * COMIC: The Time Stealer
 * Ending leads directly into School of the Dead.


 * COMIC: School of the Dead
 * Ending leads directly into Ghosts from the Past.


 * COMIC: Ghosts from the Past
 * Ending leads directly into The Battle for Time.


 * COMIC: The Battle for Time


 * TV: Midnight


 * PROSE: In the Blood
 * Authorial intend places this immediately after Midnight. (DWM 498) Donna mentions having had two husbands, setting this between Forest of the Dead and Death and the Queen. The Doctor and Donna recall meeting Gully during Time Reaver.


 * PROSE: Appendix - The Last Will


 * COMIC: Ground Control
 * The Doctor and Donna encounter the Cobalite.


 * COMIC: Just Another Thursday


 * COMIC: The Baktek Illusion


 * COMIC: The Man in the Moon


 * COMIC: Time Flies


 * COMIC: The Giant's Ring


 * COMIC: Frosty the Snowdemon


 * COMIC: Cold Blooded War!


 * AUDIO: The Nemonite Invasion
 * The Doctor claims to be 903-years-old.


 * AUDIO: Death and the Queen
 * Donna reflects on how far she has come as a person since first meeting the Doctor, setting this late in her travels.


 * TV: Turn Left
 * After learning that Donna was sent to a parallel world by the Trickster's Brigade, the Doctor realises he and Donna are being linked together and is told a message from Donna about Rose, leading directly into The Stolen Earth.


 * TV: The Stolen Earth
 * After Earth goes missing, the Doctor tracks down the missing planets to the Medusa Cascade, where he finds UNIT, Torchwood 3 and the Bannerman Road gang repelling an invasion by the New Dalek Empire, spearheaded by Davros and Dalek Caan. Rendezvousing with Rose and Jack, the Doctor is struck by a Dalek gunstick and begins to regenerate, leading directly into Journey's End.


 * TV: Journey's End
 * The Doctor averts his regeneration by siphoning off the remaining energy into his severed hand, which makes contact with Donna, growing into a new Doctor and giving Donna the mind of a Time Lord. After learning that Caan had manipulated the timeline to get the Doctor and Donna together for this purpose, the new Doctor destroys the New Dalek Empire and returns the stolen planets. After exiling the new Doctor to Pete's World to be with Rose, the Doctor is forced to erase all trace of himself from Donna's memory to prevent her brain from burning up, and returns her home.

After the Doctor

 * COMIC: Revolving Doors
 * The Doctor finds himself in Donna's house, but leaves before she can see him.


 * TV: The End of Time
 * Donna is engaged to Shaun Temple. Briefly menaced by the Master Race on Christmas Day, Donna is endangered as she begins to remember her time with the Doctor, but is saved due to a failsafe the Doctor had implanted into her mind.