Theory:Timeline - Bernice Summerfield

This page lists the appearances of Bernice Summerfield in the order in which she experienced them

While most of Bernice Summerfield's experiences are relatively linear and comparable to story order there are several stories, notably in Big Finish Productions' stories and latterly some of their audio stories that take place at varrying points throughout Bernice's life.

Limiting factors
Bernice first meets the Seventh Doctor and Ace in PROSE: Love and War, she concludes regular TARDIS travel with him in Happy Endings though she does meet the Doctor in other stories after this.

The Eighth Doctor drops Bernice off on Dellah at the end of The Dying Days.

Series basics
Bernice Summerfield's stories can be broadly divided up by publisher and who (if anyone) she shared the story with.


 * Virgin New Adventures, the series she debuted into alongside the Seventh Doctor and Ace in Love and War.
 * DWM comics. These were published at the same time as the novels and feature the Seventh Doctor, Bernice and Ace based on their appearances within the books.


 * Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures, the series of books that continued after Virgin lost the Doctor Who licence, these stories featured Bernice Summerfield in the main character role and continued her adventures after she was dropped off on Dellah by the Eighth Doctor in The Dying Days.
 * Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series, these prose stories and audio stories feature Bernice Summerfield after her solo Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures.

Early Life

 * PROSE: Biology Lesson on Mal Oreille
 * Bernice is seven years old.


 * PROSE: The Evacuation of Bernice Summerfield Considered as a Short Film by Terry Gilliam
 * Bernice is eight years old.


 * PROSE: The Tunnels to Heaven
 * Bernices is thirteen years old.


 * PROSE: Genius Loci
 * PROSE: The Ship of Painted Shadows
 * Preceding stories set in 2562.


 * PROSE: Prime Five
 * Bernice is twenty-three years old.


 * PROSE: Postcards from the Edge of Reason
 * Bernice is working as a journalist.


 * PROSE: The Badblood Diaries
 * Bernice is still working as a journalist, story set in 2565.


 * PROSE: Possum Kingdom (2565 portion)
 * PROSE: Thirty Love

Doctor Who

 * PROSE: Love and War
 * PROSE: Transit
 * PROSE: The Highest Science
 * PROSE: The Pit
 * COMIC: Pureblood
 * COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!
 * Both comics feature only the Seventh Doctor and Bernice. Must take place before Deceit.


 * PROSE: Deceit
 * PROSE: Lucifer Rising
 * PROSE: White Darkness
 * PROSE: Shadowmind
 * PROSE: Birthright
 * PROSE: Blood Heat
 * PROSE: The Dimension Riders
 * PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird
 * PROSE: Conundrum
 * PROSE: No Future
 * PROSE: Tragedy Day
 * PROSE: Legacy
 * PROSE: Theatre of War / AUDIO: Theatre of War
 * PROSE: All-Consuming Fire / AUDIO: All-Consuming Fire
 * AUDIO: The Shadow of the Scourge
 * AUDIO: The Dark Flame
 * The Big Finish pages for The Shadow of the Scourge and The Dark Flame places them after All-Consuming Fire and before Blood Harvest.


 * PROSE: Virgin Lands
 * Publication order for NA-era Big Finish Benny/Ace stories.


 * PROSE: Cold War
 * Publication order for NA-era Big Finish Benny/Ace stories.


 * PROSE: Blood Harvest
 * PROSE: Strange England
 * PROSE: First Frontier
 * PROSE: St Anthony's Fire
 * PROSE: Falls the Shadow
 * PROSE: Parasite
 * PROSE: Warlock
 * PROSE: Set Piece
 * PROSE: Infinite Requiem
 * PROSE: Sanctuary
 * PROSE: Human Nature
 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: And Then Again
 * Proper Benny is travelling with the Doctor.


 * PROSE: Short Trips: Past Tense: Of the Mermaid and Jupiter
 * Benny and the Doctor are travelling together without any other companions. Benny has travelled with Ace.


 * PROSE: Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code
 * Benny and the Doctor are travelling together without any other companions. Benny has travelled with Ace.


 * PROSE: Original Sin
 * PROSE: Sky Pirates!
 * PROSE: Zamper
 * PROSE: Toy Soldiers
 * PROSE: Head Games
 * PROSE: The Also People
 * PROSE: Shakedown
 * PROSE: Just War
 * PROSE: Warchild
 * PROSE: Sleepy
 * PROSE: Death and Diplomacy
 * PROSE: Happy Endings
 * Bernice and Jason's wedding.


 * PROSE: Possum Kingdom (2579 portion)
 * PROSE: Return of the Living Dad
 * PROSE: The Judgement of Solomon
 * Benny has time travelled, but it's not explained how. She is still married.


 * PROSE: So Vile a Sin
 * PROSE: Eternity Weeps
 * Bernice and Jason divorce.


 * PROSE: The Dying Days
 * Bernice is dropped on Dellah by the Eighth Doctor

Dellah

 * PROSE: Oh No It Isn't! / AUDIO: Oh No It Isn't!
 * PROSE: Dragons' Wrath / AUDIO: Dragons' Wrath
 * AUDIO: Disassembled
 * Set during the events of Dragon's Wrath.


 * PROSE: Beyond the Sun / AUDIO: Beyond the Sun
 * PROSE: Ship of Fools
 * PROSE: Down
 * PROSE: Deadfall
 * PROSE: Ghost Devices
 * PROSE: Mean Streets
 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: The Spartacus Syndrome
 * Benny is living on Dellah. She pretends to be Menlove Stokes. She is working for Brax.


 * PROSE: Tempest
 * PROSE: Walking to Babylon / AUDIO: Walking to Babylon
 * AUDIO: Birthright
 * AUDIO: Just War
 * PROSE: Oblivion
 * PROSE: The Medusa Effect
 * PROSE: Dry Pilgrimage
 * PROSE: The Sword of Forever
 * PROSE: Another Girl, Another Planet
 * PROSE: Beige Planet Mars
 * PROSE: Where Angels Fear
 * PROSE: The Mary-Sue Extrusion
 * PROSE: Tears of the Oracle
 * PROSE: Return to the Fractured Planet
 * PROSE: The Joy Device
 * PROSE: Twilight of the Gods

The Fifth Axis

 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: A Question of Identity
 * Benny has very recently moved to the Collection, and is deluding herself that she's a serious academic.


 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: The Light that Never Dies
 * The Collection is still just starting, and is very disorganised.


 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: Christmas Spirit
 * It's Christmas.


 * PROSE: The Doomsday Manuscript
 * Brax gets Benny a new Joseph (recreated from the android in The Dark Flame). The Collection celebrates the new millennium.


 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: Steal from the World (present segments)
 * Benny has Joseph. The Collection is apparently going well enough that she can take a personal expedition.


 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: Heart of Glass
 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: The Monster and the Archaeologists
 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: Step Back in Time
 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: The Door into Bedlam
 * Benny used to think she'd be able to find Jason, but had more recently lost hope, so this is probably after The Doomsday Manuscript.


 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: The Least Important Man
 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries: Digging up the Past
 * PROSE: The Dead Men Diaries
 * Set after the other stories in the anthology. Benny refers to the upcoming publication of "Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Doomsday Manuscript," so the events of The Doomsday Manuscript have already happened.


 * AUDIO: The Secret of Cassandra
 * PROSE: The Gods of the Underworld
 * PROSE: The Squire's Crystal (novel)
 * AUDIO: The Stone's Lament
 * AUDIO: The Extinction Event
 * PROSE: The Infernal Nexus (novel)
 * Benny finds out she's pregnant.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Dear Friend
 * Benny wrote this letter to the Doctor shortly after she discovered she was pregnant with Peter. She hasn't seen him in a while, so Benny's Story is later. She remembers both versions of Just War.


 * AUDIO: The Skymines of Karthos
 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Cuckoo
 * Benny is pregnant with Peter.


 * PROSE: The Glass Prison
 * Publication order for "present" Bernice Summerfield stories from Big Finish.


 * AUDIO: The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy
 * AUDIO: The Green-Eyed Monsters
 * AUDIO: The Plague Herds of Excelis
 * AUDIO: Many Happy Returns (Iris flashback)
 * Set after Benny and Iris's adventure.


 * AUDIO: The Dance of the Dead
 * Publication order for "present" Bernice Summerfield stories from Big Finish. Follows The Plague Herds of Excelis.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Kill the Mouse!
 * Connected to Heart of Glass. Benny is working for Brax on the collection.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Solar Max and the Seven-Handed Snake-Mother
 * Benny goes on an archaeological expedition.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: A Mutual Friend
 * Benny convinced Jason to use their time rings to go to 21st century Earth. She's working for Brax.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Alien Planets and You
 * Contains a description of people like Braxiatel. Jason is Benny's ex.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Something Broken
 * There's a reference to Dellah. She's friends with Brax. Joseph is around, and if he's v1 he apparently hasn't been revealed to be a spy or anything like that.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: The Collection
 * Seems to be release order. Takes place over three months and one week.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Setting Stone
 * Release order. Adrian and Joseph appear.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Time's Team
 * Benny is working for Braxiatel.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Beedlemania
 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: The All-Seeing Eye
 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: A la Recherche du Temps Perdu
 * It's been a year since The Skymines of Karthos. Cuckoo is referenced.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Squadborronfell
 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Taken by the Muses
 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Might
 * Contemporary. If Keith can be trusted, and especially considering The Shape of the Hole, he's still a possibility at this point. Probably not after The Mirror Effect, though.


 * AUDIO: The Mirror Effect
 * Brax first shows signs of evilness, keeping Jason from questioning his motives.


 * AUDIO: The Bellotron Incident
 * AUDIO: The Draconian Rage
 * Jason has nearly recovered since The Mirror Effect.


 * AUDIO: The Poison Seas
 * Leads into Life During Wartime.


 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: The Fall
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Careless Talk
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: The Birthday Party
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Five Dimensional Thinking
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Meanwhile, in a Small Room, a Small Boy...
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Lockdown Conversations: 1
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: The Price of Everything
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Hit
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: The Garden of Whispers
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Lockdown Conversations: 2
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: The Crystal Flower
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Midrash
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Fear of Corners
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: The Traitors
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Paths Not Taken
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Every Picture Tells a Story
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Fluid Prejudice
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Suffer the Children
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Drinking with the Enemy
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Lockdown Conversations: 3
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Passing Storms
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Speaking Out
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: The Peter Principle
 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: A Bell Ringing in an Empty Sky
 * The recreated Benny in this story is from when the Axis were still in power.


 * PROSE: Life During Wartime: Lockdown Conversations: 4
 * AUDIO: Death and the Daleks
 * Follows Lockdown Conversations: 4. Benny thinks that the Daleks' intervention to boost the Axis may have destroyed the future with Keith and Rebecca. If that's true though, that future should be impossible as far back as The Doomsday Manuscript. Benny gets back with Jason partly in out of hope for that future. Hass is mentioned as the new gardener.


 * PROSE: The Big Hunt
 * Benny is taking a break from rebuilding the Collection post-Axis.


 * PROSE: ...Be Forgot
 * Christmas [2603]. The Collection has nearly been rebuilt.


 * AUDIO: The Grel Escape
 * The occupation was recent.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Misplaced Spring
 * April 2604. The Collection has been [mostly] rebuilt and is now accepting students.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Welcome to the Machine
 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Final Draft
 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Against Gardens
 * Hass arrived at the collection a year ago.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: A Summer Affair
 * It's summer and has been a year since the occupation.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Denial
 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Sex Secrets of the Robot Replicants
 * October 2604.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: The Blame of the Nose
 * November 2604.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Reparation
 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Nothing Up My Sleeve
 * December 2604 - nearly Christmas.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Buried Alive
 * There Never Need Be Longing in Your Eyes says that this is a few days after Peter's fourth birthday.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: There Never Need Be Longing in Your Eyes
 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Mentioning the War
 * It's been nearly two years since the occupation ended.


 * PROSE: A Life Worth Living: Fragments
 * The Collection is in ruins by 3610, which raises some questions about Theatre of War. Extrapolating from the story, someday Peter will die and Benny will kill Brax.


 * AUDIO: The Bone of Contention
 * AUDIO: The Relics of Jegg-Sau
 * AUDIO: Silver Lining


 * PROSE: A Life in Pieces: Zardox Break
 * PROSE: A Life in Pieces: The Purpura Pawn
 * PROSE: A Life in Pieces: On Trial
 * Jason's trial starts on November 12, 2605.


 * AUDIO: The Heart's Desire
 * 24th of December[, 2605].


 * AUDIO: The Masquerade of Death
 * PROSE: The Tree of Life
 * Beginning of 2606. Peter is supposedly two, but that doesn't make sense. Blame Brax or Mark Michalowski.


 * AUDIO: The Kingdom of the Blind


 * PROSE: Parallel Lives
 * Dust jacket says that Peter is almost five.
 * PROSE: Parallel Lives (I)
 * Peter is nearly six. The Occupation ended nearly two years ago - Liberation Day is coming.
 * PROSE: The Serpent's Tooth
 * PROSE: Parallel Lives (II)
 * Before Ms Jones ran off, Benny had just returned from Etheria.
 * PROSE: Hiding Places
 * Bev and Adrian are now almost a couple.
 * PROSE: Parallel Lives (III)
 * PROSE: Jason and the Pirates/Jason and the Bandits or O, Jason, Where Art Thou?
 * PROSE: Parallel Lives (IV)


 * PROSE: Something Changed: Inappropriate Laughter

Chapters Two

 * PROSE: Something Changed: Siege Mentality
 * Follows Inappropriate Laughter. Brax is in contact with the other hims/bits of him. Jess Carter kills herself.


 * PROSE: Something Changed: Dead Mice
 * Benny is aware of the search for the "right" timeline. This one seems relatively idyllic initially, except for the Wolsey/Doggles discrepancy. There's no mention of the history machine incident, though Wolsey and Brax discuss the machine itself. Jess Carter kills herself. Doctor Wt'hlm is first seen.


 * PROSE: Something Changed: Acts of Senseless Devotion
 * Follows Inappropriate Laughter. Brax cares more about his reflection than Peter's imminent death. Doctor Wt'hlm appears.

Chapter Three

 * AUDIO: The Lost Museum
 * January 2606 according to the summary from Big Finish. Jason tells Benny that Bev and Adrian really are an item. Benny loses an arm.


 * AUDIO: The Goddess Quandary
 * AUDIO: The Crystal of Cantus

After Brax

 * AUDIO: The Tartarus Gate
 * AUDIO: Timeless Passages
 * AUDIO: The Worst Thing in the World
 * AUDIO: Summer of Love
 * AUDIO: The Oracle of Delphi
 * AUDIO: The Empire State
 * AUDIO: The Tub Full of Cats
 * AUDIO: The Judas Gift
 * AUDIO: Freedom of Information
 * AUDIO: The End of the World
 * AUDIO: The Final Amendment
 * AUDIO: The Wake
 * AUDIO: Beyond the Sea
 * AUDIO: The Adolescence of Time
 * AUDIO: The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel
 * AUDIO: The Diet of Worms
 * AUDIO: Glory Days
 * AUDIO: Absence
 * AUDIO: Venus Mantrap
 * AUDIO: Secret Origins
 * WC: Dead and Buried
 * Leads into Resurrecting the Past.


 * AUDIO: Resurrecting the Past
 * AUDIO: Escaping the Future
 * AUDIO: Year Zero
 * AUDIO: Dead Man's Switch
 * AUDIO: The Kraken's Lament
 * AUDIO: The Temple of Questions
 * AUDIO: Private Enemy No. 1
 * AUDIO: Judgement Day
 * AUDIO: Brand Management
 * AUDIO: Bad Habits
 * PROSE: The Weather on Versimmon
 * AUDIO: Paradise Frost
 * AUDIO: Vesuvius Falling
 * PROSE: The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis
 * AUDIO: Shades of Gray
 * AUDIO: Everybody Loves Irving
 * AUDIO: Many Happy Returns
 * AUDIO: A Handful of Dust
 * PROSE: Filthy Lucre
 * AUDIO: HMS Surprise
 * AUDIO: The Curse of Fenman
 * AUDIO: Big Dig
 * AUDIO: The Revenant's Carnival
 * AUDIO: The Brimstone Kid
 * AUDIO: The Winning Side
 * AUDIO: In Living Memory
 * PROSE: Adorable Illusion
 * Scott Handcock says this is set after Missing Persons.


 * AUDIO: The Revolution
 * Benny says that she has a little boy now.


 * AUDIO: Good Night, Sweet Ladies
 * AUDIO: Random Ghosts
 * AUDIO: The Lights of Skaro
 * PROSE: Big Bang Generation
 * Benny says that she last met the Doctor in his seventh incarnation on Skaro. Peter is still single.


 * AUDIO: The Pyramid of Sutekh
 * Benny is on her way to Peter's wedding.
 * WC: Transmission from Mars


 * AUDIO: The Vaults of Osiris
 * AUDIO: The Eye of Horus
 * AUDIO: The Tears of Isis
 * AUDIO: The Library in the Body
 * Benny is giving a lecture at the beginning of the story.


 * AUDIO: Planet X
 * Benny refers to her friends and family.


 * AUDIO: The Very Dark Thing
 * AUDIO: The Emporium at the End
 * Benny doesn't comment on her history with the Master, because she never discovers the Manager's identity.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: Paydirt
 * The Professor has white hair. She's 2000 years ahead of her own time.


 * PROSE: Predating the Predators
 * Bernice is an old woman.

Unplaced

 * PROSE: The Panda Book of Horror: The Niceness
 * Benny knows Iris, so after The Plague Herds of Excelis.


 * AUDIO: Benny's Story


 * AUDIO: The Lady from Callisto Rhys
 * AUDIO: The Phantom Wreck


 * PROSE: The Two Jasons


 * PROSE: The Trials of Tara
 * PROSE: Question Mark Pyjamas
 * PROSE: Continuity Errors


 * PROSE: Too Rich for My Blood
 * PROSE: How You Get There


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: The Shape of the Hole
 * This Benny has divorced Jason, doesn't work for Brax, and has Peter, Keith and Rebecca.


 * PROSE: A Life of Surprises: And Then Again
 * Benny Summerfield is a Bernard. Not a Springmoore though, so not the one from In Living Memory.


 * PROSE: Something Changed: Walking Backwards for Christmas
 * PROSE: Something Changed: Match of the Deity
 * PROSE: Something Changed: Night of the Living Martian
 * PROSE: Something Changed: TheGodGene
 * PROSE: Something Changed: A Murderous Desire
 * PROSE: Something Changed: Back and There Again
 * PROSE: Something Changed: One of My Turns
 * PROSE: Something Changed: The Ice Garden
 * PROSE: Something Changed: Family Man
 * PROSE: Something Changed: After Life


 * PROSE: Work in Progress
 * PROSE: The Tears of Laughter
 * PROSE: Perspectives: Tribal Reservations
 * PROSE: Outside the Wall
 * PROSE: Key
 * PROSE: The Inconstant Gallery
 * PROSE: Perspectives: Quire as Folk
 * PROSE: Cabinets of Curiosities
 * PROSE: Anightintheninthage
 * PROSE: Grey's Anatomy
 * PROSE: The Tree that Was
 * PROSE: Perspectives: Forging a Bond
 * PROSE: The Two-Level Effect
 * PROSE: Let There Be Stars
 * PROSE: Sleeptalking
 * PROSE: Perspectives: Intermissions
 * PROSE: False Security
 * PROSE: The Painting on the Stair
 * PROSE: The Cost for a Collection
 * PROSE: Lock
 * PROSE: Perspectives: The Injured Party
 * PROSE: Mother's Ruin
 * PROSE: Future Relations
 * PROSE: Mother's Ruin
 * PROSE: Future Relations
 * PROSE: Benny and Louise
 * PROSE: Prime Five
 * PROSE: Home
 * PROSE: The Slight Façade
 * PROSE: Bernice Summerfield and the Library of Books
 * PROSE: Postcards from the Edge of Reason
 * PROSE: Blood on the Tracks
 * PROSE: Thirty Love
 * PROSE: A Game of Soldiers
 * PROSE: Cooker Island
 * PROSE: A Gallery of Pigeons
 * PROSE: The Firing Squad
 * PROSE: You Shouldn't Have
 * PROSE: The Illuminated Man
 * PROSE: Redacted
 * PROSE: The Song of Old Man Bunyip
 * PROSE: Turn the Light On


 * PROSE: The Ship of Painted Shadows
 * PROSE: Cheating the Reaper
 * PROSE:  The Soul's Prism
 * PROSE: All Mimsy Were the Borogroves
 * PROSE: The Loyal Left Hand
 * PROSE: Nursery Politics
 * PROSE: The Badblood Diaries


 * AUDIO: The 100 Days of the Doctor


 * AUDIO: Buried Treasures


 * COMIC: Final Genesis
 * COMIC: Time & Time Again
 * COMIC: Cuckoo
 * COMIC: The Last Word


 * COMIC: Flashback
 * COMIC: Younger and Wiser