1996 (releases)


 * 18 January - Just War was first published.
 * 18 - Downtime was first published.
 * 20 January - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 1 was first broadcast on BBC Radio. This was the second BBC Radio play produced featuring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.
 * 27 January - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 2 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
 * 3 February - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 3 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
 * 6 February - Actor Patsy Smart died.
 * 6 - BBC Head of Serials Gerald Savory died.
 * 10 February - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 4 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
 * 15 February - Warchild was first published.
 * 15 - The Man in the Velvet was was first published.
 * 17 February - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 5 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
 * 19 February - Actor Brenda Bruce died.
 * 23 February - Actor Roy Heymann died.
 * 24 February - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 6 was first broadcast on BBC Radio. It was the final known performance of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.
 * 21 March - Sleepy was first published.
 * 21 - The English Way of Death was first published.
 * 21 - REF: Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era was first published.
 * 18 April - Death and Diplomacy was first published.
 * 18 - The Eye of the Giant was first published.
 * 18 - Who Killed Kennedy was first published.
 * 24 April - Actor Preston Lockwood died.
 * 12 May - CITV in Edmonton, Canada, was the first broadcaster to air the Doctor Who TV movie, two days before its "official" premiere in the US.
 * 14 May - Doctor Who was first broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company in America, marking the return of Doctor Who to the screen.
 * 16 May - Happy Endings was first published.
 * 16 - The Sands of Time was first published.
 * 16 - REF: Doctor Who: A History of the Universe was first published.
 * 17 May - Doctor Who - The Script of the Film was first published.
 * 25 May - The TV movie was promoted on the cover of the Radio Times.
 * 27 May - Doctor Who was first broadcast on BBC1. The UK broadcast included some minor edits related to violence, particularly the gun battle scenes (which were considered inappropriate in light of the Dunblane primary school shootings), and also included an on-screen dedication to the memory of Jon Pertwee. Unlike the US showing, the UK broadcast was considered a ratings winner, but without US support, the telefilm did not result in a series revival.
 * Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film was first published. This was the first novelisation of a televised story to not be published by Target Books or an affiliate. It was the first Doctor Who novel to be published by BBC Books, and led to the imprint taking over the Doctor Who fiction licence from Virgin Books (it was not, however, considered part of the later Eighth Doctor Adventures line). It was the last novelisation of a televised Doctor Who story to date, and the last novelisation of any kind until WC: Scream of the Shalka was adapted in 2004.

Spring 1996

 * Doctor Who novel writer Jonathan Blum wrote and played the Seventh Doctor in an unofficial video production, Time Rift. Blum later recycled elements of the story for his later novel Vampire Science.
 * 20 June - GodEngine was first published.
 * 20 - Killing Ground was first published.
 * 18 July - Christmas on a Rational Planet was first published.
 * 18 - The Scales of Injustice was first published.
 * 18 - Decalog 3: Consequences was first published.
 * 15 August - Return of the Living Dad was first published.
 * 15 - The Shadow of Weng-Chiang was first published.
 * 19 September - The Death of Art was first published.
 * 19 - Twilight of the Gods was first published.
 * 19 - REF: Doctor Who: Companions was published in paperback.
 * 3 October - REF: Doctor Who: The Eighties was first published.
 * 7 October - REF: TX file: Doctor Who, a "filofax"-style reference book, was published by BBC Books as one of a series of TX File releases.
 * 13 October - Actor Beryl Reid died.
 * 17 October - Damaged Goods was first published.
 * 17 - Speed of Flight was first published.
 * 21 November - The Plotters was first published.
 * 21 - REF: I Am the Doctor!, Jon Pertwee's second volume of memoirs, was published posthumously.
 * 21 - REF: Doctor Who - The Handbook: The Third Doctor was first published.
 * 21 - Due to production issues, there was no Virgin New Adventures novel published this month; the book scheduled for release date, So Vile a Sin, was pushed back to 24 April 1997.
 * 22 November - REF: Classic Who: The Harper Classics was first published.
 * 5 December - Bad Therapy was first published.
 * 5 - Cold Fusion was first published.
 * 5 - REF: The Completely Useless Encyclopedia was first published.