Theory:Timeline - Eighth Doctor

This page lists appearances of the Eighth Doctor in the order in which he 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, much like its TV story counterparts that for each novel or audio series their published/numbered order is the order they occur in. This does not apply to short stories which are often ambiguous about their placement. There are also many gaps between stories.

The layout of this timeline is in part based on the observations on Doctor Who Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, as well as Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

The Eighth Doctor's timeline presents certain issues to construct a concise timeline as there are only a few "gaps" between stories in which to insert certain series of adventures which occur. Also due to certain events, such as the (first) destruction of Gallifrey in The Ancestor Cell certain story series must take place at certain points.

Gallifrey
Anything involving Gallifrey must take place either before EDA: The Ancestor Cell (when Gallifrey is destroyed the first time related to the Second War in Heaven), additionally anything involving Romana II, must take place before EDA: The Shadows of Avalon (as this is the first novel to mention Romana's third incarnation).

Alternatively anything involving Gallifrey must take place after EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles, following this story the Doctor regains his memory (which he lost following events in The Ancestor Cell) and it is implied in the novel he goes on to restore Gallifrey.

Because of this stories featuring the Doctor travelling with Charlotte Pollard and involve meeting Romana II when she is president it is likely these stories take place before The Shadows of Avalon when she has regenerated.

Series basics
The Eighth Doctor's stories can very roughly be sorted into series based on medium / series
 * The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures - Sam Jones, Sam and Fitz Kreiner, Fitz and Compassion, Fitz and Anji Kapoor, Fitz, Anji Trix, Fitz and Trix
 * The Radio Times comics - Stacy and Ssard
 * DWM comic stories - Izzy
 * Big Finish audio stories - Charlotte Pollard, Lucie Miller, Mary Shelley
 * Short Trips
 * Anything else

Timeline

 * DW: Doctor Who
 * EDA: The Eight Doctors
 * The Eight Doctors continues directly on from the TVM, with the Doctor referencing events that happened and there is narrative flow between these two stories linking them together.


 * AG: Bounty
 * At the end of this story the Doctor drops Sam off at a Greenpeace rally. According to Vampire Science he has adventures for 3 years.


 * ST: Totem
 * The Doctor is coming to terms with the actions of his previous incarnation.


 * ST: From Little Acorns
 * The Doctor mentions that he is new to this incarnation.


 * ST: Thinking Warrior
 * Set before The Ethereal.


 * ST: The Ethereal
 * The Doctor is described as looking young and remembers his past.


 * ST: Nettles
 * In Transmission Ends the Doctor says that he met Bazima again quite recently.


 * ST: Lonely
 * In Transmission Ends the events of this story are fresh in the Doctor's mind.


 * ST: Transmission Ends
 * The Doctor has his seventh self's umbrella in Transmission Ends, as he gives said umbrella to Benny in The Dying Days this has to take place before that novel.


 * NA: The Dying Days


 * BFA: Benny's Story
 * Benny's Story must take place after The Dying Days as it is when the Doctor and Bernice first meet.


 * BFA: Terror Firma (flashback)
 * ST: The Long Midwinter
 * ST: Dear John
 * BFA: Mary's Story (Present Doctor)
 * BFA: The Silver Turk
 * BFA: The Witch from the Well
 * BFA: Army of Death
 * BFA: Terror Firma (flashback)
 * Stories involving Gemma and Samson occur prior to Storm Warning, and are therefore placed prior to the Doctor's involvement. Their stories also include elements of Terror Firma in flashback form.


 * WC: Shada / BFA: Shada
 * Shada features Romana as president and has no references to the Anti-Time phenomena that is present in stories post Invaders from Mars.


 * ST: The Time Lord's Story
 * The Doctor, Romana and K9 have just returned from an adventure away from Gallifrey, as there is no mention of Charley or any other companion, placement after Shada is likely.


 * ST: Seven Deadly Sins
 * The Doctor refers to Romana being President of Gallifrey and to the Etra Prime Incident.


 * BFA: Storm Warning
 * BFA: Sword of Orion


 * ST: Repercussions...
 * ST: Best Seller


 * ST: Letting Go
 * Letting Go likely takes place close to Storm Warning as the memory of people dying on board the R101 is still fresh in Charley's mind.


 * BFA: The Stones of Venice
 * BFA: Minuet in Hell
 * ST: A Good Life
 * Charley still has a black eye and bruising from events in Minuet in Hell.


 * ST: Faithful Friends: Part 3
 * Faithful Friends: Part 3 features the Brigadier, placing this after Minuet in Hell.


 * BFA: Invaders from Mars
 * BFA: The Chimes of Midnight
 * ST: War in a Time of Peace
 * BFA: Living Legend
 * BFA: Seasons of Fear
 * ST: Lady of the Snows
 * BFA: Embrace the Darkness
 * CC: Solitaire
 * ST: The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac
 * BFA: The Time of the Daleks
 * ST: Apocrypha Bipedium
 * BFA: Neverland
 * BFA: Zagreus
 * BFA: Scherzo
 * BFA: The Creed of the Kromon
 * BFA: The Natural History of Fear
 * BFA: The Twilight Kingdom
 * BFA: Faith Stealer
 * BFA: The Last
 * BFA: Caerdroia
 * BFA: The Next Life
 * BFA: Terror Firma
 * ST: Before Midnight
 * ST: Round Trip: After Midnight
 * BFA: Scaredy Cat
 * BFA: Other Lives
 * BFA: Time Works
 * BFA: Something Inside
 * BFA: Memory Lane
 * BFA: The 100 Days of the Doctor (cameo)
 * ST: Salva Mea
 * BFA: Absolution
 * BFA: The Girl Who Never Was


 * Adventures with Lucie Miller are placed after The Gallifrey Chronicles as there are no direct references to Romana being president.

Charley and C'rizz have only recently left the Doctor in this story.
 * ST: The Sorrows of Vienna


 * ST: ...Be Forgot
 * The Doctor sees Benny at the Braxiatel collection. This could be placed anywhere after The Dying Days, and likely after Benny's Story as Bernice does not return to 'conventional' archaeological work following Death and the Daleks (which ...Be Forgot follows).


 * RT: Dreadnought
 * RT: Descendance
 * RT: Ascendance
 * RT: Perceptions
 * RT: Coda
 * The Radio Times stories must take place before Placebo Effect as that novel is a sequel to these stories.


 * TN: Rip Tide
 * The Doctor identifies himself as a Time Lord from Gallifrey, placing this either before The Ancestor Cell or after The Gallifrey Chronicles.


 * TN: Eye of the Tyger (alone)
 * The Doctor has memories of his past regenerations and is travelling alone placing this either before The Ancestor Cell or after The Gallifrey Chronicles.


 * EDA: Vampire Science
 * EDA: The Bodysnatchers
 * The final chapter of The Bodysnatchers see the Doctor returning to see Litefoot, this is an older Doctor who changes the subject when Sam Jones is mentioned, this chapter likely takes place elsewhere in the Doctor's timeline.


 * EDA: Genocide
 * At the end of this novel the Doctor, having been tortured departs to get a new coat from New Sydney, possibly leaving another "gap" where he could be having adventures away from Sam.


 * ST: Dead Time
 * Sam notes that the TARDIS is always going wrong, this could lead into War of the Daleks where the Doctor is conducting major repairs on the TARDIS.


 * EDA: War of the Daleks


 * EDA: Alien Bodies
 * Alien Bodies features a chapter with the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith.
 * Alien Bodies is the first novel to feature the Second War in Heaven affecting the "past".


 * EDA: Kursaal
 * EDA: Option Lock
 * ST: The People's Temple (The Doctor and Sam, probably before Longest Day)


 * ST: The Queen of Eros
 * Sam is younger acting in this story, likely placing it before she (briefly) leaves the Doctor.


 * EDA: Longest Day
 * Sam Jones departs the Doctor here and the Doctor spends the next 3 novels searching for her, though as evidenced by Legacy of the Daleks gets distracted.


 * EDA: Legacy of the Daleks
 * EDA: Dreamstone Moon
 * EDA: Seeing I
 * EDA: Placebo Effect
 * EDA: Vanderdeken's Children
 * EDA: The Scarlet Empress
 * EDA: The Janus Conjunction
 * The Doctor spends an amount of time in a temporal orbit constructing a cure for Sam's radiation poisoning.


 * EDA: Beltempest
 * EDA: The Face-Eater
 * ST: Femme Fatale
 * EDA: The Taint
 * EDA: Demontage
 * EDA: Revolution Man
 * EDA: Dominion
 * EDA: Unnatural History
 * As this story opens the Doctor has been stuck on Earth for several months.


 * EDA: Autumn Mist
 * EDA: Interference - Book One
 * EDA: Interference - Book Two
 * The Doctor visits IM Foreman alone framing this story.


 * EDA: The Blue Angel
 * EDA: The Taking of Planet 5
 * EDA: Frontier Worlds
 * EDA: Parallel 59


 * ST: Growing Higher
 * Only Fitz and the Doctor appear in this story, as the Doctor places Compassion on Earth for some months, Growing Higher likely takes place when they pair are not travelling with the Doctor.


 * EDA: The Shadows of Avalon
 * Compassion has been on Earth for some time, the Doctor having placed her there.
 * The Doctor's TARDIS is 'destroyed' here, prompting the creation of Compassion as a TARDIS.


 * From The Fall of Yquatine to The Ancestor Cell the Doctor and Fitz are travelling within Compassion.


 * EDA: The Fall of Yquatine
 * EDA: Coldheart
 * EDA: The Space Age
 * EDA: The Banquo Legacy
 * EDA: The Ancestor Cell
 * EDA: The Burning
 * The Doctor is left on Earth with practically no memory, he spends about 100 years on Earth, waiting for Fitz.


 * ST: Evergreen
 * EDA: Casualties of War
 * PDA: Wolfsbane
 * EDA: The Turing Test
 * EDA: Endgame
 * ST: Mordieu
 * EDA: Father Time
 * This period of stories is a period of time the Doctor spends without his memory trapped on Earth.


 * EDA: Escape Velocity
 * Fitz rejoins the Doctor.


 * EDA: EarthWorld
 * PDA: Fear Itself
 * EDA: Vanishing Point
 * EDA: Eater of Wasps
 * EDA: The Year of Intelligent Tigers
 * EDA: The Slow Empire
 * EDA: Dark Progeny
 * EDA: The City of the Dead
 * BFA: Fitz's Story
 * EDA: Grimm Reality
 * EDA: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street
 * EDA: Mad Dogs and Englishmen
 * EDA: Hope
 * EDA: Anachrophobia
 * EDA: Trading Futures
 * EDA: The Book of the Still
 * EDA: The Crooked World


 * TN: Fallen Gods
 * The Doctor refers to having a single heartbeat and an "angel full of compassion" that saved him once. Placing Fallen Gods after The Blue Angel and after The Adventuress of Henrietta Street where Sabbath removed the Doctor's second heart.


 * EDA: History 101


 * ST: Notre Dame du Temps
 * The Doctor has a single heart in Notre Dame du Temps, placing it before Camera Obscura.


 * EDA: Camera Obscura
 * The Doctor regains his second heart at the end of Camera Obscura.


 * EDA: Time Zero
 * EDA: The Infinity Race
 * EDA: The Domino Effect
 * EDA: Reckless Engineering
 * EDA: The Last Resort
 * EDA: Timeless
 * EDA: Emotional Chemistry
 * EDA: Sometime Never...
 * EDA: Halflife
 * EDA: The Tomorrow Windows
 * EDA: The Sleep of Reason
 * EDA: The Deadstone Memorial
 * EDA: To the Slaughter
 * EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles
 * The Doctor regains his memories from before The Burning of Gallifrey and the events prior to its destruction.


 * Given the representation of Gallifrey described in previous stories the DWM comic stories likely take place following The Gallifrey Chronicles.


 * DWM: Endgame
 * DWM: The Keep
 * DWM: A Life of Matter and Death
 * DWM: Fire and Brimstone
 * DWM: By Hook or By Crook
 * DWM: Tooth and Claw
 * DWM: The Final Chapter
 * DWM: Wormwood
 * ST: Syntax
 * DWM: Happy Deathday
 * DWM: The Fallen
 * DWM: The Road to Hell
 * DWM: TV Action!
 * DWM: The Company of Thieves
 * DWM: The Glorious Dead
 * ST: Illumination
 * DWM: The Autonomy Bug
 * DWM: Death to the Doctor! (flashback)
 * BFA: Izzy's Story
 * DWM: Ophidius
 * DWM: Beautiful Freak
 * DWM: The Way of All Flesh
 * DWM: Children of the Revolution
 * DWM: Uroboros
 * DWM: Oblivion
 * DWM: Where Nobody Knows Your Name
 * DWM: Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game
 * DWM: The Power of Thoueris!
 * DWM: The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack
 * DWM: The Land of Happy Endings
 * DWM: Bad Blood
 * DWM: Sins of the Fathers
 * DWM: The Flood


 * Given that none of the adventures with Lucie Miller make reference to Romana being president, placing these adventures following The Gallifrey Chronicles seems to make more sense, given there is an active Time Lord society which is not bogged down by the Second War in Heaven.


 * BFA/BBCR: Blood of the Daleks
 * BFA/BBCR: Horror of Glam Rock
 * BFA/BBCR: Immortal Beloved
 * BFA/BBCR: Phobos
 * BFA/BBCR: No More Lies
 * BFA/BBCR: Human Resources
 * ST: Remain in Light
 * ST: Decorative Purposes
 * BFA: The 100 Days of the Doctor(cameo)
 * BFA: Dead London
 * BFA: Max Warp
 * BFA: Brave New Town
 * ST: The Great Escapes [companion only; Doctor does not appear]
 * ST: All the Fun of the Fair
 * BFA: The Skull of Sobek
 * BFA: Grand Theft Cosmos
 * BFA: The Zygon Who Fell to Earth
 * The Doctor mentions the events of The Bodysnatchers, placing the EDA range before this story.


 * BFA: Sisters of the Flame / The Vengeance of Morbius
 * BFA: Orbis
 * The Doctor mistakenly calls Lucie, Izzy, placing the DWM comic strips before this story.

These follwing stories feature the Doctor being older and nearing the end of his eighth incarnation. The Doctor's hair is beginning to grey.
 * BFA: Hothouse
 * BFA: The Beast of Orlok
 * BFA: Wirrn Dawn
 * BFA: The Scapegoat
 * BFA: The Cannibalists
 * BFA: The Eight Truths / Worldwide Web
 * BFA: Death in Blackpool
 * BFA: An Earthly Child
 * BFA: Situation Vacant
 * BFA: Nevermore
 * BFA: The Book of Kells
 * BFA: Deimos /The Resurrection of Mars
 * BFA: Relative Dimensions 
 * BFA: Prisoner of the Sun
 * BFA: Lucie Miller
 * BFA: To the Death
 * ST: Not in My Back Yard
 * ST: DS Al Fine
 * The Doctor has flecks of grey in his hair and his body is "wearing thin" and has "little fight left in it".

The Doctor is aware that soon he will regenerate. The Doctor knows that he is going to regenerate soon, but says that he must do something first, something which involves the Daleks (Hinting at the Time War). The Doctor is working with the Time Lords and possesses the Ninth Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
 * BFA: Mary's Story (Future Doctor)
 * ST: The End
 * ST: Museum Peace
 * ST: Osskah
 * IDW: The Forgotten (flashback)

Unplaced
These stories are unplaced, they either do not currently have enough information in the narrative to suggest a placement in the timeline or have information such as companion but not enough to suggest where it might take place between other more established stories.


 * ST: Running Out of Time (alone)
 * ST: The Wickerwork Man (alone)
 * ST: For the Man Who Has Everything (alone)
 * ST: Inmate 280 (cameo, alone)


 * DWM: Bafflement and Devotion (travelling with Iris Wildthyme in her TARDIS)


 * ST: Categorical Imperative (The Doctor and Charley, before Neverland)
 * Charley seems comfortable with the Doctor and his methods, placing it closer to Neverland.


 * ST: Venus (The Doctor and Charley, before Neverland)
 * ST: Be Good for Goodness's Sake (The Doctor and Charley, before Neverland)


 * ST: You Had Me at Verify User Name and Password (The Doctor and Charley, before Neverland)
 * ST: They Fell (The Doctor and Charley, before Neverland)


 * ST: Doctor Who and the Adaptation of Death (The Doctor and Charley, before Neverland)
 * ST: Second Chances (The Doctor and Charley, before Neverland)


 * ST: One Fateful Knight
 * Sometime after The Shadows of Avalon as the Doctor states in that story that he hasn't been Merlin yet.


 * ST: Model Train Set (takes place at some point near the beginning of the EDAs, as the train set appears in several early books such as EDA: Genocide)
 * ST: The Glass Princess (multi-Doctor story)
 * ST: Greenaway (multi-Doctor story)
 * ST: Second Contact


 * ST: The Juror's Story (multi-Doctor story)


 * ST: Quantum Heresy


 * BFA: The Four Doctors
 * The Eighth Doctor has knowledge of his past selves and of the Daleks, placing this before EDA: The Ancestor Cell or after The Gallifrey Chronicles.


 * ST: Forgotten
 * This is the Doctor's last visit to Edward, therefore it is set after Dear John. The Master escapes from the TARDIS, therefore it must be set after The Gallifrey Chronicles where the Master still resides in the Eye of Harmony. The Doctor has memory of his other lives therefore a placement after The Gallifrey Chronicles is also more likely.


 * ST: Gazing Void
 * ST: Reversal of Fortune
 * ST: Far from Home
 * ST: Jonah
 * ST: Phoenix
 * ST: Epilogue
 * ST: Suns and Mothers