2003

History of the Doctor Who Universe

 * Ruby Duvall becomes a reporter for the Sunday Seeker (NA: Iceberg).

April

 * Liz Shaw is Chief of Operations at Tranquility Base on the Moon. She dies from a virus. (NA: Eternity Weeps)

August

 * 23rd of August: The Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield arrive at the Pinehill Crest Hotel in time for: A demonstration of spiritual channelling, a show of a temporal accelerator and a cross stitch convention and an attempt by the Scourge to manifest in our reality. (BFA: The Shadow of the Scourge)

Unknown date

 * Singer Britney Spears debuts her recorded song, "Toxic" on her album In the Zone; it would become an international hit the next year, and be preserved until the year 5,000,000,000 when it would be revered as a piece of classical music from old Earth. (DW: The End of the World)

January

 * No Place Like Home First Released
 * Jubilee First Released
 * Rip Tide First Published
 * 1 - Cyril Shaps, who had appearances in The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Ambassadors of Death, Planet of the Spiders and The Androids of Tara dies.

February

 * The Domino Effect First Published
 * Nekromanteia First Released
 * 07 - Stephen Whittaker dies.
 * 14 - Neil Seiler, who played a radio operator in The Sea Devils and Commander Stewart in Death to the Daleks, dies.

March

 * Blue Box First Published
 * Short Trips: Companions First Published
 * The Dark Flame First Released

April

 * Reckless Engineering First Published
 * Wonderland First Published
 * Doctor Who and the Pirates First Released

May

 * Loving the Alien First Published
 * Shell Shock First Published
 * Creatures of Beauty First Released
 * Auld Mortality First Released
 * Extra Jack Pitt (during the William Hartnell era) dies from bronchial pneumonia.
 * 02 - The BBC's website launches a six-part webcast production of Shada, remounting the TV story of the same title that was abandoned back in 1979. In this version, Paul McGann appears as the Eighth Doctor, with Lalla Ward and John Leeson reprising their original roles.
 * 09 - Shada webcast Episode 2 released.
 * 09 - Bernard Spear dies.
 * 16 - Shada webcast Episode 3 released.
 * 23 - Shada webcast Episode 4 released.
 * 30 - Shada webcast Episode 5 released.

June

 * The Last Resort First Published
 * Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors First Published
 * Project: Lazarus First Released
 * Sympathy for the Devil First Released
 * 06 - Shada webcast Episode 6 released. Final episode.

July

 * The Colony of Lies First Published
 * The Cabinet of Light First Published. This Telos Publishing novella results in a spin-off series of books, Time Hunter.
 * Flip-Flop First Released
 * Full Fathom Five First Released
 * 02 - James Saxon, who played Oscar Botcherby in The Two Doctors, dies after suffering a heart attack in Chichester, England.
 * 25 - Michael Mundell dies.
 * 28 - Peter Russell dies.

August

 * Timeless First Published
 * Omega First Released
 * Fallen Gods First Published
 * 12 - Anne Tirard, who played Locusta in "The Romans" and the Seeker in "The Ribos Operation," dies.

September

 * Wolfsbane First Published
 * Short Trips: The Muses First Published
 * Davros First Released
 * He Jests at Scars... First Released
 * Life During Wartime First Published. This is the only book release in the Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Series this year.
 * 4 - Ben Aris dies.

October

 * Emotional Chemistry First Published
 * Frayed First Published
 * Master First Released
 * Deadline First Released
 * Exile First Released

November

 * Deadly Reunion First Published
 * Eye of the Tyger First Published
 * Zagreus First Released
 * The Wormery First Released
 * Living Legend First Released
 * The Winning Side First Published. This is the first in a series of novellas published by Telos Publishing in the Time Hunter series, a spin-off from from the Doctor Who novella, The Cabinet of Light.
 * BBC Wales announces that it will produce a new series of Doctor Who for broadcast in 2005, returning the series to weekly television after a 16-year hiatus. Named executive producer is Russell T Davies, best known as the creator of the controversial Queer as Folk series, but who also is a longtime fan of the franchise who even wrote a novel for the Virgin New Adventures book series, Damaged Goods. Little is revealed about the proposed series at this point except that it will be a continuation of the 1963-89 series and not a remake. The immediate impact on Richard Grant's status as the recently unveiled "Ninth Doctor" is not known.
 * 5 - Brian McDermott dies.
 * 13 - The BBC website launches a new webcast serial, Scream of the Shalka, introducing Richard E. Grant as what would come to be known as the Shalka Doctor. At the time of its production and promotion, publicity held that Grant was the official Ninth Doctor, with future Doctor Who adventures expected to be produced in the webcast format. By the time the first episode was uploaded, however, the BBC had already announced the return of Doctor Who to television, with another actor in the lead role of the Ninth Doctor. Episode 1 features the first appearance of Derek Jacobi as the Master (although a different incarnation than he would later play in Utopia). David Tennant, more than a year before his appointment as the Tenth Doctor, voices a supporting character.
 * 20 - Scream of the Shalka webcast episode 2 released.
 * 23 - 40th anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who.
 * 27 - Scream of the Shalka webcast episode 3 released.

December

 * Companion Piece First Published
 * Short Trips: Steel Skies First Published
 * Scherzo First Released
 * 4 - Scream of the Shalka webcast episode 4 released.
 * 11 - Scream of the Shalka webcast episode 5 released.
 * 16 - Alfred Lynch who appeared as Commander Millington in The Curse of Fenric dies from cancer.
 * 17 - Alan Tilvern, who played Forester in "Planet of Giants," dies in London.
 * 18 - Scream of the Shalka webcast episode 6 released. Final episode. Final appearance of Richard E. Grant as the "Shalka Doctor", and as of March 2009 the final production of its kind by the BBC (although it would later produce a series of made-for-Internet live-action video shorts entitled Captain Jack's Monster Files).
 * 29 - Dinsdale Landen, who portrayed Dr. Judson in The Curse of Fenric dies from mouth cancer.

Unknown dates

 * An unofficial audio adaptation of Graham Williams' The Nightmare Fair is produced for CD by Argolis. The release is a fund-raiser for the charity Sense, and includes liner notes by Anthony Read.
 * John Bleasdale dies.