English Channel



The English Channel was a body of water that separated Great Britain from France.

Supposed Earthonomics expert Mr Copper referred to it as the "British Channel", separating Great Britain from Great France and Great Germany of Europey. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)

Early history
In 1588, the Spanish Armada massed in the Channel before its failed attack on England. (AUDIO: The Devil's Armada)

In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel. The Sixth Doctor claimed that he swam with Webb in the Channel. (AUDIO: Doctor Who and the Pirates)

20th century
In October 1914, Germany bombarded Antwerp. Using her yacht, a British woman named Jessica Borthwick evacuated numerous Belgians across the English Channel while under German fire. (AUDIO: Brotherhood of the Daleks)

In 1941, Bernice Summerfield spent time stranded on Nazi-occupied Guernsey, an island in the Channel. (AUDIO: Just War, PROSE: Just War)

Reg Arwell was believed to have died while flying over the English Channel on 20 December 1941. However, his wife Madge Arwell had saved him while flying through the Time Vortex with the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)

A German U-boat which was patrolling the English Channel in 1943 was sent forward in time to 1964, where it threatened to torpedo the Isle of Wight ferry. Sir Toby Kinsella of the Intrusion Countermeasures Group ordered Group Captain Ian Gilmore and his squad to investigate and render assistance to the personnel of the nearby Lanchester Naval Base. (AUDIO: State of Emergency)

In the 1970s, a prison was established on Fortress Island, located in the Channel. (TV: The Sea Devils)

Prior to or during his tenth incarnation, the Doctor swam the English Channel naked as he lost a bet with Oliver Reed. (COMIC: The Betrothal of Sontar)

21st century
When John Harrison purchased a group of Skullion slaves who had crash landed in Central Asia, they were brought across Europe and then across the Channel to him. (TV: The Man Who Never Was)

The Fourth Doctor once referred to it as "a glorified shipping lane." (AUDIO: The Devil's Armada)

Alternate timelines
In the history in which the Ironsides were never discovered by the Eleventh Doctor, the Ironsides landed on the Normandy beaches long before the summer of 1942, traveling along the seabed of the English Channel to avoid detection. (PROSE: The Ironside Advance)