Theory:Timeline - Seventh Doctor (VNAs)

This page lists appearances of the Seventh Doctor during the Virgin New Adventures 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.

Companions

 * Melanie Bush
 * Ace McShane
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Wolsey
 * Chris Cwej
 * Roz Forrester
 * Jason Kane

Timeline

 * Previous page: Sixth Doctor

Mel

 * TV: Time and the Rani
 * Immediately after regenerating from his previous incarnation, the Doctor is thrown into a confrontation with the First Rani on Lakertya, where he and Mel, with aid from the Lakertyans, prevent her from harnessing the minds of several geniuses to harvest strange matter. The Doctor claims to be 953-years-old. After the Rani is defeated and taken away by her vengeful Tetrap minions, the Doctor and Mel make plans to return the Rani's victims home.


 * TV: Paradise Towers
 * Having jettisoned the TARDIS swimming pool due to a leak, the Doctor takes Mel to Paradise Towers so she can use the swimming pool, where they unite the Kangs, Caretakers and Rezzies in stopping the Great Architect Kroagnon, though not without the Inbetween Pex sacrificing himself. The Doctor is made an honorary member of both the Red and Blue Kangs.


 * ( REFERENCE )
 * The Doctor and Mel visit Hugh and Janet in Llanfer Ceiriog. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark)


 * ( FLASHBACK )
 * The Doctor takes Mel on a holiday to Earth, after she expressed a desire to visit the planet, having not been back there for "ages". Mel has been travelling with the Doctor for a number of years, and in an early debut, the Doctor is wearing his brown sports jacket. Mel visits Earth's past for the first time in her travels with the Doctor, suggesting a setting before Delta and the Bannermen. They encounter Emil Hartung in 1936 Cairo and the Doctor begins to realise that Mel's moral compass may get in the way of his future endeavours. (PROSE: Just War)


 * TV: Delta and the Bannermen
 * In a deleted scene, Mel recalls the events of Paradise Towers as being her and the Doctor's previous holiday attempt. The Doctor has replaced his whangee handled umbrella with one with a large red question mark designed handle. Mel claims to have "never won anything before" when she and the Doctor win a trip to 1959 Disneyland with Nostalgia Tours, only for their bus to be knocked off course to Shangri-La Wales, where they protect the last of the Chimeron, Delta and her daughter, from the Bannermen.


 * TV: Dragonfire
 * On the Iceworld colony of Svartos, the Doctor and Mel bump into Sabalom Glitz again, and also meet a time-displaced 16-year-old girl from Perivale named Ace, as they move to prevent Kane from obtaining the Dragonfire. While Mel decides to leave the TARDIS and travel with Glitz aboard the Nosferatu II, the Doctor offers to take Ace back to Perivale via "the scenic route".

Ace

 * TV: Remembrance of the Daleks

Ercildoune

 * ( SEGMENTS )
 * The Doctor and Ace visit 1926 Africa. The Doctor leaves Ace with an old friend, Naikosiai, while he attends to some business alone. (PROSE: Prelude Birthright) The Doctor takes up residence at Ercildoune in Scotland in the 13th century, using it as a base from which to set out on various travels for roughly two years. (PROSE: Birthright)


 * PROSE: Birthright
 * The Doctor visits 1909 London, and saves Barbara Wright's grandfather, Ernie, from being arrested for a murder he did not commit. The Doctor claims that he has business to attend to in Soho, and then somewhere else "a long, long way away" from Soho.


 * ( SEGMENTS )
 * The Doctor visits Margaret Waterfield at 39 Dean Street in Soho to warn her of Bernice Summerfield's imminent arrival. Next, he visits Coutts Bank in 1868 London with Victoria Waterfield. The Doctor asks Margaret what her favourite flowers are, knowing in advance the day she dies. (PROSE: Prelude Birthright) The Doctor arranges for flowers to be sent to Margaret Waterfield's funeral. (PROSE: Birthright)


 * ( REFERENCES )
 * The Doctor visits the court of Elizabeth I, and persuades the Queen to send Jared Khan on a fool's errand, spends five years teaching Mikhail Popov English in St Petersburg, knowing that he would help Bernice in London and arranges for Herbert Asquith to have Bernice released from Holloway Prison. (PROSE: Birthright)


 * ( FLASHBACK )
 * The Doctor leaves Ercildoune for the last time, shortly before the Charl Queen arrives looking for the TARDIS. He asks Jared Khan to travel through the glen and leaves him with advice to "follow the bonny bonny road should anyone give him the choice". Khan would later strike a deal with the Charl Queen. (PROSE: Birthright)


 * PROSE: Prelude Birthright
 * The Doctor returns to Africa to collect Ace. Though she tells him that he's been gone for hours, the Doctor responds that it "feels like years" for him. The Doctor and Ace leave for Terra Alpha, setting this immediately before The Happiness Patrol.

Ace

 * TV: The Happiness Patrol


 * TV: Silver Nemesis


 * TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy


 * TV: Battlefield


 * TV: Ghost Light


 * TV: The Curse of Fenric


 * TV: Survival

Timeline interference

 * See: Theory:Timeline - Seventh Doctor (BBC/BF)


 * According to one account, a foe from the Doctor's future, the Council of Eight interfered with the Doctor's history (PROSE: Sometime Never...) resulting in Mel dying on the planet Heritage. (PROSE: Heritage) A further manipulation resulted in Ace's death in 1950s London (PROSE: Loving the Alien) However the Doctor became aware of Ace's potential death ahead of time (PROSE: Prime Time) and resolves to stop it. Ace is in fact killed, although the Doctor manages to restore a version of Ace from a timeline where she didn't die. (PROSE: Loving the Alien) The Eighth Doctor would later defeat the Council of Eight and in doing so restored free will and the multiverse to reality. It is unclear exactly how many of the Council's alterations to the Doctor's history remained after their defeat (PROSE: Sometime Never...) but one account suggests that the Doctor and Ace travelled together for a period of time longer than twenty months between the events of The Curse of Fenric and Timewyrm: Revelation (PROSE: The Algebra of Ice) and another shows the Doctor and Ace travelling with a young man called Hex some time after the events of Storm Harvest. (AUDIO: Dust Breeding, The Harvest)

Timewyrm Saga

 * PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys
 * When the Doctor restores Ace's memories, the first thing that she recalls is the events of Survival, and believes that the TARDIS has just left Perivale. She still feels some of the after-effects of the Cheetah virus. She knows about regeneration, and is aware that the Doctor has regenerated six times.


 * PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus
 * Set immediately after Timewyrm: Genesys.


 * PROSE: Endgame
 * The Seventh Doctor and Ace are observed visiting the Festival of Britain during Timewyrm: Exodus by an amnesiac Eighth Doctor.


 * PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse
 * Ace sees an animal in the TARDIS, foreshadowing Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible.


 * PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation
 * The Doctor and Ace have "only just left Kirith", setting this immediately after Timewyrm: Apocalypse. Ace is in her early 20s.


 * ( EPILOGUE )
 * Visiting Ethan Amberglass whilst in hospital, the Doctor mentions the recent events of Timewyrm: Revelation. (PROSE: The Algebra of Ice)

Losing Ace

 * COMIC: The Grief
 * Ace refers to the Daleks, the Timewyrm and the Cybermen when listing the worst creatures she can imagine, setting this after Timewyrm: Revelation.


 * PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
 * Three years have passed since Ace left Perivale, and she hasn't seen her mother in the interim. The Doctor claims he has never been to Alaska, and Ace has learnt how to swear in eleven alien languages. The TARDIS is damaged following an explosion in the console room. The Doctor sends Ace on a mission to Turkey while he takes care of some business of his own.


 * PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead
 * Ace spends at least three months in Turkey before she reunites with the Doctor, who has been operating out of Smithwood Manor, and claims that the TARDIS is "waiting" after Ace inquires about how it is, following the damage done to it in Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible.


 * COMIC: Ravens
 * Set during Cat's Cradle: Warhead.


 * PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark
 * Set immediately after Cat's Cradle: Warhead, with the Doctor and Ace leaving New York City. The Doctor is repairing the damage done to the TARDIS in Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible. Ace can still feel the biological effects of being on the Cheetah planet. The TARDIS gets infected by demonic protoplasm.


 * COMIC: Metamorphosis


 * COMIC: Memorial


 * PROSE: Nightshade


 * COMIC: Cat Litter
 * An opening annotation places this story directly after the consecutive events of Memorial and Nightshade.


 * PROSE: Cathedral Heart
 * The Doctor is making a cube in his lab that Ace must not know about, setting this shortly before Love and War.


 * PROSE: Love and War
 * The Doctor is acquainted with Abslom Daak, setting this after Nemesis of the Daleks. Ace claims that the events of Nightshade occurred some months ago.


 * ( NOTE )
 * After saving Heaven, the weary Doctor travels alone in the Time Vortex for a long time, "visiting some worlds and drifting past others in the process." (PROSE: Love and War)


 * PROSE: Love and War: Epilogue
 * Returning to the 26th century, Ace leaves the Doctor after realising that his manipulations resulted in the death of Jan Rydd, a man she had fallen in love with. Bernice Summerfield agrees to travel with the Doctor in her place, but only after he promises not to play games with her life.

First travels with Benny

 * PROSE: Transit
 * Benny ponders whether or not she really wants to stay with the Doctor, eventually deciding that she does, setting this shortly after Love and War.


 * COMIC: Pureblood
 * Set between Transit and The Highest Science, according to Interweaving with the New Adventures. The Doctor says that Benny has only just joined his company, setting this shortly after Love and War.


 * COMIC: Flashback
 * Set between Transit and The Highest Science, according to Interweaving with the New Adventures.


 * COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!
 * Set between Transit and The Highest Science, according to Interweaving with the New Adventures.


 * COMIC: Younger and Wiser
 * The Doctor is alone with Bernice and wears his light jacket, suggesting a setting between Love and War and Deceit. Placement otherwise arbitrary.


 * PROSE: Playback
 * The Doctor is wearing his brown jacket and question mark jumper while travelling with Benny, suggesting a setting between Love and War and Deceit. Placement otherwise arbitrary.


 * PROSE: Continuity Errors
 * The Doctor is wearing his question mark jumper while travelling with Benny, suggesting a setting between Love and War and Deceit. Placement otherwise arbitrary.


 * PROSE: Of the Mermaid and Jupiter
 * The Doctor is wearing his brown jacket while travelling with Benny, suggesting a setting between Love and War and Deceit. Placement otherwise arbitrary.


 * PROSE: How You Get There
 * Placement arbitrary.


 * PROSE: Prelude The Highest Science
 * The Doctor and Benny decide to investigate a Fortean Flicker, leading directly into The Highest Science.


 * PROSE: The Highest Science
 * According to Benny, the events of Love and War seem like "quite a while ago". The Doctor ponders why he never got around to building a new sonic screwdriver.


 * PROSE: The Pit
 * The Doctor has a sonic screwdriver, suggesting he built a new one after thinking about it in The Highest Science.

Ace and Benny

 * PROSE: Deceit
 * Several days following the events of The Pit, Benny wonders how much the destruction of the Seven Planets has affected the Doctor. Three years after leaving the Doctor on Heaven, Ace decides to return to the TARDIS, but no longer trusts the Doctor. The TARDIS is cured of the protoplasm infection from Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark.


 * PROSE: Lucifer Rising
 * The Doctor bizarrely gives his age as 943-years-old.


 * COMIC: Final Genesis


 * PROSE: White Darkness
 * The Doctor begins wearing a cream linen suit and fedora.


 * PROSE: Shadowmind
 * Ace still keeps track of her age. The Doctor decides he needs a holiday, leading into Birthright.


 * PROSE: Birthright
 * The Doctor gives Bernice the keys to the TARDIS, and leaves her in control, having arranged for it to crash in Victorian London, leading directly into Iceberg. The Doctor's deceptions cost him Benny's trust.


 * PROSE: Iceberg
 * Set concurrently with the events of Birthright, with the events of both novels occurring at the same time for the Doctor and Ace and Benny.


 * COMIC: Time & Time Again
 * Ace recognises the Third Doctor.


 * COMIC: Cuckoo


 * PROSE: Blood Heat
 * A few months have passed since Deceit, but the events of Birthright are recent. The TARDIS falls through a puncture in the Time Vortex, and the Doctor later realises that someone is toying with time. Ace briefly uses the sonic screwdriver among the possessions of the Doctor's deceased alternate third incarnation, though it is unclear what happens to the device afterwards. The Doctor takes his alternate self's TARDIS after his own TARDIS is lost in a tar pit.


 * PROSE: The Dimension Riders
 * Ace still does not trust the Doctor, nor does the TARDIS from the alternate world. The Doctor discovers that the one who created the Silurian Earth has successfully altered the flow of time in N-Space.


 * PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird
 * The Doctor fixes the chameleon circuit in his new TARDIS.


 * PROSE: Prelude The Left-Handed Hummingbird
 * Set during The Left-Handed Hummingbird. The Doctor is hooked up to the EEG Machine, and has been for a few weeks.


 * PROSE: Conundrum
 * It has been a week since The Left-Handed Hummingbird, with the Doctor having spent most of the week in the TARDIS sick bay. Benny decides to stay with the Doctor after struggling with her inability to trust him. The Doctor learns history is going to change again, and he sets out to find the cause, leading into No Future.


 * PROSE: No Future
 * The Doctor discovers that has been corrupting the timeline as a revenge stunt, but is able to defeat him and regain Ace's trust. He also smashes the chameleon circuit of his TARDIS with a hammer, destroying it. The Doctor thinks he killed the Master in Survival, despite having spoken of him in the present tense during Deceit, and comments that he recently built his new sonic screwdriver as a replacement, suggesting it is the same one from The Pit.


 * PROSE: Prelude Tragedy Day
 * The TARDIS is glad that the Doctor, Ace and Benny are all friends again, suggesting a setting shortly after No Future. Ending leads directly into Tragedy Day.


 * PROSE: Tragedy Day
 * Set shortly after No Future, with the Doctor having found "a spring in [his] step" from his victory over Mortimus. The Doctor has had experience with delivering babies, setting this after Thin Ice.


 * COMIC: Uninvited Guest


 * PROSE: Legacy
 * The TARDIS has been to Olleril recently, setting this shortly after Tragedy Day. As far as Ace knows, this is the first time she has seen an Ice Warrior. Benny, who has never been on Mars before, takes a temporary leave of absence from the TARDIS.


 * PROSE: Prelude Theatre of War


 * PROSE: Theatre of War
 * Benny returns to the TARDIS after her temporary leave-of-absence that started in Legacy.


 * PROSE: All-Consuming Fire
 * The Doctor has dust and soil from Menaxus on his clothes, suggesting that this is set immediately after Theatre of War.


 * PROSE: Question Mark Pyjamas
 * Ace refers to the recent events of No Future, and Benny recalls the Royal Beast of Peladon, setting this after Legacy.


 * COMIC: The Last Word
 * The Doctor is wearing his white suit from White Darkness, though the TARDIS console room is the one from before Final Genesis. The Doctor recalls the events of Blood Heat.


 * PROSE: Blood Harvest
 * The Doctor, Benny and Ace end up in E-Space, where they find Romana and return her to Gallifrey, where she opts to remain.


 * PROSE: Strange England
 * Some time has passed since Blood Harvest, with Ace getting trigger-happy due to the lack of "dangerous adventures". The Doctor and Ace's relationship has been strained in recent months, but has improved following the events of No Future.


 * PROSE: First Frontier
 * The Doctor and Ace encounter, apparently for the first time since Survival. Ace fatally shoots the Master, but he is able to regenerate into . Ace considers leaving the TARDIS.


 * PROSE: St Anthony's Fire
 * Ace has her head shaved clean.


 * PROSE: Falls the Shadow
 * Ace's hair is still re-growing from the events of St Anthony's Fire.


 * PROSE: Parasite
 * It has been at least a full year since No Future. Ace is still thinking about when she'll leave the Doctor.


 * PROSE: Prelude Warlock
 * The Doctor visits Pietia Marichev in Russia and collects the Warlock mushrooms, setting this before Warlock.


 * PROSE: Warlock
 * The Doctor, Ace and Benny have been at Smithwood Manor for almost a year.


 * PROSE: Set Piece
 * Ace is 26-years-old, and the Doctor celebrates his 1000th birthday. After an ordeal with the Robot Ants, Ace leaves the TARDIS crew to become "Time's Vigilante".

Benny

 * PROSE: Prelude Infinite Requiem
 * Benny hadn't seen the Doctor for a few days, as he is hiding away and recuperating from Ace's departure.


 * PROSE: Infinite Requiem
 * Set Piece was the Doctor and Benny's previous adventure. The Doctor has spent the last few weeks only communicating to Benny through scribbles and notes, and his hair has started going grey.


 * PROSE: Sanctuary
 * The TARDIS has only just left Gadrell Major, setting this immediately after Infinite Requiem.


 * PROSE: Human Nature
 * A few weeks have passed since Sanctuary, but the Doctor and Benny have avoided each other during the interim. The Doctor changes himself into a human named John Smith to understand Benny's grief over the death of Guy de Carnac. After he resumes his Time Lord identity, he is given a cat named Wolsey as a pet by Joan Redfern. The Doctor suggests taking Benny to the planet Oolis.


 * PROSE: Prelude Human Nature
 * Set during Human Nature. "John Smith" has recently started working with Joan Redfern.


 * ( REFERENCE )
 * Shortly before arriving on Oolis, the Doctor rescues Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart from a slave ship while Benny is asleep in the TARDIS. (PROSE: The Also People)

Benny, Chris and Roz

 * PROSE: Original Sin
 * The Doctor takes Benny to Oolis, as he promised in Human Nature. He and Benny are joined by Adjudicators Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej, who wish to escape the corruption and manipulation rife on Earth in 2975.


 * PROSE: Sky Pirates!
 * Three-odd subjective years have passed since Love and War. Two days have passed since Original Sin, though this time was spent inside the TARDIS.


 * PROSE: Zamper
 * Set immediately after Sky Pirates!.


 * PROSE: Toy Soldiers


 * PROSE: Head Games
 * Set two weeks after Toy Soldiers, and "many months" after Falls the Shadow. Ending leads directly into The Also People.


 * PROSE: The Also People


 * PROSE: Shakedown


 * PROSE: Just War
 * Ending leads directly into Warchild.


 * PROSE: Warchild


 * PROSE: SLEEPY


 * PROSE: Death and Diplomacy
 * Set immediately after Sleepy. Jason Kane proposes to Benny, and she accepts, leading into Happy Endings.


 * PROSE: Happy Endings
 * Benny leaves the Doctor's company after her wedding to Jason, and the Doctor retrieves his original TARDIS from the Charrl after it was lost to him during Blood Heat.

Chris and Roz

 * PROSE: GodEngine
 * The Doctor, Roz and Chris have only just left Benny and Jason's wedding, setting this immediately after Happy Endings.


 * PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet
 * The Doctor, Roz and Chris have only just left Mars, setting this immediately after GodEngine.


 * PROSE: Return of the Living Dad
 * The Doctor, Roz and Chris spend a couple of months in 21st century Earth. The Doctor hints to Benny that he knows the circumstances behind his upcoming regeneration.


 * PROSE: Cold Fusion
 * Set between Return of the Living Dad and The Death of Art, according to the book's back cover. In the audio adaptation, the Doctor mentions the events of The Day of the Doctor, and also starts to recall the events of The Sirens of Time when comparing notes on previous Multi-Doctor Events with the Fifth Doctor, the implication being that he is remembering the incident from the perspective of his two previous incarnations that were also involved.


 * PROSE: The Death of Art
 * Chris unsuccessfully pretends to be the Fifth Doctor, setting this after Cold Fusion. It has only been a few days since they witnessed Benny's reunion with her father in Return of the Living Dad, and the Doctor has been wandering the TARDIS alone since.


 * PROSE: Damaged Goods
 * When they arrive in New York City, the Doctor reassures Chris and Roz that the causal loop has been broken, setting this shortly after The Death of Art. Ending leads directly into So Vile a Sin.


 * PROSE: So Vile a Sin
 * Roz dies leading her sister's forces into battle against the army of Emperor Walid as part of Leabie's revolution. The Doctor suffers a one sided heart attack at her funeral, and has a vision of Death tormenting him about his coming demise, which he confirms he knows the circumstances involved. The Doctor begins wearing the clothes from Doctor Who. After Roz's funeral, the Doctor and Chris visit with Benny and Jason for a few days to inform them of Roz's death while the Doctor spends some time recovering from his heart attack.

Travelling alone

 * PROSE: Prelude Set Piece
 * While the Doctor is waiting for someone at the Café in Glebe from Set Piece, he meets Robin Yeadon, and the two discuss Ace and the events of Nightshade. The Doctor knows when Ace will die.


 * PROSE: Set Piece: Epilogue
 * The Doctor catches up with a 37-year-old Ace following the defeat of the Voltranons.

Final days

 * ( EPILOGUE )
 * The Doctor reunites with Chris after returning Penelope and Joel home. (PROSE: The Room With No Doors)


 * PROSE: Lungbarrow
 * The Doctor returns to the House of Lungbarrow on Gallifrey, and also sees Ace there. Chris decides to travel alone using a Time Ring given to him by Romana. The Doctor is sent on a mission by the Time Lords to pick up 's remains on Skaro, and is also given a new sonic screwdriver by Romana.


 * PROSE: Notre Dame du Temps
 * The Doctor takes a detour from his mission to retrieve the Master's remains in order to retrieve his drawing of Romana from 1970s Paris which he left behind during City of Death. The TARDIS console is newly reconfigured with its Victorian parlour interior design and the Doctor has recently had an encounter with Romana on Gallifrey, setting this shortly after Lungbarrow.


 * TV: Doctor Who: The TV Movie
 * Having successfully retrieved the Master's remains from Skaro, the Doctor begins transporting them back to Gallifrey. However the TARDIS materialises in 1999 San Francisco where the Doctor is abruptly gunned down by a street gang. The Doctor is taken to hospital but dies on the operating table due to the practitioners unfamiliarity with Time Lord biology. Soon after, he regenerates into his next incarnation…


 * Next page: Eighth Doctor

Unplaced

 * PROSE: And Then Again
 * The Doctor and Benny encounter an alternate version of Benny called Bernard Summerfield.