Aliens of London dating controversy

The Aliens of London dating controversy stems from a narrative feature introduced in the television story, Aliens of London. In that story the Ninth Doctor returns Rose Tyler to her home time one year later than planned, in 2006. Indeed, a missing persons' poster created for that episode states that Rose has been gone since 6 March 2005. The Doctor could not rectify this issue which resulted in that story and future stories set in the "present day" actually being set one year in the future. The time gap also spanned the BBC Wales spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Broadcast date and setting would not be synchronised in Doctor Who until almost the end of the Tenth Doctor's era in 2009's Planet of the Dead, after the Doctor had ceased regular contact with his companions in the previous year's Journey's End. The spin-offs caught up in the same year, in the third of each series.

This narrative feature was sometimes forgotten or not applied by some writers, leading to several contradictions.

Doctor Who

 * In The Fires of Pompeii, Donna Noble implies her home time is 2008 despite it actually being in 2009.

The Sarah Jane Adventures

 * In Invasion of the Bane, the tax disc on Sarah Jane's car expires in July 2007 even though the story is set in 2008.

Torchwood

 * The New World states that Gwen Cooper joined Torchwood Three in 2006, but she actually joined in 2007.