1983 (releases)

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1983 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

In 1983, a number of things set in or relevant to the Doctor Who universe were released or published.

• 3 January - Arc of Infinity Part 1 debuted on BBC1, launching Doctor Who's 20th season. Future Sixth Doctor Colin Baker made his first appearance on the series, but as a different character.
• 5 January - Arc of Infinity Part 2 debuted on BBC1.
• 11 January - Arc of Infinity Part 3 debuted on BBC1.
• 12 January - Arc of Infinity Part 4 debuted on BBC1.
• 18 January - Snakedance Part 1 debuted on BBC1.
• 19 January - Snakedance Part 2 debuted on BBC1.
• 25 January - Snakedance Part 3 debuted on BBC1.
• 26 January - Snakedance Part 4 debuted on BBC1.
• 1 February - Mawdryn Undead Part 1 debuted on BBC1. Mark Strickson joined as new companion Vislor Turlough, while Nicholas Courtney made his first appearance as Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart since Terror of the Zygons. This serial was the first to definitively establish that the current incarnation of the Doctor was the fifth.
• 2 February - Mawdryn Undead Part 2 debuted on BBC1.
• 8 February - Mawdryn Undead Part 3 debuted on BBC1.
• 9 February - Mawdryn Undead Part 4 debuted on BBC1.
• 15 February - Terminus Part 1 debuted on BBC1.
• 16 February - Terminus Part 2 debuted on BBC1.
• 20 February - Actor Peter Glaze died in Dartford, England.
• 22 February - Terminus Part 3 debuted on BBC1.
• 23 February - Terminus Part 4 debuted on BBC1. Sarah Sutton left the series with this part.
• Filming and studio recording for The Five Doctors took place this month.
• REF: The Doctor Who Technical Manual was first published.
• 1 March - Enlightenment Part 1 debuted on BBC1.
• 01 - Actor Lionel Sansby died.
• 2 March - Enlightenment Part 2 debuted on BBC1.
• 8 March - Enlightenment Part 3 debuted on BBC1.
• 9 March - Enlightenment Part 4 debuted on BBC1.
• 15 March - The King's Demons Part 1 debuted on BBC1. This was the introduction of the android companion Kamelion.
• 16 March - The King's Demons Part 2 debuted on BBC1, technically concluding Season 20, although the later special The Five Doctors was also considered part of Season 20.
• 21 March - Actor Bruno Langley was born.
• 31 March - Actor Anthony Lewis was born.
• 14 April - Actor Josie Taylor was born.
• 15 April - PROSE: Doctor Who - Time-Flight was first published.
• 15 - Actor Siobhân Hewlett was born.
• 2 May - This was the tenth anniversary of the launch of Target Books' line of Doctor Who novelisations.
• 5 May - PROSE: Doctor Who - Meglos was first published. This was the final televised Fourth Doctor story to be novelised. Due to licensing issues, no novelisations were officially published for The Pirate Planet or City of Death. Target Books published one more Fourth Doctor novelisation, PROSE: The Pescatons, based upon an audio drama, in 1991. A novelisation of the unfinished/unbroadcast HOMEVID: Shada was published by BBC Books in 2012.
• 31 May - Actor Reggie Yates was born.
• 6 June - Actor Gemma Bissix was born.
• 16 June - PROSE: Doctor Who - Castrovalva was first published.
• 22 June - Actor Daphne Heard died.
• 23 June - Doctor Who: Daleks Omnibus was first published. It was a hardcover Target Books collection reprinting the Terrance Dicks novelisations PROSE: Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, PROSE: Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks and PROSE: Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks.
• 20 July - Actor Rory Jennings was born.
• 21 July - PROSE: Doctor Who - Four to Doomsday was first published.
• The BBC announced that Colin Baker - no relation to Tom Baker - had been cast as the Sixth Doctor.
• The Doctor Who Annual 1984 was published.
• 18 August - PROSE: Doctor Who - Earthshock was first published.
• 13 September - REF: Doctor Who: A Celebration was first published.
• 15 September - PROSE: Doctor Who - Terminus was first published.
• REF: Doctor Who: The Making of a Television Series was published in paperback.
• 14 October-19 October Filming for Planet of Fire took place in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, marking the first time Doctor Who was filmed outside the European continent.
• 20 October - PROSE: Doctor Who - Arc of Infinity was first published.
• 28 October - Actor Joe Thomas was born.
• REF: Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text, one of the first widely published scholarly works on the franchise, was first published in both the UK and US.
• 2 November - Actor Michael Spice died.
• 17 November - Actor Harry Lloyd was born.
• 19 November - For the first time in nearly ten years, Doctor Who made the cover of the Radio Times. It was another decade before this happened again, making this the last Radio Times cover to be published during the original series' run.
• 23 November - This was the twentieth anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who.
• 23 - The Five Doctors was broadcast for the first time. However, PBS affiliates in the United States (which are also received on cable television in Canada) broadcast it before the BBC, the first time America saw a Doctor Who story before the UK. This version was slightly truncated from the version shown two days later in the UK. This was the first "feature-length" regular part of Doctor Who produced. The special featured the return of Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee (with Tom Baker represented by footage from the unbroadcast HOMEVID: Shada). Richard Hurndall made his first and only appearance as the First Doctor. Numerous companions from all eras of the series appeared. Although broadcast closer to the start of Season 21, it was considered part of the anniversary Season 20 and, thus, its belated finale.
• 24 November - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Five Doctors was first published. This was the first time a Target Books novelisation was published before the UK broadcast premiere of an episode. According to the 2008 DVD release of The Five Doctors, this was widely believed to have been an error.
• 25 November - The Five Doctors debuted on BBC1 in the UK, as part of that year's Children in Need fund-raising drive.
• 4 December - Actor Maurice Browning died.

Unknown date

• Magnet Books, a subsidiary of Methuen Children's Books, published Doctor Who Quiz Book of Science, Doctor Who Quiz Book of Space and Doctor Who Quiz Book of Magic, all by Michael Holt, the remainder of the Doctor Who Quiz Book line. These illustrated paperback books (published in the same format as Target Books novelisations) contained original short stories featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka that set up short quizzes related to the subject matter of the book. The first book in the series had been published in 1982.