City of London

City of London
Also called:	City
Location:	London
First appearance:	The Web of Fear
Appearances:	see list

You may be looking for London.

The City of London, sometimes shortened to City, was an area in London.

It appeared to be the original centre of the of the city, forming the majority of the area known as London in the mid 17th century. While much of the original city was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, it was soon rebuilt, and by the 21st century contained modern skyscrapers including The Gherkin and UNIT HQ.

Geography

A map of London in 1666. (TV: The Visitation ^[+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).)

In 1666, (TV: The Visitation ^[+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).) the City of London (PROSE: Matrix ^[+]Robert Perry and Mike Tucker, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998)., TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) appeared to make up the majority of London as a whole. The urban sprawl of the city was surrounded to the north-east and north-west by what appeared to be open countryside. The only bridge across the River Thames (TV: The Visitation ^[+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).) between the City and Southwark (TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) appeared to be London Bridge, (TV: The Visitation ^[+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982)., TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) which had existed since at least the 15th century. (AUDIO: The Doctor's Tale ^[+]Marc Platt, The Early Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) Most of the medieval city of London was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. (PROSE: A History of Humankind ^[+]Official Guides (BBC Children's Books, 2016).)

A street map of the City of London during the reign of the Monks. (TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)

By the 21st century, City shared its western border with Westminster, its north-western border with Camden, its northern border with Islington, its north-eastern border with Hackney and its eastern border with Tower Hamlets. Its southern border was the River Thames, across which was the London Borough of Southwark. (TV: Revenge of the Slitheen ^[+]Gareth Roberts, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 1 (BBC One and CBBC, 2007).)

The Gherkin and surrounding buildings were foremost considered to be the City of London. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac ^[+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2008). Chapter 3, "Everything Changes"; Page 71.)

122 Leadenhall Street was located approximate to the Gherkin by the mid-to-late-2010s, (TV: Face the Raven ^[+]Sarah Dollard, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015)., WC: The Promise ^[+]Pete McTighe, Doctor Who: The Collection mini-episodes (YouTube, 2019).) however, by 2022, a different building was in its place, which UNIT set up their new headquarters inside. This building was imploded that same year. (TV: The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).) However, a year later, the original slanted skyscraper had returned, with UNIT's newer headquarters built next to it. (TV: The Star Beast ^[+]Russell T Davies, adapted from Doctor Who and the Star Beast (Pat Mills and John Wagner), Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., The Giggle ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., etc.)

The City of London also included St Paul's Cathedral, the City of London School and the northernmost landfall of the Millennium Bridge. Stations in the city included Cannon Street, Monument, Mansion House and Blackfriars. (TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) It also contained the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, a financial district and an area known as Cheapside. (PROSE: At Childhood's End ^[+]Sophie Aldred, Mike Tucker and Steve Cole, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2020).)

A column at the bottom of King William Street — close to the Bank of England building in the City of London — commemorated the Great Fire of London. Its plaque read in part:

"In the year of Christ 1666, on 2 September, at a distance eastward of this place of 202 ft, which is the height of this column, a fire broke out in the dead of night which, the wind blowing, devoured even distant buildings, and rushed devastating through every quarter with astonishing swiftness and noise..." (PROSE: Matrix ^[+]Robert Perry and Mike Tucker, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998).)

History

17th century

The Great Fire of London began in the City (PROSE: Matrix ^[+]Robert Perry and Mike Tucker, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998).) in a baker's shop on Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Visitation ^[+]Eric Saward, adapted from The Visitation (Eric Saward), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1982).) The fire raged for three days, destroying most of the medieval city of London. (PROSE: A History of Humankind ^[+]Official Guides (BBC Children's Books, 2016).)

19th century

The CyberKing stood over the City of London after rising from the River Thames. (TV: The Next Doctor ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2008 (BBC One, 2008).)

20th century

From the end of World War II to 1966, Flowers Trade & Investments traded consignments of human slaves out of a building in the City with a wide reception area of gleaming black and white marble and a massive, thriving trade floor. Its human employees, including Oliver Harper, were conditioned to believe that Mr Flowers, Flowers's leader, and his fellow Fulgurites were humans like them. The business was debilitated when the Fulgurites and about three-quarters of its human employees were transmatted off Earth by the First Doctor on the consent of Sir Richard Christie, a cabinet minister. (AUDIO: The Perpetual Bond)

During the "London Event", (PROSE: Downtime ^[+]Marc Platt, adapted from Downtime (Marc Platt), Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).) Jamie McCrimmon and Gwynfor Evans visited the Monument and Cannon Street stations in the London Underground. (TV: The Web of Fear ^[+]Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, Doctor Who season 5 (BBC1, 1968).)

21st century

The Slitheen craft flew over the City of London on 6 March 2006, swerving around St Paul's towards the neighbouring borough of Westminster. (TV: Aliens of London ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)

In 2013, the helicopter transporting the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS flew past the City. By this time, 122 Leadenhall Street had been constructed. (TV: The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013).)

Around the mid-2010s, whilst Clara Oswald hung outside the doors of the TARDIS in the skies above London when searching for the Trap Street, she was near the Shard, Tower Bridge and the City. (TV: Face the Raven ^[+]Sarah Dollard, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)

The City of London during the reign of the Monks. (TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)

The Monks parked their pyramid in the City of London, close to St Paul's Cathedral. City was seen on a map of London used during the Monk invasion of the late 2010s. (TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)

A Charitable Earth's headquarters were located on the other side of the River Thames from the City by the late 2010s. (WC: The Promise ^[+]Pete McTighe, Doctor Who: The Collection mini-episodes (YouTube, 2019).)

By 2022, 122 Leadenhall Street was leased to Kate Stewart of UNIT for their headquarters. However, Kate and Tegan Jovanka soon had to activate the structural termination system to implode the building and entomb the Cyber-Warriors led by a cloned Ashad, during the Master's Dalek Plan. (TV: The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).)

However, by November 2023, (PROSE: The Star Beast ^[+]Gary Russell, adapted from The Star Beast (Russell T Davies), 60th Anniversary Novels (Target Books, 2023).) a new headquarters with a helipad was constructed in the approximate area of 122 Leadenhall Street, which had inexplicably returned. (TV: The Star Beast ^[+]Russell T Davies, adapted from Doctor Who and the Star Beast (Pat Mills and John Wagner), Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., The Giggle ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)

References

Sarah Jane Smith informed Mrs Wormwood that she had contacts in the City. They stated that the Bubble Shock! company had "dropped in from nowhere". (TV: Invasion of the Bane ^[+]Gareth Roberts and Russell T Davies, The Sarah Jane Adventures New Year Special 2007 (BBC One, 2007).)