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Theory:Timeline - Bernice Summerfield

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Spoilers aren't cool here.
(Try The Howling, instead.)


This page lists the appearances of Bernice Summerfield in the order in which she experienced them.


Limiting factors[]

Bernice first meets the Seventh Doctor and Ace in PROSE: Love and War. She concludes regular TARDIS travel with him in Happy Endings though she does meet the Doctor in other stories after this.

The Eighth Doctor drops Bernice off on Dellah a generation after her home time period at the end of The Dying Days.

Series basics[]

Bernice Summerfield's stories can be broadly divided up by publisher and who (if anyone) she shared the story with.

  • DWM comics. These were published at the same time as the novels and feature the Seventh Doctor, Bernice and Ace based on their appearances within the books.

Timeline[]

Early Life[]

Benny is seven. Her father is still around.
Benny is eight. Her mother has just died. Her father disappeared less than six months ago.
Benny is thirteen.
A fifteen year old Benny has spent the past two years on the run from the academy after realising that soldiering isn’t for her. (PROSE: Walking Backwards for Christmas)
Benny lives on the grounds of the military academy still.
Benny has just deserted the Academy. She is fifteen or sixteen.
Two years ago Benny jumped the troopship bound for Capella, sonic trowel in one hand and a bucketful of dreams in the other.
Bernice as a young archaeologist, with verve, energy, and manic needed to live up to her fake credentials.
Benny plans to investigate some ruins.
Benny hasn't been to Earth. She is drafted, as is everyone on this planet between the ages of 18 and 23.
2562. Benny turns 22.
Benny has just left Jaiwan.
Walking to Babylon places this in 2563.
Benny's 23 and it's been almost exactly a year since she left Jaiwan.
Set on Earth.
2565.
Set on Earth.
Benny looks "just past her quarter-century."
This story is probably not even true.
Benny is on Heaven, just prior to her thirtieth birthday, setting this just before Love and War.

Travels with The Doctor[]

Comics feature only the Seventh Doctor and Bernice. Must take place before Deceit.
The Big Finish pages for The Shadow of the Scourge and The Dark Flame places them after All-Consuming Fire and before Blood Harvest.
Publication order for NA-era Big Finish Benny/Ace stories.
Publication order for NA-era Big Finish Benny/Ace stories.
Proper Benny is travelling with the Doctor.
Benny and the Doctor are travelling together without any other companions. Benny has travelled with Ace.
Benny and the Doctor are travelling together without any other companions. Benny has travelled with Ace.
Bernice and Jason's wedding.
Benny has time travelled, but it's not explained how. She is still married.
Benny appears with the Doctor. He sends her on a "mission" and is going to take her to her home time after this adventure.
Bernice and Jason divorce.
Bernice is dropped on Dellah by the Eighth Doctor

Living on Dellah[]

Benny is working at St. Oscar's.
Benny is reunited with Irving Braxiatel.
Benny works at St Oscar's.
Benny works at St Oscar's.
Benny is living on Dellah. She pretends to be Menlove Stokes. She is working for Brax.
Dellah period. Benny mentions not wanting to use her Time ring again suggesting this takes place after Just War.
Extract from Practical Guide to Archaeology / A Brief History of Time (Working Title).
A temporal blast by the Ferutu reduces Benny's physical age by about five years.

Joining the Braxiatel Collection[]

Shortly after being recruited into the Braxiatel Collection, Benny accompanies Brax on a trip back to medieval Blackpool. (AUDIO: Many Happy Returns)
Benny has very recently moved to the Collection, and is deluding herself that she's a serious academic.
The Collection is still just starting, and is very disorganised. Benny has only been there for a few weeks.
Benny is sent by Braxiatel to gain permission to visit Ganesh.
Benny visits Ganesh after gaining permission in Heart of Glass. Benny is working for Brax on the collection.
Benny is working on the The Dead Men Diaries.
Set from 29 May to 16 June.
Benny is working for the Collection and it is the 26th century, setting this before The Doomsday Manuscript.
Takes place on Christmas Day. According to the linking narration, this takes place after Step Back in Time. Benny believes that Jason is dead.
Set during 31 December 2599 to 6 January 2600. Brax gets Benny a new Joseph. The Collection celebrates the new millennium.
Benny has Joseph and works for the Collection, setting this after The Doomsday Manuscript.
Benny is working at the newly founded Collection and has Joseph, setting this after The Doomsday Manuscript. Benny discovers that Jason is alive, setting this after Christmas Spirit. However he remains trapped in another’s dimension, setting this before The Infernal Nexus.
Set after the other stories in the anthology. Benny refers to the upcoming publication of "Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Doomsday Manuscript," so the events of The Doomsday Manuscript have already happened.
Takes place February 2600
Takes place March 2600
Adrian recalls the events of The Squire's Crystal.

Pregnancy[]

Set a few months after The Squire's Crystal. Benny finds out she's pregnant.
Benny writes a letter to the Doctor a week after discovering she is pregnant with Peter in The Infernal Nexus. She remembers both versions of Just War.
Takes place on July 2600
Takes place in October 2600. Benny gives birth to Peter Summerfield.

A working mother[]

Benny knows Iris, so after The Plague Herds of Excelis. Set during The Glass Prison.
Benny has recently given birth to Peter.
Benny goes on an archaeological expedition.
Benny convinced Jason to use their time rings to go to 21st century Earth. She's working for the Collection.
Contains a description of people like Braxiatel. Jason is Benny's ex.
There's a reference to Dellah. She's friends with Brax. Joseph is around, and if he's v1 he apparently hasn't been revealed to be a spy or anything like that.
Takes place over three months and one week.
Benny is working for Braxiatel.
It's been a year since The Skymines of Karthos, setting this around July 2601. Cuckoo is referenced.
If Keith can be trusted, and especially considering The Shape of the Hole, he's still a possibility at this point. Probably not after The Mirror Effect, though.
Peter has been born. Benny meets the Eighth Doctor for the second time, so before ...Be Forgot - even though her introductory narration is after the Occupation.
Benny meets Iris Wildthyme for the first time on Artaris.
Benny and Iris are still on Artaris following The Plague Herds of Excelis. (AUDIO: Many Happy Returns)
Iris drops Benny off on the Empress setting this immediately after The Plague Herds of Excelis.
Brax first shows signs of evilness, keeping Jason from questioning his motives.
Jason has nearly recovered since The Mirror Effect.
Leads into The Fall.

Fifth Axis Occupation[]

The recreated Benny in this story is from when the Axis were still in power.
Ending leads directly into Death and the Daleks.
Benny thinks that the Daleks' intervention to boost the Axis may have destroyed the future with Keith and Rebecca. If that's true though, that future should be impossible as far back as The Doomsday Manuscript. Benny gets back with Jason partly in out of hope for that future.

Rebuilding after the Occupation[]

The Axis is gone. Veronica takes over as gardener temporarily after the death of Mister Crofton.
Following The Fifth Axis occupation, Hass is hired as the new gardener at the Collection. (AUDIO: Death and the Daleks)
Benny is taking a break from rebuilding the Collection post-Axis.
Set in 2603. The occupation was recent.
It is Christmas and The Collection has nearly been rebuilt. Hass has replaced Mister Crofton as gardener.
April 2604. The Collection has been mostly rebuilt and is now accepting students.
Hass arrived at the collection a year ago.
Begins in August and leads into September 2604. About a year has passed since the occupation.
October 2604.
November 2604.
Set a few days after Peter's fourth birthday, placing this in October 2604.
Takes place a month after Buried Alive, setting this in November 2604.
December 2604 - nearly Christmas.
It's been nearly two years since the occupation ended.
Set in spring. The Collection is in ruins by 3610, which raises some questions about Theatre of War. Extrapolating from the story, someday Peter will die and Benny will kill Brax.

Continued work for the Collection[]

Jason's trial starts on November 12, 2605.
24th of December 2605.
Benny is on a trip with Adrian, having left Peter with Jason. Placed where Clarissa can complain about it.
Benny is on a job for Brax, after the Axis Occupation, and has left Peter at home.
Beginning of 2606. Peter is supposedly two, but that doesn't make sense. Blame Brax or Mark Michalowski.
Benny visits Etheria. She worries what Ms Jones will say about leaving Peter so long.
Peter is nearly six, setting this in 2606. The Occupation ended nearly two years ago and Liberation Day is coming. Benny is due back from Etheria in a couple of days. Ms Jones leaves the Collection.
Benny goes looking for Ms Jones following her return from Etheria. She spends two weeks
Set a few weeks before Liberation Day. Clarissa returns to the Collection and kidnaps Peter. Bev and Adrian go looking for her while Benny returns from The Serpent's Tooth.
Bev and Adrian are now almost a couple. They arrive on the planet Thuban, leading directly into Parallel Lives (IV).
After learning from Brax that Ms Jones has kidnapped Peter, Benny hastily prepares to go after him. Jason arrives at the last minute to join Benny in looking for Peter, leading directly into Jason and the Bandits or O, Jason, Where Art Thou?.
On the way to find Ms Jones and rescue Peter, Jason recounts his latest adventure to Benny, leading directly into Parallel Lives (IV).
Benny and Jason follow Clarissa to Thuban, where they rescue Peter. Clarissa is killed by Bev. Upon their return to the Collection, Hass informs Benny of another death, leading into Inappropriate Laughter.

The History Machine[]

Follows Inappropriate Laughter. Brax is in contact with the other hims/bits of him. He wants to destroy reality - it isn't the right one. Jess Carter kills herself. Nryn is killed.
Benny is aware of the search for the "right" timeline. This one seems relatively idyllic initially, except for the Wolsey/Doggles discrepancy. Jess Carter kills herself. Doctor Wt'hlm is first seen.
Follows Inappropriate Laughter. Brax cares more about his reflection than Peter's imminent death. Doctor Wt'hlm appears.
Benny manages to unplug the history machine before anything really bad happens, though she and Bev receive flashbacks of her life. Bev is now more understanding of Benny.
Jason is killed by the explosion of the history machine. Doggles becomes Benny's "ill-advised lover" as Wolsey described in Dead Mice. Doggles says the history machine compelled him to use it.
The explosion of the history machine killed Benny.
The explosion killed Jason. Bev and Benny are comrades in arms.
Jason's face is scarred by the explosion in both timelines. In the first, he and Benny have a daughter named Acacia. Hass is still a Martian.
Jason's face is scarred from the explosion. Benny is dead. Brax apparently was trying to use a world-destroying statue.
The history machine worked, but it wasn't supposed to. Benny previously only suspected that Bev and Adrian were "doing the dirty." Nryn is alive. Benny glimpses becomes aware of the changing and tries to kill Doggles. Brax "needed" Hass.
Jason remembers dying in the explosion. Benny is with Doggles - they got together in Match of the Deity - except they didn't.
Everything's getting really trippy and only Benny notices. Jess Carter is outgoing, and Bev is nice to Benny. A Brax explains the reality bomb plan.
Hass is a Yesodi now. Benny is a brainwashed Fifth Axis agent. Brax improvises a bomb to destroy reality.
A human Brax destroys reality. In the stable area created by the destroyed universes, Brax kills Doggles.
A new version of Inappropriate Laughter. Hass is a Yesodi. Nryn, Jess, and Wolsey are still dead. Only Brax remembers everything. Doggle's experiment is cancelled. Benny heads off to investigate the Head of Jedawa, leading into The Lost Museum. The entire Collection is now officially in/part of Brax's timeship.
January 2606 according to the summary from Big Finish. Jason tells Benny that Bev and Adrian really are an item. Benny loses an arm.

Braxiatel's absence[]

Benny has just returned from Trib City and her arm is still new, setting this immediately after The Lost Museum.
Benny recounts the events of Death and the Daleks while giving a talk about the Axis. (AUDIO: Death and the Daleks) It is Liberation Day, and Parasiel confronts Benny about her talk on the Axis. (AUDIO: The Goddess Quandary) Benny finally tells Parasiel the truth about what happened with Brax. (AUDIO: The Crystal of Cantus)
Set in the summertime. Benny and Bev agree that they must work together to make the Collection work in Brax's absence.
Set in mid-September 2106. Eight months have passed since Peter’s fifth birthday. The Quire arrive at the Collection.
Set in October.
Set in November. Benny tells Peter that she's going to be away more often now.
Benny is away from the Collection on a job for Bev.
Set in December, near Christmas.
It's January.
Benny goes to Columbanus.
Benny is absent from the Collection.
Benny is visiting Columbanus. It has been three years since the Axis.
Jason sends Peter to see Hass, which for Peter leads into Let There Be Stars. His interference with the shape of the Collection results in gravity waves, seen in the contemporaneous Sleeptalking.
Set in April.
Set between 23 April and 27 May 2607.
Three weeks since the Blackbrane reception in Perspectives: Intermissions, setting this in late June.
Set in July.
Set in August.
Set during the summer. Bev gives Benny and Jason a mission, leading into Cheating the Reaper.
The events of The Tartarus Gate were some months ago. Benny and Jason are supposed to be going to Ancient Greece on a mission for Bev, setting this shortly before The Oracle of Delphi. Blurb says late 2607. Ending leads directly into The Soul's Prism.
The events of Summer of Love are recent.
Benny and Jason go to Ancient Greece.
It's been a few weeks since Summer of Love.
Set in September. Benny recalls agreeing to work with Bev the previous summer in Collected Works: Prologue. Benny is preparing to time travel.

The Draconian-Mim War[]

Benny and Maggie Matsumoto seek out Braxiatel. The events of The Tartarus Gate are recent. Ending leads directly into The Tub Full of Cats.
Maggie says it's 2607.
Ends October 24, 2607.
The Mimsphere has been destroyed.
Benny plans to book a child therapist for Peter as soon as she returns to the Collection.
Ends 5 August 2608. Benny gets a mysterious summons to Bedrock XII, leading into The Final Amendment.
Peter is eight.
Refers to the genocide of the Mim. By the time Other Jason and Mira reach the Collection, Proper Jason and Benny are gone. Contemporaneous with The End of the World and The Final Amendment.
In an aborted timeline, over 15 years have passed since The End of the World and The Final Amendment. The clone Benny is still alive and President. "What's left of" the real Benny has been found.

Going freelance[]

It's been a few months since Benny left the Collection.
Benny is on a solo time ring trip.
Benny is freelancing and seems unentangled.
Intended for Benny's freelancing period.
June 2609. Benny is freelancing and has left Peter with a friend. She has been under the control of a vampire for 4 months. The clone of Benny is President of Earth.
2609 on the Braxiatel Collection.
Ending leads directly into Glory Days.
Ends with Benny and Peter on their way to Venus.
Benny and Peter are going to Venus, but they get stuck on Absence for 51 days.
About a year after The Final Amendment. President Clone Benny is killed by Frost, whose existence is due to Brax altering the timeline. Ending leads directly into Secret Origins.
Continues from cliffhanger ending of Venus Mantrap.
"Shortly after an incident in Buenos Aires."
Take place synchronously for Benny, Adrian, and Peter, respectively. After Buenos Aires. They've come from 2609.
Adrian is around. Peter is seeing a psychologist about Jason.

The Deindum War[]

Resurrecting the Past indicates this story takes place directly after Benny leaves the setting of Secret Histories.
It has been 3 years since The Wake.
It has been a year since Venus Mantrap.
It has been 6 months since Resurrecting the Past.
Year 54.

The Epoch[]

Jack first meets Benny, Ruth, and Avril Fenman on the shuttle to Zordin, which is then remapped into Atlantis.
Year 57.
Benny, Leo, and Ruth are together.
Benny and Ruth are split into three versions. 1Benny and 1Ruth go into stasis. 1Benny wakes up in 2616. 2Ruth is killed. Jack and 2Benny are in pseudo-Victorian London when it's remapped. 3Benny and 3Ruth are killed.

Journey to Legion[]

Benny is reunited with Ruth for the first time since Judgement Day. She joins Benny on her search for Peter Summerfield.
Only features Ruth and Benny, and nothing about Legion.
Ending leads directly into Paradise Frost.
Benny and Ruth finally make it to Legion after six months of travelling, leading directly into Vesuvius Falling.

Living on Legion[]

It's been four years since Peter was abandoned by Benny. Even if it's 2616, they were last together in 2612. The discrepancy could be down to the post-Deindum redraft of history.
The first flashback sequence is about a year after November 2616, so it is late 2617 at least now.
Peter says he's 18.
1Benny and Jack are spending Irving's money. Two weeks before the framing narrative.
Legion's Advent is a Christmas-equivalent, but there's no reason to think the dates match Christmas on Earth and the Collection.
Takes place over 13 days. Peter has something for Benny to do, leading into HMS Surprise.
Wednesday, the 9th of April 2618 was just over a year ago. Actually that'll be a Thursday, but maybe the calendar changes. More importantly, we know it's 2619 and that Legion Advent isn't at the same time as Christmas.
2Benny and Jack were remapped into the space year 2613 from Atlantis. Apparently 1Benny was already awake that year, which makes no sense.
Benny has to qualify the title "Professor" because she can't actually teach right now - there are no universities on Legion.
1Benny has been on Legion for months - about a year.
Benny is living on Legion and Peter is still single, while Ruth and Jack are engaged. Benny recalls the events of The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield as taking place several years ago due to an error from Gary Russell, who believed that that series took place while Peter was still young.

Reunited with the Doctor and Ace[]

Benny tells the Seventh Doctor that she has a son now. Ending leads directly into Good Night, Sweet Ladies.
Ending leads directly into Random Ghosts.
Ending leads directly into The Lights of Skaro.
Benny rejoins the Doctor and Ace on their travels in the TARDIS.
Benny is taking a break from TARDIS travel to attend Peter's wedding. Ending leads directly into The Vaults of Osiris.
Ending leads directly into The Eye of Horus
Ending leads directly into The Tears of Isis.
The Doctor, Benny and Ace defeat Sutekh together and then continue on their travels.
Benny parts ways with the Doctor and Ace once more, then returns to teaching at various universities.

Back to Teaching[]

Benny teaches at a university and is taking students on an expedition. She isn't religious at all, so probably not Dellah. She gets to Mars via a wormhole. Interestingly, this means Vienna is set in the 27th century.

The Unbound Universe[]

Benny is giving a lecture at the beginning of the story.
Benny refers to her friends and family.
Set during Benny’s time in the Unbound Universe. Benny knows that the Doctor is President of the Universe, setting this after The Emporium at the End.
Set during Benny’s time in the Unbound Universe. Benny knows that the Doctor is President of the Universe, setting this after The Emporium at the End.
The Doctor and Benny successfully escape the Unbound Universe.

Back in her own universe[]

The universe isn't mentioned, but the Doctor says Summerfield travels with him.
The Time Lords track down the Doctor and Benny, leading directly into Inertia.
The Doctor materialises the TARDIS on a remote world in order to evade the Time Lords. Ending leads directly into Gallifrey.

Alone again[]

Benny is working for the Luna University, and has met the Eighth Doctor before. Benny is aware of the Matrix, setting this after Gallifrey.
Benny has travelled with several Doctors, setting this after her travels with the Seventh Doctor, Eighth Doctor and the Unbound Doctor.
Benny tells a creature a selection of stories, including from the Unbound Universe.

Later Life[]

The Professor has white hair. She's 2000 years ahead of her own time.

Keith & Rebecca Timeline[]

Keith is a child.
This Benny has divorced Jason, doesn't work for Brax, and has Peter, Keith and Rebecca.
Braxiatel is "that camp guy in the white suit," and says "At last, my dastardly planning and plotting shall bear fruit." Keith is an adult and Rebecca is in school.
Assuming Keith is real, he's an adult.

2Benny[]

2Benny and Jack were remapped into "the space year 2613" from fake Victorian London. Apparently 1Benny was already awake that year, which makes no sense.
It would take a minimum of six months to get from Valentine's World to Legion. Jack is separated from 2Benny and sent towards Legion by Avril Fenman's agents.
2Benny throws herself into the time hole thing and dies.

Unplaced[]

Set during Benny’s time at the Academy.
Set In “The Past”
Set during Benny’s time on Dellah.
Set during Benny’s time at the collection.
Set during Benny’s time on Legion.
Set in “The Future”.
Obviously Jason's alive, but the whole thing's super metafictional.
Benny is accompanied by Peter. She lies that she's on a research expedition for the Braxiatel Collection.

The Christmas Collection[]

Set during Benny's time on Dellah.
Set during Benny's time on Dellah.
Set during Benny's time on Dellah.
Set during Benny's time at the Braxiatel Collection.
Set during Benny's time at the Braxiatel Collection.
  • AUDIO: Collector’s Item
Set during Benny's time at the Braxiatel Collection.
Set during Benny's time at the Braxiatel Collection.
Set during Benny's time on Legion.
Set during Benny's time on Legion.
Set during Benny's time in the Unbound Universe.
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