The War Games was a 1969 serial which significantly changed Doctor Who. It was the first story which named the Doctor's people as "Time Lords", and the first to ever depict his home planet. It was also the first to show that the Doctor was genuinely a renegade, liable to the criminal courts on his home world. But it was also full of "lasts". It was the final serial in black and white, and the swan song for the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot. In fact, it was the only story prior to David Tennant's finalé which involved the departure of the entire cast of regulars. It was the last serial for several years in which the TARDIS was fully functional and under the Doctor's control, as one of the consequences of the story was that the Doctor be exiled on Earth thereafter. However, because the serial did not end with a clear regeneration, or actually seeing the Doctor be forced to go to Earth, a narrative gap was created between it and the next televised story. There are therefore many Second Doctor stories which take place after the Doctor's sentencing in this story, but before its execution. One of the biggest contributions to Doctor Who lore caused by The War Games is thus the so-called "Season 6b".
Think Doctor Who is just for boys? Don't you believe it. Not only was the show's very first producer a woman, but it would never have come back without the fierce advocacy of Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner. Considering her importance to Doctor Who it's somewhat ironic that Tranter's only on-screen credits are for Torchwood: Miracle Day. But Gardner, her "partner in crime", is tied only with Russell T Davies as the most prolific producer in Doctor Who history.
The careers of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors are significantly longer in audio than on television. Check out their latest works at category:2021 audio stories
Officially, only The Lodger has been explicitly adapted from a comic strip — also called The Lodger.
However, several stories have clearly taken material from comic strips — often those in Doctor Who Magazine. The Shakespeare Code contains a good amount of material from A Groatsworth of Wit, and the notion of the Doctor absorbing the time vortex in order to spare a companion was explored in both The Parting of the Ways and The Flood.
Donald Baverstock was the BBC executive who set the the wheels in motion that eventually led to the creation of Doctor Who. Essentially the original commissioner of the programme, he hired Sydney Newman and later imposed a sense of financial responsibility upon producer Verity Lambert.
But Baverstock wasn't the only BBC executive to have a profound impact on the development of Doctor Who. Make sure you read about Lorraine Heggessey, Mark Thompson, Danny Cohen, George Entwistle, Tony Hall, Shaun Sutton, Sydney Newman and others.- 1968 - Episode five of Fury from the Deep was first broadcast on BBC1.
- 1968 - Part three of the TV Comic story The Cyber Empire was first published.
- 1974 - Episode four of The Monster of Peladon was first broadcast on BBC1.
- 1974 - Part six of the TV Comic story Is Anyone There? was first published.
- 1989 - DWM 148 was first released by Marvel Comics.
- 1995 - DWM 225 was first released by Marvel Comics.
- 2006 - The Stone Rose, The Feast of the Drowned and The Resurrection Casket were first published by BBC Books.
- 2006 - TDW 1 aired on BBC One.
- 2007 - TDW 15, including episode two of The Infinite Quest, first aired on CBBC.
- 2013 - Cold War was first broadcast on BBC One.
- 2015 - The Well-Mannered War and Damaged Goods were first released by Big Finish.
- 2016 - Legacy of Death was first released by Big Finish.
- 2017 - Spare Parts was released by Big Finish on vinyl.
- ... that the reunion of the Sixth Doctor and Jamie begun in City of Spires is actually continued first in The Companion Chronicles: Night's Black Agents before returning to the main Big Finish Doctor Who range in The Wreck of the Titan?
- ... that the legendary Dalek killer, "the Bringer of Death" known as Kalendorf, in his retirement visited a museum dedicated to the Dalek War, where he met the Eighth Doctor prior to the Time Lord's conclusion of the Last Great Time War? (PROSE: Museum Peace)
- ... that the Battle of Monte Cassino ended only about a month before the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrived in World War II Italy? (COMIC: Treasure Trail)
- ... that Mirrorlings use mirrors to trap their victims in other dimensions? (COMIC: Mirror Image)
- 1929 - Writer David Fisher was born.[1]
- 1938 - Actor Julian Fox was born.[2]
- 1941 - Actor Christopher Tranchell was born.[3]
- 1945 - Visual effects producer Tony Dow was born.
- 1951 - Actor Peter Davison was born.[4]
- 1967 - Actor Simon Paisley Day was born.[5]
- 1984 - Actor Richard Hurndall died.[6]
- 2015 - Actor Rex Robinson died.[7]
- 2016 - Actor Gareth Thomas died.[8]
- 2017 - Writer Eric Pringle died.[9]
- 1964 - Pre-filming for The Aztecs began at Ealing Studios. All of Carole Ann Ford's scenes from "The Warriors of Death" and "The Bride of Sacrifice were filmed. This allowed Ford to take a two week holiday and miss the studio recording for those episodes. (TCH 2)
- 1965 - Pre-filming for The Chase continued at Ealing Studios Stage 3A/B. Filmed that day was the evacuation of the Mary Celeste. (TCH 5)
- 2010 - Recording for Crime of the Century took place at The Moat Studios.
- 2016 - Recording for Order of the Daleks took place at The Moat Studios.
- 2017 - Recording for The Night Witches took place at the Moat Studios.
- 2018 - Recording for Warlock's Cross took place at The Moat Studios.