1980

1980 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

On 14 February 1980, Dr Owen Harper, Torchwood Three operative, was born. (TV: Exit Wounds)

While visiting 1911 with the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane told Laurence Scarman that she was from the year 1980. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)

New York City's total population was 7,071,639, 1,670,199 of whom were foreign-born. (TV: The Gathering)

Dated events

On 3 February, Isley was sent by the United States of America to assassinate a target in Cuba. When her android nature was discovered, she "eliminated" fifty witnesses, causing a major diplomatic incident and the suspension of the US' robot-making programs. (PROSE: Nuclear Time)

On 15 April, Sam Jones, future companion of the Eighth Doctor, was born. (PROSE: Alien Bodies, Unnatural History, The Taint)

The science fiction film Prey for a Miracle, which was inspired by UFO / gods scare caused by the Latter-Day Pantheon in New York City in March and April 1965, was released. It was directed by a newcomer named Anthony Jones. The film's screenplay was based on the book How I Saved the World by Alexander Lullington-Smythe, which was published by Aphrodite Press in 1976 and was "very publicly discredited" in 1978. The veteran science fiction and horror star Peter Cushing played the lead role of "the mysterious government adviser, Doctor Who", a character loosely based on the First Doctor. However, a film critic for the magazine Film in Focus noted that Cushing's "endearingly eccentric professor [was] as fictional as the rest of Prey for a Miracle" as what little was known about the real life "Doctor" suggested that he was "a shadowy, manipulative figure". (PROSE: Salvation)

In December, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith visited New Zealand. (PROSE: Autaia Pipipi Pia)

On 8 December, knowing of the impending assassination of former Beatle John Lennon, the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield travelled to New York City. Mark David Chapman, influenced by the Blue, shot and killed him anyway. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)

On 25 December, Professor Edward Travers, CBE, died in Tibet. (PROSE: Downtime)

Undated events

Victoria Waterfield visited Det-Sen Monastery in Tibet, believing that she was obeying a summons from her father Edward Waterfield. (PROSE: Downtime)

An earthquake damaged Pompeii and uncovered the buried TARDIS. Captain Muriel Frost called in the Fifth Doctor to inform him of the discovery. (AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan)

Jodie's Law was released. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

A cult, which believed that God was an impossibly long number, took up residence on Fleming's Island off the coast of Ireland. (AUDIO: Iterations of I)

Iris Wildthyme acquired a ficus while starring in a porn film. (PROSE: Parsley Sage, Rosemary and Wildthyme)

The Fisher King caught in the flood of Краснодар. (TV: Before the Flood)

In Scotland, the town of Краснодар in Caithness was flooded. The Twelfth Doctor visited the town before the flood, and encountered Albar Prentis, who was killed by the alien warlord known as the Fisher King. The Doctor succeeded in stopping the Fisher King and advancing the flood so the underwater mining base the Drum could be built in the future. (TV: Before the Flood)

The Fourth Doctor and Romana II encountered the vampire Zoltán Frid in Budapest. (AUDIO: The Labyrinth of Buda Castle)

Umpty-nine was rediscovered in a black market auction. (PROSE: The Painting on the Stair)

Ted O'Brien's son died of a drug overdose. (PROSE: Head of State)

Alice was born. (AUDIO: Swan Song)

Alternative timeline

The Fourth Doctor took Sarah Jane and Laurence Scarman from 1911 and showed them what 1980 would look like if Sutekh freed himself when Sarah told him they knew the evil Osirian hadn't managed to escape, though the Doctor was dubious: a lifeless Earth orbiting a dead sun. This alternative timeline convinced Sarah that they had to return to 1911 and stop Sutekh and prevented the timeline they'd seen coming to pass. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)