1981

Events

February

• 28 - The Fourth Doctor and Adric landed the TARDIS by the side of a motorway to gain measurements of a police box. Air hostess Tegan Jovanka stumbled aboard the TARDIS on her way to work at London's Heathrow Airport. (DW: Logopolis)
• 28 - The Fifth Doctor tried to return Tegan Jovanka to her own time, but instead the TARDIS landed on Monarch's ship. (DW: Four to Doomsday)

March

• 1 - Following a fall from the Pharos Project's dish, the Fourth Doctor regenerated. (DW: Logopolis) The regenerated Doctor and his companions escaped. (DW: Castrovalva)

June

• Peter Tracey was given a suspended sentence for breaking and entering. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

September

• A hailstorm struck Moreton Harwood. It lasted only thirteen seconds, but destroyed Commander Bill Pollock's crops. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

December

• 1 - 14 - Sarah Jane Smith was out of the country working for Reuters. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

• 6 - Lavinia Smith departed Moreton Harwood for a lecture tour in the United States. Before leaving, she arranged for a mysterious crate addressed to her niece, Sarah Jane Smith, to be left at Moreton Harwood. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

• 10 - Lavinia Smith phoned her ward Brendan Richards to tell him he would be spending Christmas with Sarah Jane. Brendan waited for Sarah to pick him up at Wellington School for over a week, unaware she was out of the country. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

• 18 - Sarah Jane Smith opened the crate left by Lavinia and activated K9 Mark III, who had been waiting for her since 1978. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

• 20 - 21 - Brendan Richards was kidnapped by the Hecate Cult, who intended to use him as a human sacrifice. However, he was rescued by Sarah Jane Smith and K9 Mark III before this could happen. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

• 25 - Sarah Jane Smith, Brendan Richards and K9 Mark III spent Christmas Day with Howard and Juno Baker as Sarah Jane's aunt Lavinia Smith was in the United States. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 29 - Members of the Hecate Cult at Moreton Harwood were tried for attempted murder. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

Unknown dates

• Anne Travers became the cabinet's scientific advisor. (MA: Downtime)

Behind the scenes

January

• 2 - Victor Carin (Virgil Earp in DW: The Gunfighters) died from cancer in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• 3 - DW: Warriors' Gate Part 1 was first broadcast.
• 5 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy debuted on BBC Television. A mini-series adaptation of Douglas Adams' radio play and novelisation, the series would include a cameo appearance by future Doctor Peter Davison as "The Dish of the Day".
• 10 - DW: Warriors' Gate Part 2 was first broadcast.
• 15 - DWN: Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit was first published. Beginning with this release and continuing through 1991, Target Books would commission the original teleplay authors to adapt their own scripts, whenever possible.
• 17 - DW: Warriors' Gate Part 3 was first broadcast.
• 24 - DW: Warriors' Gate Part 4 was first broadcast. Lalla Ward departed the series with the episode. Also, final appearance of K9 Mark II. Part 4 concluded the "E-Space Trilogy".
• 28 - Production of DW: Logopolis concluded, bringing an end to the Tom Baker era.
• 31 - DW: The Keeper of Traken Part 1 was first broadcast. Sarah Sutton debuted as new companion Nyssa although she officially did not become a companion until the next story and Anthony Ainley made his first appearance on the series, though not yet as the Master.

February

• The pop band The Human League released the instrumental "Tom Baker" (in honour of the actor) on the flipside of their single "Boys and Girls". This piece of music was later reused for the Project Who radio series in 2005.
• 7 - DW: The Keeper of Traken Part 2 was first broadcast.
• 14 - DW: The Keeper of Traken Part 3 was first broadcast.
• 21 - DW: The Keeper of Traken Part 4 was first broadcast. Anthony Ainley became the newest and longest-serving, incarnation of The Master.
  • Doctor Who theme composer Ron Grainer died.
• 28 - DW: Logopolis Part 1 was first broadcast. Janet Fielding debuted as new companion Tegan Jovanka.

March

• 7 - DW: Logopolis Part 2 was first broadcast.
• 14 - DW: Logopolis Part 3 was first broadcast. Sarah Sutton returned as Nyssa and officially became a companion.
• 21 - DW: Logopolis Part 4 was first broadcast, concluding Season 18 and ending with Tom Baker's regeneration into Peter Davison. For the last time until 2005, the lead actor of the series was credited on screen as "Doctor Who". Beginning with the next season, the credit became "The Doctor".
• 28 - Gareth David-Lloyd, who played Ianto Jones in Torchwood, was born in Newport, Wales.

April

• John Nathan-Turner wrote a story outline for the proposed K9 and Company spin-off pilot story.
• 13 - Studio taping began on DW: Four to Doomsday, the first story of the Peter Davison era to be made, though not the first to be broadcast.
• 17 - DWN: Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World was first published. Written by series actor Ian Marter, the book was controversial at the time of release for its use of adult language in a line of books officially considered children's literature. This was the last novelisation in the Target Books line to use the "diamond logo".

May

• John Nathan-Turner and Anthony Root composed a "format document" for a planned spin-off series to be entitled K9 and Company.
• 8 - Ayesha Antoine was born.
• 12 - Elisabeth Sladen was officially invited to reprise the role of Sarah Jane Smith for the planned K9 and Company spin-off.
• 21 - REF: The Doctor Who Programme Guide Volumes 1 and 2, were first published in hardcover.

August

• Doctor Who Annual 1982 was published.

October

• 15 - DWN: Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child, an adaptation of the very first Doctor Who serial, was first published. Its publication promoted the upcoming rebroadcast of the serial by BBC Two as part of their "Five Faces of Doctor Who" special series re-broadcasts. The Target Books line switched to the then-current "neon tubing" series logo with this release.
  • Paperback editions of REF: The Doctor Who Programme Guide Volumes 1 and 2 was published. The bookswere revised from the hardback versions.

November

• Production of the pilot episode of the planned K9 and Company spin-off series, KAC: A Girl's Best Friend, took place this month.
• 2 - "The Five Faces of Doctor Who" special re-broadcast series commenced with the third television broadcast of the first Part of DW: An Unearthly Child, the very first episode of Doctor Who. It aired in the UK on BBC Two.
• 3 - Second television Broadcast of "The Cave of Skulls" (the second episode of DW: An Unearthly Child) in the UK on BBC Two
• 4 - Second television Broadcast of "The Forest of Fear" (the third episode of DW: An Unearthly Child in the UK on BBC Two.
• 5 - Second television Broadcast of "The Firemaker", the fourth and last episode of DW: An Unearthly Child in the UK on BBC Two.

December

• Publication of REF: The Doctor Who Quiz Book by Nigel Robinson.
• 21 - The final new episode of Terry Nation's Blake's 7 aired on the BBC.
• 28 - KAC: A Girl's Best Friend, a pilot episode for the proposed spin-off K9 and Company, was first broadcast. The pilot reintroduced Sarah Jane Smith and introduced K9 Mark III.

Unknown dates

• Steven Scott (Kebble in DW: The Power of the Daleks) died.
• Bart Allison died.
• Marvel Comics published Marvel Premiere issue 60, bringing to a close the first set of American Fourth Doctor comic strip reprints from Doctor Who Weekly. Another series, Doctor Who, followed in 1984.