1996

Events

January

• 22 - James Stevens began writing Who Killed Kennedy. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

April

• James Stevens went missing, having travelled back in time to assassinate Kennedy. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)
• (Easter) The newly-regenerated Eleventh Doctor crashed his TARDIS in Amy Pond's back garden in Leadworth. He discovered a mysterious crack in her bedroom wall. (TV: The Eleventh Hour) Date obtained from DWA Issue 161.
• At the same time, in a parallel and subsequently negated timeline, the Auton Rory Williams finished his job guarding the Pandorica. A version of Amelia Pond rescued her older, nearly-deceased self, who had been inside the Pandorica since 102 A.D., with the younger Amy's DNA. The Eleventh Doctor, having taken the shorter route from 102, seemed to be killed by a Stone Dalek. River Song killed it shortly afterward. This was a ruse to sneak past and shoot the Pandorica with the Doctor inside into his exploding TARDIS to reboot the universe being destroyed by the Time Field. (TV: The Big Bang)

Unknown Dates

• The First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Vicki Pallister arrived at the Festival of Ghana, pursued by Daleks. (TV: The Chase)
• The Eighth Doctor was summoned back to Earth via the space-time telegraph by the United Nations to assist them after they were offered the Cold. Samantha Jones met Sarah Jane Smith (who also met the Doctor in his eighth incarnation). (PROSE: Interference - Book One, Interference - Book Two)
• Rex Matheson's father became an alcoholic due to family and financial troubles. (TV: Dead of Night)

Behind the scenes

January

• 15 - Filming began in Vancouver, B.C. for the Doctor Who TV movie; discounting some post-production dubbing, this was the first major production session for Doctor Who since recording for TV: Ghost Light concluded on 3 August 1989.
• 18 - PROSE: Just War was first published.
• 18 - PROSE: Downtime was first published. Based upon the unofficial fan-made film of the same title, and published as part of the Virgin Missing Adventures line, it was the third and last of Virgin Publishing's series of post-Target Books novelisations. As such, it brought to an end a long line of adaptations dating back to 1973. It was the only Missing Adventures release not to feature the Doctor.
• 20 - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 1 was first broadcast on BBC Radio. This was the second BBC Radio play produced featuring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.
• 27 - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 2 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.

February

• 3 - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 3 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
• 6 - Actress Patsy Smart died.
• 6 - BBC Head of Serials Gerald Savory died.
• 10 - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 4 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
• 15 - PROSE: Warchild was first published.
• 15 - PROSE: The Man in the Velvet was was first published.
• 17 - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 5 was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
• 19 - Actress Brenda Bruce died.
• 21 - Filming concluded for the Doctor Who TV movie. The next time Doctor Who went into production was not until 18 July 2004.
• 23 - Actor Roy Heymann died.
• 24 - AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space Episode 6 was first broadcast on BBC Radio. It was the final known performance of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.

March

• 21 - PROSE: Sleepy was first published.
• 21 - PROSE: The English Way of Death was first published.
• 21 - REF: Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era was first published. Co-written by Sophie Aldred, it was a memoir of her time on the series.

April

• Fox Television in America began airing trailers for its upcoming broadcast of TV: Doctor Who. The trailers incorporated special effects footage from episode 1 of the 1986 serial TV: The Mysterious Planet.
• 18 - PROSE: Death and Diplomacy was first published. It was the first appearance of recurring character Jason Kane.
• 18 - PROSE: The Eye of the Giant was first published.
• 18 - Who Killed Kennedy was first published. This was the only original Doctor Who novel published by Virgin Publishing after 1991 not to be considered part of either the Virgin New Adventures or Virgin Missing Adventures lines (although it's often lumped in with the MA line as it featured past incarnations of the Doctor).
• 24 - Actor Preston Lockwood died.

May

• 12 - CITV in Edmonton, Canada, was the first broadcaster to air the TV: Doctor Who TV movie, two days before its "official" premiere in the US.
• 14 — TV: Doctor Who was first broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company in America, marking the return of Doctor Who to the screen. Sylvester McCoy regenerated into Paul McGann for McGann's (to date) only on-screen appearance as the Eighth Doctor. The film introduced a new theme music arrangement by John Debney (the late Ron Grainer was not credited, however), and reinstated the Jon Pertwee era logo from 1970-1973. This logo replaced the 1987 series logo as the franchise branding, and continued to be used into 2009 to denote "past Doctor"-related products following the 2005 series revival. The ratings proved to be a disappointment, and Fox declined to commission a TV series or further movies. Subsequently, issues over rights and licensing prevented the telefilm from being released to home video in North America until 2011, although UK home video release occurred not long after its broadcast there.
• 16 - PROSE: Happy Endings was first published. Promoted as the fiftieth book in the Virgin New Adventures line, it featured cameo appearances by many characters from both the TV series and the NA books, and was notable for "outing" Mike Yates. Benny Summerfield ceased to be a regular companion with this novel, though she returned in later volumes and ultimately took over the New Adventures line after Virgin lost the Doctor Who licence.
• 16 - PROSE: The Sands of Time was first published.
• 16 - REF: Doctor Who: A History of the Universe was first published.
• 17 - Doctor Who - The Script of the Film was first published.
• 20 - Actor Jon Pertwee died from a heart attack in his sleep whilst in Connecticut.
• 25 - The TV movie was promoted on the cover of the Radio Times.
• 27 - TV: Doctor Who was first broadcast on BBC1. The UK broadcast included some minor edits related to violence, and also included an on-screen dedication to the memory of Jon Pertwee. Unlike the US showing, the UK broadcast was considered a ratings winner, but without US support, the telefilm did not result in a series revival.
• Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film was first published. This was the first novelisation of a televised story to not be published by Target Books or an affiliate. It was the first Doctor Who novel to be published by BBC Books, and led to the imprint taking over the Doctor Who fiction licence from Virgin Books (it was not, however, considered part of the later Eighth Doctor Adventures line). It was the last novelisation of a televised Doctor Who story to date, and the last novelisation of any kind until WC: Scream of the Shalka was adapted in 2004.

Spring 1996

• Around the time the novelisation of the telefilm was published, a major shake-up occurred in the Doctor Who publishing world when it was announced that BBC Books had taken on the licence to publish fiction featuring the Doctor and other BBC-owned characters and concepts from the franchise. Virgin Books, which had been publishing original novels since 1991 and also owned the Target Books line which dated back to 1973, announced its Virgin New Adventures and Virgin Missing Adventures lines would conclude in 1997, after several remaining commissioned novels were published. Virgin, however, also announced it would continue the New Adventures line after that point, focusing on the character of Benny Summerfield.

June

• Doctor Who novel writer Jonathan Blum wrote and played the Seventh Doctor in an unofficial video production, Time Rift. Blum later recycled elements of the story for his later novel PROSE: Vampire Science.
• 20 - PROSE: GodEngine was first published. A new cover design format for the Virgin New Adventures line was launched with this book.
• 20 - PROSE: Killing Ground was first published.

July

• 01 - The BBC applied for trademark status for the traditional police box design associated with the TARDIS.
• 18 - PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet was first published. This book contained the earliest reference to characters from the later Faction Paradox spin-off works.
• 18 - PROSE: The Scales of Injustice was first published.
• 18 - PROSE: Decalog 3: Consequences was first published. This book was notable for including a short story by future head writer Steven Moffat. This was the last Decalog volume to feature the Doctor.
• 21 - Actor Wolfe Morris died.

August

• 10 - Director Rex Tucker died.
• 15 - PROSE: Return of the Living Dad was first published. Benny Summerfield returned for this novel.
• 15 - PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang, the twenty-fifth Missing Adventures novel, was first published.

September

• 19 - PROSE: The Death of Art was first published.
• 19 - PROSE: Twilight of the Gods was first published.
• 19 - REF: Doctor Who: Companions was published in paperback.

October

• Frazer Hines published his autobiography Films, Farms and Fillies.
• 03 - REF: Doctor Who: The Eighties was first published.
• 07 - REF: TX file: Doctor Who, a "filofax"-style reference book, was published by BBC Books as one of a series of TX File releases.
• 13 - Actress Beryl Reid died.
• 17 - PROSE: Damaged Goods was first published. This book was notable as it was written by Russell T Davies before he achieved national fame as the creator of Queer as Folk and, ultimately, became executive producer and lead writer of the revival of Doctor Who from 2004 to 2009.
• 17 - PROSE: Speed of Flight was first published. It was the final Virgin Missing Adventures novel to feature the Third Doctor.

November

• 1 - Actor David Dodimead died.
• 21 - PROSE: The Plotters was first published. It was the final Virgin Missing Adventures novel to feature the First Doctor.
• 21 - REF: I Am the Doctor!, Jon Pertwee's second volume of memoirs, was published posthumously.
• 21 - REF: Doctor Who - The Handbook: The Third Doctor was first published.
• 21 - Due to production issues, there was no Virgin New Adventures novel published this month; the book scheduled for release date, PROSE: So Vile a Sin, was pushed back to 24th April 1997.
• 22 - REF: Classic Who: The Harper Classics was first published.

December

• 5 - PROSE: Bad Therapy was first published. Roz Forrester was no longer a companion, but readers had to wait until PROSE: So Vile a Sin was finally published to find out why. Peri Brown made a return appearance.
• 5 - PROSE: Cold Fusion was first published. It was the first and only Missing Adventures novel to feature more than one incarnation of the Doctor, and the first to feature the Seventh Doctor. At one point Virgin planned for Seventh Doctor adventures to continue in the Missing Adventures line after novels began to appear featuring the Eighth Doctor, but this did not happen. This was also the final Missing Adventures novel to feature the Fifth Doctor.
• 5 - REF: The Completely Useless Encyclopedia was first published.

Unknown

• Actor Frederick Hall died.