2002

The most public event of 2002 was likely a political one. As the United Kingdom headed for a general election, Sherilyn Harper's far right New Britannia Party (NBP) threatened to hold the balance of power in a volatile political climate. Several assassination attempts were made against Harper, first by unknown gunmen and then by a terrorist organisation called United Front - which also firebombed some district NBP offices in the south east. These assassination attempts were later discovered to have been staged by the NBP itself. As the crisis deepened, riots broke out in London just before polling day.

This dissent into chaos was partly caused by a creature from a distant world, the Fearmonger, which fed off emotional fear. Still, it was helped by Harper's party's attempts to create fear in the British populace. the Doctor intervened and was able to destroy the creature — as well as expose Harper and her party - by using the skills of "shock jock" Mick Thompson. (BFA: The Fearmonger)

Other events

• November - The Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Samantha Jones arrive in San Francisco, however Sam Jones and the TARDIS fall into a dimensional anomaly. Sam Jones is lost, reverted to her original timeline. This version of Sam sacrifices herself to save the TARDIS and San Francisco. (EDA: Unnatural History)

Real world

January

• BFA: The Ratings War, a single-episode story, is first released as an exclusive giveaway with Doctor Who Magazine. The DWM comic strip character Beep the Meep appears. Also included on the CD is episode 1 of BFA: Invaders from Mars.
• BFA: Invaders from Mars is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire I: Project Infinity is first released, concluding the first Dalek Empire miniseries.
• BFBS: Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Glass Prison is first published.
• 07 - EDA: Mad Dogs and Englishmen is first published.
  • PDA: Relative Dementias is first published.
  • DW: The Caves of Androzani is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 14 - DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen is released to DVD in the UK; the first solo Second Doctor story, and the first story from the 1960s black-and-white era, to be released in the format.

February

• BFA: The Chimes of Midnight is first released.
• 04 - EDA: Hope is first published.
  • PDA: Drift is first published. This is the 50th release in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures line.
  • BBC Audio releases an audio recording of DW: The Faceless Ones.
• 14 - After a six-month interval, the BBC website resumes the webcast series WC: Death Comes to Time with episode 2: "Planet of Blood, Part 1".
• 22 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 3, "Planet of Blood, Part 2" is released.

March

• BFA: Seasons of Fear is first published.
• 1 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 4, "Planet of Blood, Part 3" is released.
• 4 - EDA: Anachrophobia is first published.
  • PDA: Palace of the Red Sun is first published.
  • Claire Davenport, who portrayed the Empress in DW: Marco Polo, dies from renal failure.
• 8 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 5, "The Child, Part 1" is released.
• 15 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 6, "The Child, Part 2" is released.
• 16 - During a broadcast of the NBC series Saturday Night Live, Sir Ian McKellen appears dressed as the Fourth Doctor in a sketch about public television. The TARDIS dematerialization sound effect is also heard.
• 20 - Several years after the initial filing, the matter of the London Metropolitan Police District's 1998 opposition to the BBC's 1996 application for trademark status on the police box design is heard in court.[1]
• 22 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 7, "The Child, Part 3" is released.
• 28 - TN: Citadel of Dreams is first published.
• 29 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 8, "No Child of Earth, Part 1" is released.

April

• BFA: Embrace the Darkness is first released.
• 01 - DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 02 - DW: The Caves of Androzani is released to DVD in Region 1.
• 05 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 9, "No Child of Earth, Part 2" is released.
• 08 - EDA: Trading Futures is first published.
  • PDA: Amorality Tale is first published.
  • DW: The Ark in Space is released to DVD in the UK.
• 12 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 10, "No Child of Earth, Part 3" is released.
• 15 - DW: Spearhead from Space is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 19 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 11, "Death Comes to Time, Part 1" is released.
• 20 - MB: Kaldor City: Death's Head is first released.
• 21 - Terry Walsh, longtime stunt person and fight arranger for Doctor Who, dies from cancer in London.
• 26 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 12, "Death Comes to Time, Part 2" is released.

May

• BFA: The Time of the Daleks is first released.
• The Killing Stone is first released. This is a non-Big Finish Productions direct-to-audio story featuring Mike Yates of UNIT, written and read by Richard Franklin
• 1 - Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner dies from liver failure in Brighton.
• 3 - WC: Death Comes to Time Episode 13, "Death Comes to Time, Part 3" is released. This concludes the 13-part webcast experiment, which will be followed by three more over the next two years. The controversial ending of this episode sparks debate among some fans as to whether the 1996 telefilm or the 2005- revived series is actually canon.
• 06 - EDA: The Book of the Still is first published.
  • PDA: Warmonger is first published.
  • BBC Audio releases an audio recording of DW: The Smugglers.
• 13 - DW: Remembrance of the Daleks is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 22 - TN: Nightdreamers is first published.

June

• BFA: Neverland is first released.
• 03 - EDA The Crooked World is first published.
  • PDA: Ten Little Aliens is first published.
  • DW: The Ark in Space is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 06 - Desmond Cullum-Jones, who appeared in DW: The War Machines, dies in Poole, Dorset.
• 26 - Dolores Gray, who appeared in DW: Silver Nemesis, dies in Manhattan.

July

• BFA: Spare Parts is first released.
• BFSJS: Comeback is first released, launching the Big Finish Productions spin-off audio drama series, Sarah Jane Smith. Elisabeth Sladen returns as Sarah Jane Smith (her first performance in the role since RP: Downtime).
• 01 - PDA: Combat Rock is first published.
• 03 - EDA: History 101 is first published.
• 15 - DW: Carnival of Monsters is released on DVD in the UK.

August

• BFA: ...ish is first released.
• BFSJS: The Tao Connection is first released.
• REF: Doctor Who: The Audio Scripts Volume II is first published by Big Finish Productions.
• 02 - WC: Real Time episode 1, an original six-episode story featuring the Sixth Doctor, is released on the BBC website; the remainder will be webcast over the next month. The partially animated story features Evelyn Smythe - the first appearance of a Big Finish Productions character appearing in a BBC venue; the story also introduces a new, less-garish costume for the Sixth Doctor.
• 3 - Carmen Silvera, who played the Queen of Hearts, Mrs. Wiggs, and Clara the Clown in DW: The Celestial Toymaker and Ruth in DW: Invasion of the Dinosaurs, dies from lung cancer in Northwood, London.
• 05 - EDA: Camera Obscura is first published.
  • PDA: The Suns of Caresh is first published. Last monthly release in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures line, which reduces in frequency hereafter.
  • BBC Audio releases an audio recording of The Enemy of the World.
• 06 - Katherine Schofield, who played Sabetha in DW: The Keys of Marinus, dies from cancer.
  • DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Ark in Space are released to DVD in Region 1.
• 09 - WC: Real Time Episode 2 is released.
• 14 - After several years of legal wrangling, the Patent Office rules in favour of the BBC in a trademark challenge brought on by the London Metropolitan Police over the use of the police box design for the TARDIS.[2]
• 16 - WC: Real Time Episode 3 is released.
• 22 - TN: Ghost Ship is first published. This is the first release in the Telos Publishing novellas line to also be made available in paperback.
• 23 - WC: Real Time Episode 4 is released.
• 30 - WC: Real Time Episode 5 is released.

September

• BFA: The Rapture is first released.
• BFSJS: Test of Nerve is first released.
• FP: The Book of the War is first published, the first of a series of books based upon the Doctor Who audio drama spinoff, Faction Paradox.
• 02 - EDA: Time Zero is first published, introducing a new companion, Trix. Last monthly release of the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures line, which reduces in frequency hereafter.
  • DW: Carnival of Monsters is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 05 - Big Finish Productions, as part of its Big Finish Talks Back line, releases A Soldier in Time: The Nicholas Courtney Memoirs and The Eighth Doctor Writers.
• 06 - WC: Real Time Episode 6 is released; final episode.
• 15 - Dwight Whylie, who played the radio announcer in DW: The War Machines, dies in Barbados.

October

• BFA: The Church and the Crownis first released.
• BFSJS: Ghost Town is first released.
• BFBS: A Life of Surprises is first published.
• William Dysart, who played Alexander McLaren in DW: The Highlanders and Reegan in DW: The Ambassadors of Death, dies.
• 01 - North American release of The Key to Time: The Complete Adventure, a DVD box set collecting the complete Season 16. This release marks the first time that BBC Video's North American release schedule seriously differs from that of the UK, as these stories remain unreleased in Region 2/UK for another 5 years.
• 07 - PDA: Heritage is first published.
• 10 - REF: Dalek Survival Guide is first published.
• 21 - DW: The Aztecs is released on DVD in the UK; the first solo story featuring the First Doctor to be released in the format.

November

• BFA: The Sandman is first released.
• BFSJS: Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre is first released. Last episode of the Sarah Jane Smith audio series until 2006.
• 04 - EDA: The Infinity Race is first published.
  • BBC Audio releases an audio recording of DW: The Savages.
• 14 - BFA: The Maltese Penguin is first released. This single-episode audio drama was initially available exclusively to people who subscribed to the Big Finish Productions audio dramas; it was later made available for purchase on its own.
• 18 - DW: Resurrection of the Daleks is released to DVD in the UK.
• 23 - TN: Foreign Devils is first published.
• 30 - MB: Kaldor City: Hidden Persuaders is first released.
• Musician Frank J. Petruccelli, on his album Visual Music, includes a track called "Cybermen on the March" inspired by Doctor Who.

December

• PDA: Fear of the Dark is first published.
• BFA: Bang-Bang-A-Boom! is first released.
• ST: Short Trips: Zodiac is first published. This collection of short stories is the first Doctor Who literary fiction to be published by Big Finish Productions, as it continues the Short Trips line abandoned by BBC Books.
• BFA: Doctor Who: The Audio Scripts is first published by Big Finish Productions.
• 02 - DW: The Aztecs is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 19 - Alan Johns (Ted Rogers in DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen) dies.