2001

The major alien threat of 2001 was that of a highly advanced breed of Cybermen. They invaded the Earth en masse, but were defeated by the Doctor and Destrii. (DWM: The Flood)

At another point in the year, Fitz Kreiner was dropped in London by Compassion on the to meet the Doctor at the St. Louis' Bar and Restaurant in London. Prior to the rendezvous, Fitz Kreiner travelled to Belgium and met Anji Kapoor and her boyfriend, Dave. They became embroiled in a Kulan plot. Two days after his arrival, Fitz met the Doctor on the 8th of February. (EDA: Escape Velocity)

Real world

January

• BFA: Last of the Titans is first released as an exclusive CD with Doctor Who Magazine, the first of several DWM-exclusive audio dramas. It is also the first single-episode/short Big Finish Doctor Who story. The CD also includes Episode 1 of BFA: Storm Warning.
• BFA: Storm Warning is first released. This was the first Big Finish Productions audio drama to feature Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, beginning a long series of productions (continuing into 2009) picking up where the 1996 TV movie left off. First appearance of companion Charley Pollard.
• BFBS: Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Gods of the Underworld is first published.
• 7 - Lorne Cossette dies.
• 08 - EDA: Father Time is first published. Introduction of Miranda Dawkins, the Doctor's adopted daughter, who subsequently stars in a comic book series.
  • PDA: The Quantum Archangel is first published.
  • BBC Audio releases an audio recording of DW: The Myth Makers.
• 15 - Wikipedia, an attempt at a free-content online encyclopedia, is launched, and within a few years becomes a dominant source for online information, eventaully leading to the creation of the Wikia websites which borrow Wikipedia's format - one of which would be the Tardis Wikia, launched in 2005. By the fall of 2001, articles on the Doctor Who franchise begin to appear on Wikipedia. Although not officially recognized as an influence by its founders, the concept of Wikipedia is often compared to that of The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the repository of all knowledge which was conceived by one-time Doctor Who script writer/editor Douglas Adams.
• 17 - Robert Robertson dies.
• 29 - DW: Spearhead from Space is released to DVD in the UK; discounting The Five Doctors, this is the first Third Doctor story to be released in the format.

February

• BFA: Sword of Orion is first released.
• CP: The Cat Who Walked Through Time, a Doctor Who short story collection for charity, is first published.
• 05 - EDA: Escape Velocity is first published, the sixth and final book in the Earth Arc. Fitz Kreiner rejoins as companion, and Anji Kapoor becomes a new companion.
  • PDA: Bunker Soldiers is first published.
• 07 - Doctor Who Magazine publishes its 300th issue.
• 26 - DW: Remembrance of the Daleks is released to DVD in the UK; the first Seventh Doctor story to be released in this format.

March

• BFA: The Stones of Venice is first released.
• CP: Missing Pieces, a Doctor Who short story collection for charity, is first published.
• 05 - EDA: EarthWorld is first published.
  • PDA: Rags is first published.
• 19 - Norman Mitchell, who played one of the policemen in DW: The Daleks' Master Plan, dies in Downham Market, Norfolk, England.

April

• BFA: Minuet in Hell is first released.
• BFBS: Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Squire's Crystal is first published.
• 02 - EDA: Vanishing Point is first published.
  • PDA: The Shadow in the Glass is first published.
  • BBC Audio releases audio recordings of DW: The Moonbase and DW: The Celestial Toymaker.
• 17 - Terry Scully (Fewsham in DW: The Seeds of Death) dies from a stroke in Wiltshire, England.
• 27 - Tom Baker appears on the BBC Radio 4 programme Dead Ringers, where he encounters soundalike Jon Culshaw.

May

• BFA: Loups-Garoux is first released.
• CP: Walking in Eternity, a Doctor Who short story collection for charity, is first published.
• 07 - EDA: Eater of Wasps is first published.
  • PDA: Asylum is first published.
• 11 - Death of Douglas Adams, writer of a few Doctor Who scripts and script editor of Season 17. Best known for creating The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which has been referenced numerous times by the franchise.
• 12 - Norman Kay dies.
• 22 - Jack Watling, Doctor Who guest star and father of Deborah Watling, dies.

June

• BFA: Dust Breeding is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire I: Invasion of the Daleks is first released, launching the first of Big Finish Productions' Dalek Empire spin-off series.
• 04 - EDA: The Year of Intelligent Tigers is first published.
  • PDA: Superior Beings is first published.
• 18 - DW: The Caves of Androzani is released to DVD in the UK; discounting the special case of DW: The Five Doctors, this is the first solo Fifth Doctor story to be released in the format.
• 28 - Joan Sims dies.

July

• BFA: Bloodtide is first released.
• CP: LifeDeath, a Doctor Who short story collection for charity, is first published.
• 02 - EDA: The Slow Empire is first published.
  • PDA: Byzantium! is first published.
  • BBC Audio reissues the 1979 audio version of DW: Genesis of the Daleks and the radio play BBCR: Exploration Earth on CD.
  • BBC Audio issues an audio recording of DW: The Abominable Snowmen.
  • DW: The Robots of Death is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 03 - Delia Derbyshire, original arranger of the Doctor Who theme, dies.
• 13 - The BBC enters new territory with Doctor Who with the uploading of the very first original made-for-Internet story, the "pilot episode" of WC: Death Comes to Time, featuring the return of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace in what is basically a Big Finish Productions-style audio drama with limited animation. The series resumes in February 2002; ultimately 13 installments will be released.

August

• BFA: Project: Twilight is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire I: The Human Factor is first released.
• BFBS: Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Infernal Nexus is first published.
• 06 - EDA: Dark Progeny is first published.
  • PDA: Bullet Time is first published.
• 13 - DW: Doctor Who, the 1996 TV movie, is released to DVD in the UK.
• 18 - Tom Watson, who played Ramo in DW: The Underwater Menace, dies in St. Andrews, Scotland, from cancer.
• 20 - REF: Doctor Who: Regeneration is published in paperback.

September

• BFA: The Eye of the Scorpion is first released. A new audio-only companion for the Fifth Doctor, Erimem, is introduced.
• 01 - MB: Kaldor City: Occam's Razor is first released. This is the first in a series of audio dramas by Magic Bullet Productions in the Kaldor City series, based upon characters from DW: The Robots of Death.
• 03 - EDA: The City of the Dead is first published.
  • PDA: Psi-ence Fiction is first published.
• 09 - DW: The Five Doctors, The Robots of Death and Spearhead from Space are all released to DVD in Region 1 (North America). These are the first Doctor Who DVD releases in that part of the world, and begin an ongoing series of releases by the North American arm of BBC Video (in conjunction with Warner Home Video) that continues into 2010.
• 11 - The September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Though never explicitly stated to have occurred in the DWU they may be said to be vaguely implied in a couple of episodes. Harriet Jones' refusal to let the American president turn the Christmas 2006 Sycorax invasion into another war, and Donna Noble's reference to "Gitmo" obliquely refer to some of the real world consequences of September 11. (DW: The Christmas Invasion, The Sontaran Stratagem) Nevertheless, these references alone are not enough to confirm that the real life September 11th attacks occurred in the DWU.

• 26 - Brian Hawksley dies.

October

• BFA: Colditz is first released.
• BBV: The Eleven Day Empire - Protocols: Volume 1 and BBV: The Shadow Play - Protocols: Volume 2 are first released, launching a series of Faction Paradox audio dramas.
• 01 - EDA: Grimm Reality is first published. This is the 50th novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series.
  • PDA: Dying in the Sun is first published.
  • BBC Audio releases an audio recording of DW: The Daleks' Master Plan in a special edition that also includes raw recordings of the episodes (without linking narration) and CD-ROM content including the scripts.
• 15 - DW: Vengeance on Varos is released to DVD in the UK; the first Sixth Doctor story released in this format.
• 18 - REF: Doctor Who: The Scripts 1974/75 is first published by BBC Books. This is an annotated collection of complete scripts from Season 12.
• 26 - REF: Doctor Who: On Location is first published.
• 31 - Jenny Laird dies.

November

• BFA: Primeval is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire I: "Death to the Daleks!" is first released.
• REF: I, Who 2 is first published.
• 05 - EDA: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street is first published.
  • PDA: Instruments of Darkness is first published.
• 13 - Peggy Mount dies.
• 21 - The first Wikipedia article on Doctor Who is uploaded. For the remainder of the decade hundreds of articles on the franchise will appear on the user-generated reference website. The establishment of the "Wiki" format popularized by Wikipedia also gives rise to many topic-specific "wiki" websites, including the Doctor Who TARDIS Index File site on Wikia.
• 23 - TN: Time and Relative is first published. This is the first release of a series of hardcover (later including paperback) novellas published by Telos Publishing and licensed by the BBC (which continues to publish full-length novels under its BBC Books line). Telos releases will be limited in distribution and most will include deluxe editions with autographs.
• 29 - Former Beatle George Harrison, who appeared as himself in DW: The Chase, dies from lung cancer in Los Angeles, California.

December

• BFA: The One Doctor is first released.
• 11 - Alan Fennell dies.
• 20 - Edward Evans dies.
• 21 - Kevin Manser, who operated Daleks in numerous episodes of Doctor Who and also in the first Dalek film starring Peter Cushing, dies in New South Wales, Australia, from cancer of the bowel.
• 28 - 20th anniversary of the broadcast of KAC: A Girl's Best Friend, the pilot for K-9 and Company.

Unknown dates

• Bill McGuirk dies.
• Broadband internet becomes commercially available in some parts of the world. Broadband is one of the technologies that Henry van Statten claims to have "created" on the back of scavenged alien technology. However the episode in question, Dalek (TV story) makes no reference to a specific date, and therefore a real life 2001 date can't be said to exist in the DWU.