Theory:Timeline - First Doctor

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This page lists appearances of the First Doctor in the order in which he experienced them. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. It is assumed, much like its TV story counterparts that for each novel, comic story and audio series their published/numbered order is the order they occur in. This does not apply to short stories which are often ambiguous about their placement. There are also many gaps between stories.

The layout of this timeline is in part based on the observations on Doctor Who Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, as well as information in Lance Parkin's AHistory which allow us to make observations on placement of stories, such as Doctor Who Reviews, The History of Doctor Who, The Discontinuity Guide, Clive Banks Databank, the Big Finnish forums, The Whoniverse and the Divergent Universe forums. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Additionally there are statements on the back of Virgin Missing Adventures and BBC Past Doctor Adventures novels that state between which TV stories the novel takes place between. These can be used to narrow the field, and should be viewed as the only placing for these novels.

Limiting factors

Before An Unearthly Child

Any stories featuring only the First Doctor and Susan travelling or otherwise are generally set before An Unearthly Child where it's established that the TARDIS isn't functioning correctly and where they pick up Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.

Story placement

Due to how the early-60s stories were told, with one story leading into another there are fewer "gaps" between which stories can be placed. It is often easier to say when television stories do not have a cliffhanger that directly continues into another than when they do.

Many novels and short stories, are therefore set between in the gap between stories at the end and start of seasons;

Season 1 and Season 2

Season 2 and Season 3

Season 3 and Season 4

Additionally some stories, in particular The Companion Chronicles and others are set during particularly long stories such as TV: The Daleks' Master Plan.

There are several other smaller gaps between stories such as between TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Rescue.

TV Comics placement

The First Doctor's travels with John and Gillian are very problematic to place in the Doctor's timeline, as between The Experimenters and The Extortioner, the Doctor is inexplicitly replaced by his second incarnation.

The stories Conundrum and The Land of Happy Endings hypothesise that these adventures are either stories created by The Master of the Land of Fiction or the Doctor's dreams.

Companions

Story placement can also be narrowed down by which companions are travelling with the Doctor, see Series basics below.

Timeline

Life on Gallifrey

The Doctor is born from the Loom of the House of Lungbarrow on Gallifrey.
The Doctor hasn't joined the Academy yet.
Having been forced to kill his bully to protect his friend, the Doctor makes a deal with Death.
The Doctor is disinherited from his ancestral House.
While studying at the Academy, the young Doctor crosses wits with the Celestial Toymaker for the first time.
The Doctor and the Master travelled into Gallifrey's past in search of Valdemar.
The Doctor and the Master work on the Consolidator .
The Doctor brings Susan to watch him and a group of Prydonians performed a ritual in Arcadia.
The Doctor still has superior ranking on Gallifrey.
Traveling back in time, the Doctor rescues Patience and her granddaughter from a danger on Gallifrey.

Leaving Gallifrey

Due to conflicting accounts, each telling of the Doctor's fateful escape have been listed in order of release.
In a story told by the Master, the Doctor decides to leave Gallifrey in the midst of a civil war. He enters a TARDIS alone, and finds a young lady inside, who he adopts as his granddaughter.
The Doctor and Susan escape from an explosion on Gallifrey, determent to keep the Hand of Omega safe.
A flashback shows a lone Doctor discarding his Prydonian robes as he is departing Gallifrey after a meeting with likewise hooded elderly men.
After an argument with his cousin, Glospin, the Doctor leaves Gallifrey with the Hand of Omega, and travels back to the Old Time, where he adopts Susan, the granddaughter of the Other.
Set during The Beginning: The First Flight, after Susan step inside the first TARDIS, and before the Doctor takes her into a second one.
The Doctor, already with Susan and wearing Victorian era clothing, is being pursued by the Chancellery Guard whilst fleeing Gallifrey with a flying trunk containing the Hand of Omega.

First flight

The Doctor has just escaped Gallifrey. Susan is exploring the TARDIS for the first time.
This is the Doctor and Susan's first experience with humanity. Controversially, it even sees them take the names of "the Doctor" and "Susan".
Already going by "the Doctor" and "Susan", the wanderers have their first experience with humanity during their first trip to the Solar system.

Wanderers in the fourth dimension

The Doctor is telling a bedtime story to Susan.
Susan feels enough familiarity with the TARDIS to begin calling it home.
The Chameleon circuit is operational.
The Doctor and Susan visit Jabalhabad.
The Doctor and Susan are familiar enough with Earth to debate whether or not the Great Wall of China is visible from space.
Learning that a dictator would cause Earth's destruction, the Doctor and Susan go back in time to kill the dictator as a baby. However, the Doctor, unable to go through with the act, leaves before he even sees the baby.
The chameleon circuit is operational.
The chameleon circuit is operational. The Doctor and Susan have been on Earth several times by now.
The Doctor is familiar enough with human pop culture to reference Harry Potter, Blake's 7 and Artemis Fowl.
The Doctor is relatively familiar and comfortable with humanity, but he and Susan have not yet settled in 1960s London.
Set "4 or 5 journeys" before The Edge of Destruction. The chameleon circuit is operational. The Doctor believes Susan needs friends her own age, stability and teachers.
The chameleon circuit is operational. At the end of the story, the Doctor says that he and Susan will "put down some roots" for a while, implying that the next stop may be 1963.
The Doctor and Susan have already had many adventures in the 20th century, but have not seen much of the latter half of the century. The Doctor is looking for a place for him and Susan to settle down for a while.
The Doctor takes a brief trip to 1997 to check if the United Kingdom will remain a safe place to stay in the times to come.

Hiding on Earth

The Doctor arrivals in 1960s London, and Susan begins attending Coal Hill School. The TARDIS is damaged by the Blessing Star.
The Doctor has only recently arrived in London 1963, and Susan is already in education.
The Doctor and Susan have been on Earth for some time, Susan is attending school and something breaks when the Doctor journeys in the TARDIS, forcing him to fix it using 20th century parts. The Doctor begins to take an interest in protecting the human race.
In Time and Relative, the Doctor takes the Cold away from Earth, and then logically spends several adventures trying to get back to Susan.
The Crab Nebula is the farthest the TARDIS has travelled up to this point, making it one of the earliest adventures. Susan is absent, and the TARDIS is in police box form, placing this after Time and Relative.
Set before The Web Planet, since this is the Doctor's first visit to Vortis, and he does not recognise the Zarbi. Susan is absent, and the Doctor falsely claims that he is from the planet Earth.
Set before The Sensorites, since the Doctor does not recognize the Sensorites. Susan is absent, and the TARDIS is in police box form, placing this after Time and Relative.
The Doctor begins calling himself "Dr. Foreman".
The Doctor and Susan have been on Earth for four months, setting it one month prior to the events of An Unearthly Child.

Meeting Ian and Barbara

An Imperial Dalek is stalking the Doctor as he walks through 1963 Shoreditch. As Remembrance of the Daleks is set immediately after An Unearthly Child in the timeline, this event most likely takes place immediately before the Doctor finds Ian and Barbara in 76 Totter's Lane.
Susan's curious teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, follow her home and force themselves into the TARDIS, and the Doctor flies the ship in a panic, bringing the teachers with him and Susan to 100,000 BC. Ending leads directly into The Daleks.
Takes place during An Unearthly Child: The Forest of Fear, just after the Doctor tries to stone Za to death.
The Doctor encounters the Daleks and the Thals for the first time. He also explains that he can't properly fly the TARDIS and can't return to 76 Totter's Lane. Ending leads directly into The Edge of Destruction.
The TARDIS' sentience is brought up for the first time. After realising that his paranoia got the best of him, the Doctor makes amends to better himself in the future. Ending leads directly into Marco Polo.

Further adventures

The TARDIS crew have just left China, so immediately after Marco Polo.
Ian and Barbara are still trying to grasp some of the more alien concepts in their travels, and the Doctor is not yet on a first name basis with them.
The Doctor is using the cane he received from Kublai Khan in Marco Polo. Ian has changed out of his Chinese gown.
Before The Aztecs, as the idea of changing history is new to Ian and Barbara.
Set directly after Farewell, Great Macedon, with the events from The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance being mentioned.
The Doctor warns Barbara about the consequences of altering the course of history.
Susan unlocks a deeper telepathic ability than the Doctor thought she had.
Set explicitly between The Sensorites and The Reign of Terror.
Ian refers to the events from The Reign of Terror as the travellers' latest trip.
Ian remembers the Doctor saying that the travellers' "destiny is in the stars", which he said in The Reign of Terror. Barbara and Ian still believe that history can't be changed.
Susan knows of Barbara's familiarity with Cortez and the Mexican civilisations, so after The Aztecs.
Barbara refers to the Doctor's warning about interfering with history from The Aztecs.
Ian refers to the events from The Transit of Venus. He and Barbara begin to think that the Doctor has been deceitful with them about changing history.
Ian refers to his encounter with Captain James Cook from The Transit of Venus. He and Barbara aren't surprised when the Doctor thinks that history can be changed.
Barbara refers to her attempts to save the Aztecs.
Barbara and Susan are mentioned, setting this before The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
Set shortly before Planet of Giants.
Sequel story to The Keys of Marinus.
Though he is currently separated from them, the Doctor is travelling with Susan, Ian, and Barbara.
Susan mentions the human-colonised planet from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The removal of the life pod from the TARDIS begins to affect its dimensional stability, setting this shortly before Planet of Giants.
Susan is still troubled with the telepathic powers she demonstrated in The Sensorites, and Ian and Barbara's experiences during The Reign of Terror are mentioned.
Susan is beginning to realise she will need to leave the Doctor soon and make her own life.
The TARDIS begins suffering from space pressure, leading directly into Planet of Giants.
Set immediately after Planet of Giants.

Leaving Susan behind

The Doctor encounters the Daleks for the first time since their debut. Susan falls in love with rebel David Campbell, and the Doctor decides to leave her behind so she can grow into her own person.
The TARDIS crew have just left 22nd century Earth, and the Doctor still adapting to life without Susan.
The Doctor is still thinking about gold for a wedding ring for Susan, as he was in Venusian Lullaby.
It has been roughly a year since Ian and Barbara were abducted by the Doctor.
Ian's first trip to Scotland, therefore set before Set in Stone. According to him, Susan left "a while ago".

More companions

The Doctor and co. are joined by Vicki. After leaving Dido, the TARDIS falls from a cliff, leading directly into The Romans.
Romans Cutaway and Byzantium! are both set after the TARDIS materialises and falls off the cliff at the end of The Rescue, and before the travellers settle down in Rome at the start of The Romans.
According to Vicki, the travellers have just left Rome, and are still wearing their Roman clothes when they arrive in London.
The Doctor is trying to make the shortest journey possible away from Rome, setting this directly after The Romans.
The Doctor is mentioned as being in the TARDIS with a fever.
Serves as a sequel to The Web Planet. After assisting Thomas Huxley fight off the Animus and the Zarbi, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are kidnapped Adam Mitchell, leading directly into Endgame.
The Doctor joins with his other incarnations to rescue Ian, Barbara and Vicki from Adam and the Master, and assists the other Doctors in saving their companions as well.
Ending leads directly into The Space Museum.
The Doctor is still working on the Time-Space Visualiser he picked up in The Space Museum.
Ian refers to his encounter with the Saracens from The Crusade.
The Doctor refers to the Menoptera from The Web Planet.
Ian mentions being knighted by Richard the Lionheart, so after The Crusade.
Ian used his himself as "Sir Ian of Jaffa", setting this story after The Crusade.
The Doctor meets and frees spaceship pilot Steven Taylor from the Mechanoids. Ian and Barbara use a Dalek time machine to return to their home time period, and the Doctor and Vicki find Steven in the TARDIS immediately afterwards.
The Doctor invites Steven aboard the TARDIS, and battles with the Monk for the first time.
Vicki and Steven are wearing their outfits from The Time Meddler.
Steven mutters that his last meal was in 1066, placing this directly after The Time Meddler.
Vicki mentions that Steven has only recently joined the TARDIS crew.
The Doctor mentions that everywhere the TARDIS arrives can't be a fun fair, alluding to the events of Frostfire.
The Doctor is experimenting with the component he stole from the Monk's TARDIS in The Time Meddler.
The Doctor, Steven and Vicki briefly encounter an apparition of a Charley Pollard from an alternate timeline.
The Doctor is switched with his fifth incarnation by the Monk. Steven has not yet been given a TARDIS key, so before The Empire of Glass.
Set immediately after The Three Doctors, with the Doctor being returned from the Omega crisis with his memory of the events wiped.
The events of its final scene segue directly into Galaxy 4, as Vicki prepares to give Steven a haircut.
The Doctor tells the brain-creature that Vicki and Steven have faced Daleks, Vikings and Chumblies.
Vicki thinks to herself that she's not a child anymore.
Vicki leaves the TARDIS to stay in Ancient Greece with Troilus, and the Doctor and Steven are joined by Katarina. Ending leads directly into The Daleks' Master Plan.
Takes place directly between The Myth Makers and The Daleks Master Plan.

Fighting the Daleks

Katarina loses her life in a hostage situation, and Sara Kingdom joins the TARDIS crew in her place.
The Doctor, Steven and Sara celebrate Christmas together in the TARDIS' control room after visiting Liverpool on 25 December 1965. Sara has not yet been told about interfering with history, so before The Little Drummer Boy.
Robert grabs the taranium that the Doctor stole in The Daleks' Master Plan: Day of Armageddon.
After Katrina's death, the sleeping Doctor is summoned by Persephone to help Katrina in the afterlife.
Sara recalls Robert dying in her arms during The Little Drummer Boy.
Although this is the first story that was told to Robert, it is the last of the adventures that the Home Truths recalls from Sarah's life, placing it after the previous two stories in this trilogy.
After their ordinary life is over, the Doctor decides to return to Kembel, leading the TARDIS crew back into the events of The Daleks' Master Plan.
Sara dies as a result of the Time Destructor.
The Doctor and Steven are recovering from Sara and Katarina's deaths.

Oliver Harper

The Doctor returns to I.M. Foreman's junkyard for the first time since departing in An Unearthly Child. Steven recalls the recent deaths of Katarina, Bret Vyon, and Sara Kingdom from The Daleks' Master Plan.
This is Oliver's first trip in the TARDIS.
Oliver sacrifices his life to save the Doctor and Steven.

Time alone

The Doctor and Steven are taking a break after the events of The Daleks' Master Plan. Roses leads directly into The Five Doctors.
The Doctor has begun travelling on his own with the ability to pilot the TARDIS effectively, as a favour granted to him by Rassilon in The Five Doctors, allowing him to tie up some loose ends before his first regeneration.
The Doctor mentions his visited to Troy from The Myth Makers.
On his own, the Doctor returns to Vortis, so after The Web Planet. The Doctor is able to pilot the TARDIS to Vortis, setting this after The Five Doctors.
There are references to the Daleks, and since the Doctor never heard of them prior to The Daleks, this adventure must takes place afterwards.
Sequel story to The Keys of Marinus.
The Doctor is able to pilot the TARDIS to Gallifrey, setting this after The Five Doctors.
The Doctor uses his jewelled ring to open the lock on the epitomiser cubicle, as he had done to the TARDIS lock in The Daleks' Master Plan.
Follows directly on from The Sons of Grekk. The Doctor is able to pilot the TARDIS to Tiro, setting this after The Five Doctors.
Follows directly on from The Devil Birds of Corbo. The Doctor is able to pilot the TARDIS to Rhoos, setting this after The Five Doctors.
The Doctor is deliberately involved in this situation, setting this after The Five Doctors.
The Doctor has deliberately come to the end of the universe to meet his eighth incarnation, setting this after The Five Doctors.
The Doctor is learning about a disturbance in the timeline. As he would need a deliberate effort to do this, this most likely takes place after The Five Doctors.
The Doctor is alone and seems to know the Voord, placing it after The Keys of Marinus. He is also able to pilot the TARDIS to Marinus, setting this after The Five Doctors.

John and Gillian

Returning to Earth, the Doctor bases himself in another junkyard in England, and makes arrangements to meet his other grandchildren, John and Gillian.
John and Gillian find their grandfather's address, enter the TARDIS and join him on their travels when the TARDIS takes off with them. Presumably, John messing with the controls causes the navigation circuits to break again.
The Doctor recalls that he has visited Vortis before, as depicted in The Web Planet
It is unclear what circumstances caused the Doctor to leave John and Gillian, but they later began traveling with his second incarnation, whom they addressed as "Dr. Who" instead of "Grandfather".

Accompanied again

After some time alone, the Doctor returns to Steven and the two continue to travel together again.
Steven mentions the Omwanadar, thus placing this story after Making History.
The Doctor and Steven stop an alien invader on a nearby beach with the help of Greenaway, who loses his legs and part of his skull and ends up in a coma.
After storming out of the TARDIS due to an argument with the Doctor, Steven returns immediately with Dodo Chaplet, who joins the two in their travels.
Immediately after The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, as Dodo is on her first trip in the TARDIS.
Ending leads directly into The Celestial Toymaker.
Ending leads directly into The Gunfighters.
The Doctor is travelling with Steven and Dodo, but became separated from them while on Vortis.
Steven voices his surprised that the Doctor wants another holiday so soon after The Gunfighters.
The Doctor investigates a crashed spaceship during the Boer War.
Steven mentions when the crew where living in Russia, so after Mother Russia.
Steven mentions Tombstone, setting this after The Gunfighters.
Steven decides that the next place they land is where he wants to make a lasting impression.
Steven leaves to mediate between the Elders and the Savages.
Steven's departure is a recent event, but the Doctor and Dodo have had several adventures since he left.
Dodo is more wounded and mistrustful of the Doctor, setting this after The Man in the Velvet Mask.
The Doctor's battle with WOTAN causes Dodo to have a break down, and he sends her to the country to recuperate.
Set during The War Machines: Episode 4, after the Doctor has defeated WOTAN. He thinks that Dodo will want to stay in London.

Alone again

According to The Rag and Bone Man's Story the Doctor goes on to travel alone, before returning to London.
It has been "eons" since the Doctor travelled with Ian, Barbara, and Susan, and "centuries" since he last spoke French. During an imposed "celestial retirement", the Doctor recounts the events of The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve to the Time Lords.
Set after The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. The Doctor is alone, so after The Rag and Bone Man's Story as well.
The Doctor is alone and unable to control the TARDIS's navigation systems, setting this after The Rag and Bone Man's Story.

Nearing the end

After informing the Doctor of Dodo's decision to stay behind, Ben Jackson and Polly Wright board the TARDIS while attempting to return the Doctor's spare key.
Ben and Polly's first journey in the TARDIS, and the Doctor accepts their company.
Ben is still wearing his sailor outfit from The Smugglers.
The Doctor comments that he shall soon feel a whole new person, referring to his upcoming regeneration.
The Doctor feels he will regenerate soon.
The Doctor is pulled back to Gallifrey and is aware that his next adventure will result in his regeneration.
After much of his life force is absorbed by the planet Mondas, the Doctor regenerates into his next incarnation.
This story occurs during The Tenth Planet: Episode 3, when the Doctor is bedridden and unconscious.

Currently unplaceable

The Doctor is traveling with companions, but they remained in the TARDIS.
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