Canon

Canon is the body of works which describe the "real" Doctor Who Universe, though fans often differ as to what they include in their canon.

Specific media

Fans almost universally regarded Doctor Who, the television series as "primary canon" and acknowledge K-9 & Company, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Smith Adventures as occuring in a shared universe.

The majority of fans regard Shada as canonical, even though it neve reached completion, let alone aired on television.

The mini-episodes, A Fix with Sontarans and Dimensions in Time, produced by one of the series' original producers, John Nathan-Turner, are nevertheless generally not considered a part of the original series or as canon by most fans, even though it featured all the (at that time) surviving Doctors and a number of returning companions. John Nathan-Turner apparently considered Dimensions in Time a "real" episode and believed it should have its own official production code. Likewise, The Curse of Fatal Death is also not generally considered to be canon, as it was a parody of the series.

The canonicity of Doctor Who: The TV Movie is also a matter of contention among some fans, owing to what are seen as continuity issues and an attempt to "Americanize" Doctor Who.The BBC do include it in lists of Doctor Who and it was cited as fully canonical by current producer Russell T. Davies,

Fans almost universally do not consider the two films starring Peter Cushing, Dr. Who and the Daleks or Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. as taking place in the mainstream Doctor Who Universe. These have their own canon and their own continuity.

Many fans consider the early comics stories printed as TV Action, created for a juvenile audience, as not taking place in "real continuity".