BC

BC or B.C. was an initialism used to designate an Earth year's position relative to the epoch known as AD. The term "BC" thus designated a negative number; 100 BC was 99 years before 1 BC. Its positive counterpart was AD.

There was, however, a question as to whether the year 1 BC was followed by the year 0 or the year 1 AD. Some people, including the human chronologist Professor Wagg clearly believed that ! BC was followed by 0, allowing him to make the claim that the year 2000 was the first year of a new millennium, as did American journalists working for television station KKBE. (DW: Doctor Who) The Eighth Doctor concurred with this opinion. (DWN: Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film) However, the Sixth Doctor (MA: Millennial Rites) and Dave Young (EDA: Escape Velocity) both strongly argued that ! BC was followed by ! AD, thus making 2001 the start of the 2nd millennium.

Behind the scenes

• An inherently Christian designation, BC is not generally used in calendars of the traditionally non-Christian world. Consequently, some people use BCE (meaning Before Common Era) for BC. CE (meaning Common Era) as a substitute for AD. These largely cosmetic replacements are thought to avoid religious offence. However, Doctor Who fiction has typically remained loyal to the BC/AD convention. Even as late as the RTD and Moffat eras, dialogue and on-screen graphics prefer the Christian convention. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii, The Pandorica Opens, A Good Man Goes to War)
• In the real world, there is no year zero, so therefore 1 BC is immediately followed by 1 AD. Doctor Who fiction, however, is unclear as to this point.
• On this wiki, templates and categories, both of which use, or are used in, mathematical formulae, assume the presence of a year zero, since the fiction of the DWU allows it. Hence, we deem that the year 2000 is in the 21st century.