1991

Doctor Who universe

Unknown date

A three-inch steel protective wall was added to the cabinet room in 10 Downing Street. (DW: World War Three)

Behind the scenes

April

• DW: Spearhead from Space released in the US on VHS.

June

• 7 - Eric Francis, who played the First Elder in DW: The Sensorites, dies.
• 20 - NA: Timewyrm: Genesys is first published, launching the Virgin New Adventures line of original Doctor Who fiction, the first ongoing series of original novels based upon the series. The book is initially controversial with readers unaccustomed to adult themes, sexuality and language in Doctor Who. It is also the first volume of a planned four-book story arc, the first time such an extensive story had been attempted in Doctor Who literature.
• 21 - Ivor Salter, who appeared numerous times on Doctor Who, dies.

July

• 2 - Don Houghton, who wrote DW: Inferno and DW: The Mind of Evil dies.
• 18 - DWN: Doctor Who - Battlefield is first published. This is the last Target Books novelisation of a televised serial to be published in the short-page count paperback form in place since 1973. Later serial adaptations will be published with a higher page count. This book completes the adaptations of the Seventh Doctor era, not counting the 1996 telefilm, which would be novelised by BBC Books.
• 25 - Marvel Comics publishes the Doctor Who Yearbook, an attempt at reviving the Annual concept that had been abandoned by World Distributors after 1985. The experiment is a success and several more Yearbooks will be published over the next few years.

August

• 15 - NA: Timewyrm: Exodus is first published. This is Terrance Dicks' first original (non-novelisation) Doctor Who novel, and his first since DWN: Doctor Who - The Space Pirates.
• 18 - Barbara Leake (Mrs. Farrel in DW: Terror of the Autons) dies.
• 20 - Betty Bowden (Meg Seeley in DW: Spearhead from Space) dies aged 86.
• 23 - Producer Innes Lloyd (from DW: The Celestial Toymaker to DW: The Enemy of the World) dies.
• 26 - The original Pilot Episode of Doctor Who is first broadcast on UK television. This is a version of DW: An Unearthly Child, the first episode of the series, which had been rejected for broadcast.
• 30 - Alan Wheatley, who portrayed the Thal leader Temmosus in DW: The Daleks, dies from a heart attack in London.
• 31 - Gerry Davis, co-creator of the Cybermen dies

September

• 15 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Pescatons is first published. This novelisation of the 1976 audio story Doctor Who and the Pescatons is the first and only Target Books novelisation based upon a story that was not produced by the BBC. It is the final release by Target in the "short paperback" format that had been used since the line was launched in 1973. The last remaining Target novelisations would appear in longer-format (higher word count) works of the same format as the Virgin Missing Adventures line.

October

• 17 - NA: Timewyrm: Apocalypse is first published.
  • REF: The Gallifrey Chronicles is first published.
• 25 - John Stratton who appeared as Shockeye in DW: The Two Doctors dies.

November

• 10 - Tutte Lemkow, who played Kuiju in DW: Marco Polo, Ibrahim in DW: The Crusade, and Cyclops in DW: The Myth Makers, dies in London.
• 21 - REF: The Terrestrial Index is first published; a follow-up to REF: The Doctor Who Programme Guide.

December

• REF: Time Lord, a single-volume role-playing game issued by Virgin Publishing, is first published.
• 05 - NA: Timewyrm: Revelation is first published, concluding the first Virgin New Adventures story arc.
• 28 - 10th anniversary of the broadcast of KAC: A Girl's Best Friend, the pilot for K9 and Company.

Unknown date

• The Museum of the Moving Image in London hosts a major exhibit dedicated to Doctor Who, featuring audio-visual presentations and props from the series.
• Silva Screen Records releases a soundtrack CD for DW: The Curse of Fenric. This is the first of several full-serial soundtrack albums Silva Screen would release over the next few years.
• Doctor Who: Variations on a Theme reissued on CD by Silva Screen Records.