1988

Events

November

• 23 - The Nemesis statue returned to Earth after three hundred fifty years. Lady Peinforte arrived to regain it. The Seventh Doctor used it to destroy the Cyber-Fleet. (DW: Silver Nemesis)

Unknown date

• The Eighth Doctor and Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart discovered the secret of the Embodiment of Gris in Hong Kong. (NA: The Dying Days)

Behind the scenes

January

• 16 - Robert Keegan died.
• 21 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Rescue was first published. This was the second and last novelisation by the late Ian Marter to be published posthumously, and the book included a tribute to the actor/writer, who died soon after writing the book.
• Titan Books launched a new line of books entitled Doctor Who: The Scripts, with the publication of the script for DW: An Unearthly Child, which was published under the working title The Tribe of Gum. This series of books continued until 1994, although the second volume was not published for some eighteen months.

February

• 15 - BBC Broadcasting Research issued its Television Audience Reaction Report for Season 24 of Doctor Who, which had introduced a new Doctor, Sylvester McCoy. The show's Appreciation Index was 60, down from 69 for Season 23. Troubling numbers in the report indicated that the new Doctor and his companion, Mel, were not popular with viewers, and fewer than half were interested in seeing further seasons of the series. Despite this, viewership actually rose over the previous year.[1]
  • Red Dwarf debuted on the BBC. This science fiction comedy series became the BBC's longest-running SF program after Doctor Who, producing nine seasons over the next twenty-one years.
• 18 - DWN: Doctor Who - Terror of the Vervoids was first published. It was the first of four novelisations based upon DW: The Trial of a Time Lord, even though it was in fact the third chapter of the arc.
  • REF Doctor Who: The Early Years was published in paperback.

March

• 23 - Reg Lye died.
• DWN: Doctor Who - The Time Meddler was first published.
• REF: Encyclopedia of The Worlds of Doctor Who: E-K was first published.

April

• 04 - Production of DW: Remembrance of the Daleks caused a brief panic when a large explosion set off on a London side street during filming of a Dalek battle scene was mistaken as a possible IRA bombing. (Remembrance of the Daleks DVD production notes)
• 21 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Mysterious Planet was first published.

May

• 03 - David Garth, who played Grey in DW: The Highlanders and the Time Lord in DW: Terror of the Autons, died.
• 05 - DWN: Doctor Who - Time and the Rani was first published. It was the first Seventh Doctor novelisation and the first to use the new Sylvester McCoy-era series logo (though it did not immediately replace the neon-tube logo on all Target Books releases). It was the first photographic cover since DWN: Doctor Who - Enlightenment four years earlier. Canadian fans noticed a substantial (but ultimately temporary) jump in the cover price of Doctor Who books (on the order of $2-$3) beginning with this release.
• 23 - The musical group called The Timelords released "Doctorin' the Tardis". It was a dance single built around the Doctor Who Theme and recordings by Gary Glitter and with a Dalek voice featured, and was released in the UK. It became a substantial hit. (The group later rebranded itself The KLF and enjoyed further hits in the 1990s.)

June

• 05 - Michael Barrington died.
• 06 - The Timelords musical group released "Gary in the TARDIS", a followup to their earlier single, "Doctorin' the TARDIS", featuring Gary Glitter.
• 16 - DWN: Doctor Who - Vengeance on Varos was first published.

July

• 21 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Underwater Menace was first published.
• 22 - Patrick Newell died.

August

• 08 - David Tennant made his TV acting debut in "The Secret of Croftmore", an episode of Dramarama.
• 18 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Wheel in Space was first published. It was the final Target Books release to use the neon-tube series logo established in 1980. All further releases used the McCoy era logo introduced in 1987. This book had an extremely low print run which resulted in it becoming a collector's item.
  • In an effort to boost sales of older novelisations, Target Books launched the Doctor Who Classics line of releases. These were omnibus reissues of novelisations, two per volume. Two books were released this date (with the original book titles shortened to their original TV titles in the case of those with Doctor Who and... in the original release): DWN: Dalek Invasion of Earth/The Crusaders and DWN: The Myth Makers/The Gunfighters.

September

• 01 - YTV, a Canadian youth-oriented cable network, was launched. During its first few years, Doctor Who was a regular part of the schedule, with YTV being one of the first North American broadcasters to show episodes from the Sylvester McCoy era.
• 15 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Ultimate Foe was first published.
  • Doctor Who Classics - DWN: The Dominators/The Krotons was published.
• 20 - REF: Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years was published in paperback.

October

• REF: Encyclopedia of The Worlds of Doctor Who: A-D was published in paperback.
• 01 - Roy Herrick died.
• 05 - DW: Remembrance of the Daleks Episode 1 was first broadcast, launching Doctor Who's history-making 25th season.
• 08 - Sylvester McCoy, appearing as himself, appeared in the "Clown Court" segment of The Noel Edmunds Saturday Roadshow, which presented outtakes from DW: Delta and the Bannermen, DW: Silver Nemesis and a bonus blooper from DW: The Visitation with Peter Davison.
• 12 - DW: Remembrance of the Daleks Episode 2 was first broadcast.
• 14 - Mary Morris died.
• 19 - DW: Remembrance of the Daleks Episode 3 was first broadcast.
• 20 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Edge of Destruction was first published.
• 26 - DW: Remembrance of the Daleks Episode 4 was first broadcast. It was the final appearance of Davros until DW: The Stolen Earth and the final on-screen appearance of the Daleks until DW: Dalek.

November

• REF: Doctor Who: Cybermen was first published.
• It's Bigger on the Inside!, a collection of Doctor Who-related humour, was first published by Marvel Comics.
• 02 - DW: The Happiness Patrol Episode 1 was first broadcast.
• 07 - BBC Audio issued the 1986 radio play BBCR: Slipback and the 1979 audio version of DW: Genesis of the Daleks on cassette.
• 09 - DW: The Happiness Patrol Episode 2 was first broadcast.
• 16 - DW: The Happiness Patrol Episode 3 was first broadcast.
  • REF: Encyclopedia of The Worlds of Doctor Who: E-K was published in paperback.
• 17 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Smugglers was first published.
  • REF: Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years was first published.
• 23 - DW: Silver Nemesis Episode 1 was first broadcast on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who.
• 30 - DW: Silver Nemesis Episode 2 was first broadcast.

December

• 01 - DWN: Doctor Who - Paradise Towers was first published. The cover art featuring an image of Sylvester McCoy marked the first time in four and a half years that an image of the current Doctor was included on a Target Books release.
• 07 - DW: Silver Nemesis Episode 3 was first broadcast. It was the final on-screen appearance of the original Cybermen (save for brief references) to date.
• 14 - DW: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Episode 1 was first broadcast.
• 21 - DW: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Episode 2 was first broadcast.
• 25 - Terence Dudley, writer and director, died.
• 28 - DW: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Episode 3 was first broadcast.
• REF: The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book, a retrospective by John Peel and Terry Nation, was first published.
• REF: Doctor Who Magazine Master Index was published.