The United Kingdom was a collection of countries including; England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Real World
From the BBC Wales series onwards, the term Great Britain has often been erroneously used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole, however this usage excludes Northern Ireland.
Story settings
A great many stories have been set in the United Kingdom, Starting with the Shoreditch, London setting of An Unearthly Child (identified as Shoreditch in Remembrance of the Daleks). Setting aside the many unspecified locations, almost every region of the country has been used as a setting:
- London - Apart from the general London settings of (eg) The Empty Child there are specific locations and landmarks used in The War Machines (Post Office Tower), The Web of Fear (The London Underground, especially Goodge Street Station) and Voyage of the Damned (Buckingham Palace).
- Southeast England (sometimes called the home counties) - famed as the location of many a quarry and gravel pit used for filming, The Southeast is also the setting for The Claws of Axos and The Sea Devils.
- East of England (including East Anglia) - setting for Shada (Cambridge).
- Locations:The Essex marshes were used in The Power of Kroll.
- Southwest England (also called the West Country) - The Smugglers.
- Locations: Hound Tor, Dartmoor was used in The Sontaran Experiment, and Lulworth Cove, Dorset was used in The Curse of Fenric.
- The Midlands - setting for Doctor Who and the Silurians (Derbyshire's Peak District)
- The North - Setting for The Curse of Fenric and The Time Meddler, among others.
- Wales - its capital city, Cardiff, is the setting for several BBC Wales series stories, from The Unquiet Dead onwards, not to mention the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute.
- Locations: Mount Snowdon passed for the Himalayas in The Abominable Snowmen.
- Scotland - The Highlanders, Terror of the Zygons and Tooth and Claw were all set here.
- Northern Ireland - no television stories set here.
