1983

History of the Doctor Who Universe

The Brigadier, now retired and working at Brendon Public School, meets the Doctor and in the ensuing adventure meets his younger self from 1977, causing his younger self to lose all memory of the Doctor and experience a breakdown, while his 1983 self regains his memory. Turlough joins the Doctor on his travels, although unknown to the Doctor, he does so under the orders of the Black Guardian. (DW: Mawdryn Undead)

According to the Brigadier, Harry Sullivan is doing "hush-hush" work on behalf of NATO at this time. (DW: Mawdryn Undead)

After the Fifth Doctor departs, the Brigadier reactivates his relationship with UNIT (as suggested by DW: The Five Doctors) eventually returning to active duty (at some point before DW: Battlefield).

The Doctor and the Brigadier are abducted by Borusa while attending a UNIT reunion. (DW: The Five Doctors)

01 - DW: Mawdryn Undead Episode 1 first broadcast. Mark Strickson joins as new companion Vislor Turlough, while Nicholas Courtney makes his first appearance as Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart since Terror of the Zygons. This serial is the first to definitively establish that the current incarnation of the Doctor is the fifth.
02 - DW: Mawdryn Undead Episode 2 first broadcast.
08 - DW: Mawdryn Undead Episode 3 first broadcast.
09 - DW: Mawdryn Undead Episode 4 first broadcast.
15 - DW: Terminus Episode 1 first broadcast.
16 - DW: Terminus Episode 2 first broadcast.
20 - Peter Glaze, who played the City Administrator in DW: The Sensorites and the Brigadier in a Doctor Who parody segment of Crackerjack!, dies in Dartford, England.
22 - DW: Terminus Episode 3 first broadcast.
23 - DW: Terminus Episode 4 first broadcast. Sarah Sutton leaves the series with this episode.

Filming and studio recording for DW: The Five Doctors occurs this month.
The Doctor Who Technical Manual published.
01 - DW: Enlightenment Episode 1 first broadcast.
02 - DW: Enlightenment Episode 2 first broadcast.
08 - DW: Enlightenment Episode 3 first broadcast.
09 - DW: Enlightenment Episode 4 first broadcast.
15 - DW: The King's Demons Episode 1 first broadcast. Introduction of the android companion Kamelion.
16 - DW: The King's Demons Episode 2 first broadcast.
21 - Bruno Langley, who portrayed companion Adam Mitchell, is born in Devon, England.

02 - 10th anniversary of the launch of Target Books' line of Doctor Who novelisations.
05 - DWN: Doctor Who - Meglos First Published. This was the final televised Fourth Doctor story to be novelised. Due to licensing issues, no novelisations were ever officially published for The Pirate Planet, City of Death or the unfinished/unbroadcast Shada. Target Books would publish one more Fourth Doctor novelisation, The Pescatons, based upon an audio drama, in 1991.

Doctor Who: The Making of a Television Series published in paperback.
14-19 Filming for DW: Planet of Fire takes place in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, marking the first time Doctor Who has been filmed outside the European continent.
20 - DWN: Doctor Who - Arc of Infinity First Published.

Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text, one of the first widely published scholarly works on the franchise, first published in both the UK and US.
23 -
- 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who
- DW: ''The Five Doctors is broadcast for the first time on PBS affiliates in the United States (which are also received on cable television in Canada). This version is slightly truncated compared to the version shown two days later in the UK. This marks the first time a Doctor Who production has been broadcast in another country before the United Kingdom (it would next happen with the 1996 broadcast of Doctor Who). This is the first "feature-length" regular episode of Doctor Who produced.

24 - DWN: Doctor Who - The Five Doctors First Published. This is the first time a Target Books novelisation has been published before the UK broadcast premiere of an episode. According to the 2008 DVD release of The Five Doctors, this is widely believed to be an error.

25 - DW: The Five Doctors is first broadcast in the UK, as part of that year's Children in Need fund-raising drive.

Magnet Books, a subsidiary of Methuen Children's Books, publishes Doctor Who Quiz Book of Science, Doctor Who Quiz Book of Space and Doctor Who Quiz Book of Magic, all by Michael Holt, the remainder of the Doctor Who Quiz Book line. These illustrated paperback books (published in the same format as Target Books novelisations) contain original short stories featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka that set up short quizzes related to the subject matter of the book. The first book in the series had been published in 1982.