1990

1990 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

In 1990, both Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and Luke Rattigan were born.

Events

• 14 February - On Owen Harper's tenth birthday, his mother declared that she did not have to like him, only love him. (TV: Adam)
• Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was born. (HOMEVID: Downtime)
• 24 December - Linda Grainger was dumped by her boyfriend in the White Rabbit in London. (PROSE: She Won't Be Home)

Unknown date

• Child genius Luke Rattigan was born. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
• TV: An Unearthly Child was first released on video in the UK.
• 14 January - Actor John Witty died in Bristol.
• 18 January - PROSE: Doctor Who - Planet of Giants was first published. With this release, all serials of the First Doctor era were now novelised.
• 20 January - Actor John Maxim died in Brighton.
• Target Books began republishing selected novelisations with new cover designs by Alister Pearson. Other than the covers, these reprints were identical to earlier editions. A number of the reprints were issued to coincide with video releases (which often used the same cover art) and rebroadcasts. The reissues were also in most cases retitled from their original publication, either with the "Doctor Who and the ..." title format being dropped, or the book's title being changed to reflect the original broadcast title. The first two novelisations republished in the new format were PROSE: Doctor Who - The War Games and PROSE: Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child.
• 15 February - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Happiness Patrol was first published.
• 15 March - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Space Pirates was first published. It was the final Target Books novelisation by Terrance Dicks.
• Actor Brian Vaughan died.
• 27 April - Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer graphic novel was first published by Marvel Comics.
• Writer Anthony Steven died.
• 15 May - Writer and director Peter Grimwade died from leukemia.
• 16 May - Actor Thomas Sangster was born.
• 15 June - Actor Leonard Sachs died in London.
• 21 June - PROSE: Doctor Who - Remembrance of the Daleks was first published.
• 23 June - Actor Frank Gatliff died.
• REF: Encyclopedia of The Worlds of Doctor Who: L-R was first published. The series was abandoned after this release, and no paperback of this volume was issued.
• Pertwee in Person: Jon Pertwee Talks with David Banks was released on cassette by Silver Fist Productions.
• 12 July - WHYY aired An Unearthly Child as the final PBS Doctor Who broadcast.
• 19 July - PROSE: Doctor Who - Mission to Magnus was first published. It was the third and final release in the "Missing Episodes" line, and the last "original" Doctor Who novel until the Virgin New Adventures line launched a year later.
• With no plans for a twenty-seventh season in sight, the BBC closed the Doctor Who Production Office.
• 2 August - Actor Edwin Richfield died from cancer in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
• 17 August - Graham Williams, who produced Seasons 15-17 (1977-79), was killed in a shooting accident in Devon, England.
• 20 September - PROSE: Doctor Who - Ghost Light was first published.
• 20 September - The paperback edition of REF: Doctor Who: Cybermen was published; the new edition was expanded from the 1988 original.
• Actor Bernard Finch died.
• 18 October - PROSE: Doctor Who - Survival was first published, adapting the final serial of the original 1963-89 series.
• 24 October - Christopher Eccleston made his TV acting debut in the TV movie Blood Rights.
• 10 November - Actor Dudley Jones died.
• 15 December - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric was first published.
• 21 November - Search Out Space, an episode of Search Out Science in which Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred appeared as the Seventh Doctor and Ace and John Leeson provided the voice of K9 Mark II, was first broadcast. Not generally considered part of continuity, this was McCoy and Aldred's last official appearances as the Doctor and Ace until NOTDWU: Dimensions in Time in 1993.
• 23 November - Actor Mostyn Evans died.
• 28 December - Edward Brayshaw, who played Léon Colbert in TV: The Reign of Terror and the War Chief in TV: The War Games, died.

Unknown date

• PROSE: An Unearthly Child was published in Germany under the title Doctor Who und das Kind von den Sternen.
• Around the time of the BBC's announcement that no twenty-seventh season would be commissioned, Virgin Books, which had purchased Target Books, announced plans to launch a series of original novels continuing Doctor Who from the events of TV: Survival; the line was scheduled to launch in 1991. It was also announced that the traditional Target novelisation format would also come to an end in 1991, with all but a few stories left to be adapted.