1981

1981 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

Events

• 28 February - The Fourth Doctor and Adric landed the TARDIS by the side of a motorway to gain measurements of a police box. Air hostess Tegan Jovanka stumbled aboard the TARDIS on her way to work at London's Heathrow Airport. (TV: Logopolis)
  • The Fifth Doctor tried to return Tegan to her own time, but instead the TARDIS landed on Monarch's ship. (TV: Four to Doomsday)
• 1 March - Following a fall from the Pharos Project's dish, the Fourth Doctor regenerated into his fifth incarnation. (TV: Logopolis) The newly regenerated Doctor and his companions Adric, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka escaped in the TARDIS. (TV: Castrovalva)
• 30 March - John Hinckley Jr tried to assassinate American President Ronald Reagan. (PROSE: The Assassin's Story)
• 7 April - Cassandra Elizabeth Schofield, the mother of the Seventh Doctor's companion Hex, was born to Hilda Schofield in Royal Bolton Hospital. (AUDIO: Project: Destiny)
• Peter Tracey was given a suspended sentence for breaking and entering. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• The Fifth Doctor attended a cricket match in Leeds...twice. (PROSE: Graham Dilley Saves the World)
• A hailstorm struck Moreton Harwood. It lasted only thirteen seconds, but destroyed Commander Bill Pollock's crops. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 1 December - 14 December - Sarah Jane Smith was out of the country working for Reuters. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 6 December - Lavinia Smith departed Moreton Harwood for a lecture tour in the United States. Before leaving, she arranged for a mysterious crate addressed to her niece, Sarah Jane Smith, to be left at Moreton Harwood. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 10 December - Lavinia Smith phoned her ward Brendan Richards to tell him that he would be spending Christmas with Sarah Jane. Brendan waited for Sarah to pick him up at Wellington College for over a week, unaware that she was out of the country. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 18 December - Sarah Jane Smith met Brendan Richards for the first time. Shortly afterwards, she opened the crate addressed to her in Lavinia's house and activated K9 Mark III, who had been left in her flat in Croydon by the Doctor in 1978. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 20 December - 21 December - Brendan Richards was kidnapped by the Hecate Cult, who intended to use him as a human sacrifice. However, he was rescued by Sarah Jane Smith and K9 Mark III before this could happen. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 25 December - Sarah Jane Smith, Brendan Richards and K9 Mark III spent Christmas Day with Howard and Juno Baker as Sarah Jane's aunt Lavinia Smith was in the United States. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)
• 29 December - Members of the Hecate Cult at Moreton Harwood were charged with attempted murder. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)

Unknown dates

• Anne Travers became the British Cabinet's chief scientific advisor, succeeding her University of Cambridge lecturer and mentor Professor Rachel Jensen. She served in that position until her death on 31 December 1999. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)
• Ellie Ravenwood met her future husband, Dave Oswald, after saving him from being hit by a car. Unbeknownst to them, they were watched by the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The Rings of Akhaten).
• Someone tried to assassinate the Pope. (PROSE: The Assassin's Story)