Theory:Timeline - Fifth Doctor

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This page lists appearances of the Fifth Doctor in the order in which he experienced them. This timeline is based on observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events in each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. It is assumed, much like their TV story counterparts, that each novel or audio series their published/numbered order is the order they occur in[statement unclear]. There are also many gaps between stories.

The layout of this timeline is based in part on the observations on Doctor Who Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations, such as DocOhoReviews, The History of Doctor Who, The Discontinuity Guide, Clive Banks Databank, the Big Finish forum, The Whoniverse and The Divergent Universe forum. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Limiting factors

Companions

Stories with Adric must take place before TV: Earthshock, while any story with Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka must take place before TV: Time-Flight, after TV: Arc of Infinity, before TV: Terminus, or after AUDIO: Cobwebs.

Any story with just Nyssa must be between TV: Time-Flight and TV: Arc of Infinity. Any story with Tegan and Turlough must take place between TV: Mawdryn Undead and TV: Resurrection of the Daleks. Any story with just Turlough must take place between TV: Resurrection of the Daleks and before TV: Planet of Fire, with any story with Peri Brown also occurring after Planet of Fire.

Any story where the Doctor is travelling alone can be placed between Autumn and Renaissance of the Daleks, And You Will Obey Me and The King of Terror, and The Veiled Leopard and Son of the Dragon.

Costume

The Fifth Doctor wore two distinct costumes, with the first debuting with him in Castrovalva until it was ruined in Warriors of the Deep and outright replaced in The Awakening.

Sonic screwdriver

After his sonic screwdriver was destroyed in The Visitation, the Doctor elects not to replace it, setting any story where it utilizes the device as happening before The Visitation.

Timeline

Early adventures

The Doctor regenerates from his previous incarnation.
Set immediately after Logopolis, with the Doctor's regeneration still settling.
Set during Castrovalva: Part 1, when the Doctor is resting in the Zero Room before the Master interferes with the TARDIS navigational systems.
Set immediately after Castrovalva.
The Doctor is still recovering from his recent regeneration.
The Doctor still has his sonic screwdriver, placing this before The Visitation.
Tegan is not concerned using the Doctor's dream-manipulating machine, placing this before Kinda.
The Doctor still has his sonic screwdriver, placing this before The Visitation.

Attempts to return to Heathrow

The Doctor begins trying to get the TARDIS to Heathrow Airport to return Tegan to her job as an air hostess. Nyssa collapses after a showdown with Monarch, leading directly into Kinda.
Set directly after Four to Doomsday, with Nyssa recuperating from her dizzy spell in the TARDIS throughout the crew's stay on Deva Loka.
The Doctor is out for a night stroll on his own, and he still has his sonic screwdriver, placing this before The Visitation.
Set immediately after Kinda, with the Doctor reminting Adric for his actions, and Tegan still haunted by her possession. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver is destroyed by the Terileptil leader.
The Doctor has recently regenerated, and Tegan is still upset about his failure to return her to Heathrow.
The Doctor has recently met the Terileptils from The Visitation.
The Doctor has recently lost his sonic screwdriver, setting this after The Visitation. Houdini is the first historical figure that Tegan has met since beginning her travels with the Doctor, and this is the Doctor's first encounter with the Master since Castrovalva.
Set during Black Orchid: Part 1.
The Doctor has started reading the Black Orchid book he received in Black Orchid.
The Dar Traders predict that Adric's death in Earthshock is coming soon.
Set immediately before Earthshock, with the Doctor and Adric upset with each other, and the gestalt mourns the upcoming loss of Adric.
While stopping the Cybermen from destroying the Earth, Adric dies in a spaceship explosion.
Set immediately after Earthshock, with the TARDIS crew grieving for Adric, and Tegan failing to convince the Doctor to change history and save him. While trying to go to the Great Exhibition, the TARDIS lands at Heathrow Airport, where, after a battle with the Master, Tegan is left behind by the Doctor and Nyssa.

Two's company

Adric has died, Tegan has recently left and Nyssa still has her latent psychic powers, placing this before Primeval. The story's opening appears to be set almost immediately after the end of Time-Flight.
Nyssa does not accompany the Doctor; she remains in the TARDIS, still mourning Adric.
The Doctor is still mourning Adric's death, setting this shortly after Earthshock.
The Doctor mentions his visit to the school in Long Term as occurring "not long ago". He is also still bitter about Adric's untimely death.
The Doctor has recently lost Adric and Tegan.
Nyssa knows very little of the history of Earth, and suggests they look up Tegan once they're back on Earth.
Nyssa refers to the Doctor's recent regeneration.
Nyssa recalls Tegan recently returning to Heathrow Airport after Adric's death.
Tegan has recently departed the TARDIS during a brief return to Heathrow Airport in 1982.
Nyssa mentions the recent events from The Land of the Dead.
Nyssa refers to the events of The Land of the Dead.
Nyssa believes it would be impossible for her to travel back into Traken's past, placing this before Primeval.
Nyssa mentions visiting Alaska, as she did in The Land of the Dead.
Nyssa recalls her experiences from Spare Parts.
Nyssa recalls visiting Heathrow Airport in 1982, and deeply misses Tegan.

Stockbridge

While Nyssa is undertaking a solo expedition to 13th century Rhodes in Renaissance of the Daleks, the Doctor goes on some solo adventures.
The Doctor is depicted in his first outfit.

Temporary companions

The Doctor has not learnt how to swim, setting this before Warriors of the Deep.
The Doctor considers his visit to Heathrow Airport in Time-Flight to be a recent happening.
The Doctor is depicted in his first outfit.
Nyssa and Tegan are mentioned as former companions of the Doctor.

Traveling alone

The Doctor is in his first outfit, and has no sonic screwdriver, setting this after The Visitation.
The Doctor is in his first outfit.
The Doctor is depicted in his first outfit.
The Doctor is depicted in his first outfit.

Troubles with Thomas Brewster

The Doctor and Nyssa reunite and resume traveling together.
Set immediately after Renaissance of the Daleks.
Set four months after The Haunting of Thomas Brewster.

Further travels with Nyssa

The Doctor mentions Sir Justin of Wells from The Tides of Time.
Follows directly on from Castle of Fear.
Nyssa is still thinking about her happy childhood on Traken, as she was The Demons of Red Lodge.
The Doctor refers to his encounter with the Spira in 1665 Suffolk from The Demons of Red Lodge.
Nyssa mentions the prisons of Folly from Doing Time.
After the TARDIS door is left open due to a malfunctioning latch, Hannah Bartholemew stows aboard the TARDIS as it takes off, becoming one of the Doctor's companions in the process.
The Doctor finds out about Hannah stowing aboard the TARDIS, setting this immediately after Moonflesh.
On the SORDIDE Delta space statiom, Hannah is left in a robot-like state after being purged of all emotions. She decides to stay on the station instead of going with the Doctor.
The Doctor is in his first outfit, and traveling with an unidentified companion, presumably Nyssa.

Old foes return again

During a scuffle with Omega, the Doctor and Nyssa are reunited with Tegan, who rejoins them in the TARDIS.
Set directly between Arc of Infinity and Omega.
On behalf of the Time Lords, the Doctor is clearing up after the events of Arc of Infinity.
The Doctor is attempting to return to Amsterdam to pick up Nyssa and Tegan.
The Doctor returns to Amsterdam for Nyssa and Tegan thirty seconds after he left, saying that he had to run a "quick errand" for the Time Lords, as depicted in Omega.
The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa have just left Amsterdam.
Tegan is having dreams of snakes, setting this before Snakedance. The opening scene places these events the day after Tegan re-joined the TARDIS crew in Arc of Infinity.
The Doctor Who Annual 1983 stories features the Doctor traveling with Nyssa and Tegan without Adric, but with Tegan still dressed as an air stewardess. Presumably, as hinted in The Elite, she is wearing her old suit due to her inability to find other clothes.
Tegan returns to Heathrow Airport to meet a friend, suggesting that she has been back with the Doctor for a while.
Tegan mentions being in Amsterdam, setting this after Arc of Infinity. Preventing Adric's death is still being discussed by Tegan and the Doctor.
This novel's blurb places it between Arc of Infinity and Snakedance. Both Nyssa and Tegan are still thinking about Adric's death.
The Doctor and Tegan are having an old argument about Adric's death and the Doctor's refusal to go back in time and save him.
The crew of the TARDIS go to the Necropolitan to properly mourn the death of Adric.
Set after The Sands of Time.
Tegan is sceptical that a dream could manifest itself physically, setting this before Snakedance.
The last time Tegan saw the Doctor climbed something of great height was in Logopolis.
Tegan sets the TARDIS on cause to Manussa, lead into Snakedance.
Tegan has only recently re-joined the TARDIS team.
Tegan is still recovering from her possession by the Mara, setting this immediately after Snakedance. The Doctor has not seen the Master, at least the Master concurrent with his time stream, since Time-Flight.
Tegan is still worried about the Mara returning, setting this not long after Mawdryn Undead. Under orders from the Black Guardian, Turlough joins the Doctor in his travels so he may kill him for the Black Guardian.
Turlough has only just joined the TARDIS crew, setting this immediately after Mawdryn Undead.
Nyssa decides to stay on Terminus to help treat the Lazar victims.
Turlough, with the Doctor's assistance, defies the Black Guardian and is able to escape his agreement with him.
Set just after Enlightenment.
Tegan still doesn't trust Turlough, even believing him capable of murder.
Turlough still fears that the Black Guardian will punish him for siding with the Doctor, setting this soon after Enlightenment.

Nyssa returns

Set two days after Nyssa initially left the TARDIS in Terminus.
Leads directly on from The Cradle of the Snake.
The Fifth Doctor encounters a Sontaran for the first time in his current incarnation. Tegan mentions the Mara being purged from her system, setting this not long after The Cradle of the Snake.
Nyssa's appearance is reverted to that of her younger self at the time that she left the TARDIS crew.
The Doctor refers to Nyssa's recent rejuvenation from The Emerald Tiger.
Turlough refers to Dr. Sa Yy Findecker from The Butcher of Brisbane.
Drawn off-course, the TARDIS passes through a CVE into E-Space, trapping the Doctor and his companions there.
As she is dying from Entropy, Nyssa chooses to stay in E-Space to power a portal back to N-Space for the TARDIS.

Reflections of the past

The Doctor takes Kamelion with him in the TARDIS after liberating from the Master.
The Doctor is trying to reach the Eye of Orion, setting this shortly before The Five Doctors.
The TARDIS is heavily damaged, leading to the new console in The Five Doctors.
The Doctor brings Tegan and Turlough to the Eye of Orion, as he had promised to do at the conclusion of The King's Demons.
Set during The Five Doctors, after the Fifth Doctor used the Master's transmat recall device to escape the Cybermen.
The Eight Doctors takes place just after The Five Doctors.
Tegan hasn't seen the Master since The Five Doctors.
According to the guidance provided, for the fifth Doctor these events take place between The Five Doctors and Warriors of the Deep. The Doctor is in his first outfit, and Tegan and Turlough are trapped in the TARDIS.
Set several weeks after The Five Doctors
The Doctor is depicted in his first outfit, and Turlough is well adjusted to life in the TARDIS.
The Doctor is depicted in his first outfit.

Violent times

After his clothes are ruined in a pool of water, the Doctor switches to a new jumper, coat and trousers design off-screen. All stories depicting the Doctor in his new outfit must take place after this story.
The Doctor is depicted in his first outfit, though the story is explicitly set immediately after Warriors of the Deep.
While Tegan and Turlough remain in Little Hodcombe, the Doctor slips away to answer a distress call, and then travels on his own for a while.
The Doctor received the Master's distress signal while in Little Hodcombe, setting this immediately after The Awakening.
The Doctor is in his second outfit.
After traveling on his own, the Doctor returns to Little Hodcombe to fulfil his promise to return Will Chandler home.
There are references to the Malus from The Awakening, which occurred a months before this story. The Doctor explains that it took him that long to return Will Chandler back to 1643 after the events of The Awakening.
The Doctor attends the third test at Headingley in 1981 with Tegan and Turlough.
At the end of this story the cloister bell starts ringing, leading into The Assassin's Story.
The Web of Time is threatened when Margaret Thatcher is assassinated during her first year as Prime Minister, explaining why the TARDIS cloister bell was ringing in The Assassin's Story.
The Doctor is depicted in his second outfit.
The Doctor and Tegan are trying to take the Gravis to Kolkokron, setting this before the epilogue of Frontios.
Set immediately after Life after Queth.
The Doctor and Tegan go back in time to kill a dictator as a baby. However, the Doctor is unable to go through with the act and leaves.
The Doctor and Tegan return to Frontios for Turlough, and get caught in a time corridor upon leaving with him, leading directly into Resurrection of the Daleks.
Tired of all the death and violence she has witnessed, Tegan decides to remain on Earth, causing the Doctor to rethink his lifestyle.

Changed ways

Tegan has only just left the TARDIS.
Turlough reflects on events from Resurrection of the Daleks and Lords of the Storm, and is set weeks after the former.
Turlough can operate the TARDIS accurately enough to move it forward in time by six months.
Turlough returns to his home planet, and the Doctor destroys Kamelion at the robot's request. Peri travels on in the TARDIS.
This is Peri's first trip in the TARDIS, and takes place a few days after Planet of Fire.
Peri mentions her recent encounter with the N'Tians from Light at the End of the Tunnel.
Peri has recently been shopping in Black and White.
Set immediately after The Church of Football.
The Doctor has only just started travelling with Peri. After seeing her still in the company of his next incarnation, the Fifth Doctor realises that his time is short.
Peri is unfamiliar with the Ice Warriors, setting this before Red Dawn.
It has only been a few days since the events of Planet of Fire.
Set before The Bride of Peladon.
The Doctor encounters the Master for the first time since Planet of Fire, with the Master still recovering from that encounter. Peri also recalls visiting Mars in Red Dawn and Gelsandor in The Ultimate Treasure.
Peri hasn't been time-travelling for long and is just getting used to the Doctor and the TARDIS.
Set directly after Superior Beings, with Peri still recovering from the adventure while the Doctor is entirely at ease.
The Doctor expresses a desire to visit Egypt, leading into The Eye of the Scorpion.

Adventures with Peri and Erimem

Set shortly after Planet of Fire, with the Doctor giving Peri a tour of the TARDIS. Erimem joins the TARDIS crew, with a cat she had adopted.
Erimem names her recently adopted cat Antranak.
Set after The Tides of Time, as the Doctor recognises Shayde. Erimem is new to the TARDIS, so this also takes place shortly after The Eye of the Scorpion.
Antranak sacrifices his life saving the planet Talderun.
Set between Nekromanteia and The Axis of Insanity. Peri has heard the Doctor use the alias "John Smith" before.
Erimem does not have a TARDIS key in this story, and Peri began teaching her English.
Peri refers to their recent adventure in The Axis of Insanity. Erimem's ability to cope with time travel and her burgeoning relationship with Peri is explored.
Erimem has taken to wearing a key around her neck, and is still recovering from the unpleasant experiences of The Roof of the World.
This adventure is concurrent with Erimem and Peri's involvement in The Veiled Leopard.
Knowing that his regeneration is fast approaching due to Five Card Draw, the Doctor goes on some solo trips to ensure he leaves no unfinished business when he goes.
The Doctor is depicted in his second outfit.
The Doctor attends the inauguration of the three-bodied lustrousness of the Vix with Peri and Erimem.
Erimem is reasonably proficient in written English.
Erimem leaves the Doctor and Peri.

Second quest for the Key to Time

The Doctor has been intentionally separated from Peri until the Key to Time is found.
The Doctor destroys the Key to Time in the Chaos Pool, and then makes plans to return to Peri.

Final travels

Peri recalls Erimem's departure from the TARDIS on Peladon from The Bride of Peladon.
Set shortly before Fascination, with the Doctor and Peri wearing the same outfits from that story.
Peri has been traveling with the Doctor for months now, and has her own TARDIS key.
Ending leads directly into The Caves of Androzani.
Poisoned by spectrox toxaemia, the Doctor regenerates into his next incarnation after ensuring that Peri is cured of the poisoning.
Set during the Doctor's regeneration in The Caves of Androzani: Part 4.
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