2004

Real World

January

• EDA: Sometime Never... is first published.
• BFA: The Creed of the Kromon is first released. A new companion, C'rizz, joins the Eighth Doctor.
• Andrew Tourell (Constable Cummings in DW: Black Orchid) dies.
• 7 - DW: The Two Doctors is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 19 - DW: The Visitation is released to DVD in the UK.

February

• DWN/PDA: Scream of the Shalka is first published. This is a novelisation of the WC: Scream of the Shalka webcast. It is the first novelization to be published since the novelisation of the TV movie in 1996. Considered part of the BBC Past Doctor Adventures line, the book includes a section detailing the making of the story.
• BFA: The Natural History of Fear is first released.
• TN: Blood and Hope is first published.
• BBV: A Labyrinth of Histories - Protocols: Volume 6 is first released. This concluded the six-part Protocols arc and also was the last Faction Paradox drama produced by BBV; hereafter Magic Bullet Productions takes over the series.
• 7 - DW: The Curse of Fenric is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 26 - Russell Hunter, who played Uvanov in DW: The Robots of Death and the MB: Kaldor City audio series, dies from lung cancer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

March

• PDA: Empire of Death is first published. Final BBC Past Doctor Adventures novel to feature the Fifth Doctor and, as of 2009, this is the most recent original novel to feature the Fifth Doctor.
• BFA: The Twilight Kingdom is first released.
• ST: Short Trips: Past Tense is first published.
• TN: The Dalek Factor is first published. This novella, featuring an unspecified incarnation of the Doctor, is the final release in the Telos Novellas series, although the company would continue publishing books set in the Doctor Who Universe with its Time Hunter spin-off line.
• BFG: Weapon of Choice is first released. This audio drama launches an ongoing Big Finish spin-off series, Gallifrey, starring Lalla Ward as Romana, Louise Jameson as Leela and John Leeson as K-9.
• 1 - DW: Pyramids of Mars is released to DVD in the UK.
• 2 - DW: The Seeds of Death and The Three Doctors is released to DVD in Region 1.
• 3 - Sheila Dunn, widow of Douglas Camfield, who had played Blossom Lefavre in DW: The Daleks' Master Plan, a telephone operator in DW: The Invasion,and Petra Williams in DW: Inferno, dies.
• 18 - THN: The Tunnel at the End of the Light is first published.
• 20 - The BBC announces that Christopher Eccleston has been cast as the Doctor in the new series.[1]
  • The same day, the Daily Mail runs an erroneous story indicating that Bill Nighy has been cast as the Doctor.[2] (Nighy is eventually cast in the 2010 series as a guest star.)
• 27 - Peter Diamond, who had played numerous roles and many the stunts on Doctor Who series, dies from a stroke in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England.

April

• EDA: Halflife is first published.
• BFA: The Axis of Insanity is first released.
• ST: Short Trips: Past Tense is first published.
• BFG: Square One and BFG: The Inquiry are first released.
• FP: Of the City of the Saved... is first published.
• 8 - DW: The Visitation is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 19 - Philip Locke (Bigon in DW: Four to Doomsday) dies.

May

• PDA: The Eleventh Tiger is first published.
• BFA: Arrangements for War is first released.
• BFG: A Blind Eye is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire III: The Exterminators is first released, launching Big Finish's third Dalek Empire mini-series.
• BFBS: The Big Hunt is first published. This is first full-length novel in the Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Series to be published in more than 2 years.
• 3 - Anthony Ainley, who plays the Master in various stories from 1981 to 1985 and in the Destiny of the Doctors computer game dies at Harrow in London. He had recently recorded commentary for the DVD release of DW: The Keeper of Traken, which ultimately would not see release until several years after his death.
• 10 - DW: The Green Death is released to DVD in the UK.

June

• EDA: The Tomorrow Windows is first published.
• BFA: The Harvest is first released. A new companion for the Seventh Doctor, Hex, is introduced.
• ST: Short Trips: Life Science is first published.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire III: The Healers is first released.
• 1 - DW: The Curse of Fenric and The Two Doctors are released to DVD in Region 1.
• 10 - DW: Pyramids of Mars is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 17 - THN: The Clockwork Woman is first published.
• 18 - Frederick Jaeger, who played Jano in DW: The Savages, Professor Sorenson in DW: Planet of Evil, and Professor Marius in DW: The Invisible Enemy, dies in Majorca, Spain.
• 19 - Colin McCormack, who portrayed the Commander in DW: The Sun Makers, dies in Middlesex, England following a battle with cancer.
• 23 - Peter Birrel, who appeared as the Draconian Prince in DW: Frontier in Space, dies in Bath, England after losing a battle with cancer.
• 26 - DW: The Web of Fear episode one is repeated on BBC Four as part of a night dedicated to cult TV from the sixties.

July

• PDA: Synthespians™ is first published.
• BFA: The Roof of the World is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire III: The Survivors is first released.
• BFBS: A Life Worth Living is first published.
• 5 - DW: The Leisure Hive is released to DVD in the UK.
• 18 - A new era begins as filming commences on the new BBC Wales production of Doctor Who. This is the first time Doctor Who has been in production in any form since February 1996 (when production of the 1996 TV movie ended) and August 1989 when filming of the original TV series concluded. Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper take their first bows in front of the cameras as the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler. (date per Project Who).
• 31 - Robert James, who played Lesterson in DW: The Power of the Daleks and the High Priest in DW: The Masque of Mandragora, dies from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

August

• EDA: The Sleep of Reason is first published.
• BFA: Medicinal Purposes is first released.
• ST: Short Trips: Repercussionsis first published.
• 05 - DW: The Green Death is released to DVD in Region 4.

September

• PDA: The Algebra of Ice is first published.
• BFA: Faith Stealer is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire III: The Demons is first released.
• 06 - BBCR: Doctor Who at the BBC Volume 2 is first released.
• 10 - Glyn Owen (Rohm-Dutt in DW: The Power of Kroll) dies from a cancer-related illness in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales, UK.
• 20 - DW: Ghost Light is released to DVD in the UK.

October

• EDA: The Deadstone Memorial is first published.
• BFA: The Last is first released.
• ST: Short Trips: Monsters and ST: Short Trips: 2040 are first published.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire III: The Warriors is first released.
• REF: Howe's Transcendental Toybox Update No. 1 is first published
• Geoffrey Cheshire, who played numerous roles on the original Doctor Who series and also played a Roboman in the film Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, dies.
• 07 - DW: The Leisure Hive is released to DVD in Region 4.
• 17 - 25th anniversary of Doctor Who Magazine.
• 19 - THN: Kitsune is first published.

November

• PDA: The Indestructible Man is first published.
• BFA: Caerdroia is first released.
• BFDE: Dalek Empire III: The Future is first released, concluding Big Finish's third Dalek Empire mini-series.
• FP: Warlords of Utopia is first published.
• REF: The Discontinuity Guide, 2nd edition, is first published.
• 01 - Lost in Time, a DVD box set spotlighting incomplete stories from the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton eras, is released in the UK.
• 02 - The Lost in Time DVD collection is issued in Region 1, only a day after the UK release (the first time Region 1 and Region 2 have coincided so closely).
• 07 - DW: Earthshock and Pyramids of Mars are released to DVD in Region 1.
• 22 - Russell T Davies is interviewed by Phil Williams on BBC Radio 5 about the new series.

December

• BFA: The Next Life is first released. This audio drama reunited Paul McGann with his TV-movie co-star Daphne Ashbrook.
• BFA: Her Final Flight is first released. This single-episode story is made available exclusively to subscribers to Big Finish.
• ST: Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury is first published.
• BFBS: Silver Lining, a single-episode Benny Summerfield story, and BFU: The Coup, a "prologue" release for the upcoming U.N.I.T. audio series, are released on an exclusive CD included with Doctor Who Magazine. Nicholas Courtney returns as The Brigadier.
• BFBS: A Life in Pieces is first published. Last Benny Summerfield short story collection until 2006.
• BFU: Time Heals is first released, officially launching the spinoff audio series, U.N.I.T..
• MB: Kaldor City: Storm Mine is first released. Last release in the Kaldor City series to date.
• 02 - THN: The Severed Man is first published.
  • The Lost in Time DVD box set is released in Region 4.
• 06 - 15th anniversary of the broadcast of DW: Survival Episode 3, which ended the 1963-89 series. The anniversary comes as production is well underway on the show's long-awaited return to television.

Unknown dates

• Alec Wallis, played Ldg. Telegraphist Bowman in DW: The Sea Devils and Warner in DW: Revenge of the Cybermen, dies.
• John Slavid, who had small roles in DW: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve and DW: The War Machines, dies.
• William Marlowe, who played Harry Mailer in DW: The Mind of Evil and Lester in DW: Revenge of the Cybermen, dies.
• RP: Daemos Rising is first released.
• Throughout the year there is considerable media coverage and fan speculation surrounding the announced return of Doctor Who to television, especially as production of the first season begins. It is announced that Christopher Eccleston, a noted actor best known for appearances in films such as Elizabeth, Jude and Gone in 60 Seconds, will play the Ninth Doctor. Eyebrows are raised when it is announced that Billie Piper, a well-known pop star of the late 90s/early 2000s, would play the Doctor's new companion, Rose Tyler. It is announced that no crossover with Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor is planned at this point, nor are any other past companions expected to appear in the new series. Initially there are media reports that due to rights issues the Daleks would not be appearing in the new series, but after these are worked out it is announced that the iconic creatures would indeed appear in the new series. A surprisingly controversial aspect of the new series is the unveiling of a new series logo, which provokes extremely negative response from some fans, with BBC News even reporting that some behind-the-scenes personal had received threats over it.
• The announced series revival results in Richard E. Grant's version of the Ninth Doctor being deemed non-canonical by the BBC and future "Shalka Doctor" projects are shelved, including a planned DVD release of WC: Scream of the Shalka.
• MB: Kaldor City: The Prisoner, a 20-minute short play, is included on the CD release Paul Darrow: The Actor Speaks. Chronologically, it occurs after the events of MB: Checkmate.

2003

21st century 2000s

2005