2000s
| Timeline |
| 1960s •1970s • 1980s • 1990s |
| 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 part of the 21st century 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009
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| 2010s • 2020s • 2030s • 2040s |
On Earth, the 2000s, the first decade of the 21st century, brought an increasing number of widely seen alien encounters. This led to widespread knowledge of alien life. Among the key events: the Slitheen incursion (although considered a hoax) (DW: Aliens of London/World War Three), the Sycorax invasion (DW: The Christmas Invasion), the Battle of Canary Wharf (DW: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday), the Webstar Christmas incident (DW: The Runaway Bride), the Toclafane invasion in The Year That Never Was (DW: The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords), ATMOS incident (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky) and, most notably, the relocation of the Earth to the Medusa Cascade, coupled with a Dalek invasion of the planet (DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End). However the human race remained oblivious to The Doctor's succesful efforts to protect the world who with his companions help, beat back each of these alien invasions.
- Suicide rates doubled following the public revelation of alien life. (TW: Children of Earth: Day One).
- The attempted enslavement of humanity by Martin Trueman through the Ancient Lights. (SJA: Secrets of the Stars)
- Also for a brief moment at Christmas Day, humanity was transformed into The Master Race and subsequently Gallifrey appeared over the Earth, which caused panic amongst humanity.(DW: The End of Time).
Real world
- The first half of the decade saw several "false alarms" of new Doctor Who TV and film productions.
- Meanwhile, BBC Books continued its prolific lines of Doctor Who novels.
- Telos Publishing obtained the licence to produce original novellas based upon Doctor Who.
- Bernice Summerfield, no longer the star of her own Virgin Publishing novels, becomes featured in numerous novels, short stories and audio dramas produced by Big Finish.
- The BBC experiments with new media, producing several Doctor Who webcasts consisting of original stories featuring original series cast members. In 2003, a webcast entitled Scream of the Shalka introduces Richard E. Grant as the voice of the Ninth Doctor.
- In late 2003, BBC Wales announces that it will be producing a new live-action Doctor Who series, with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor (the Richard Grant version of the character is abandoned). The series debuts in the spring of 2005 and almost instantly reinstates Doctor Who as a national institution.
- BBC Books discontinues its line of Eighth Doctor and Past Doctor novels in favor of a new line of hardcover fiction featuring the Ninth (and later the Tenth) Doctor.
- Big Finish obtains the licence to publish the Short Trips book series.
- After one season, Eccleston leaves Doctor Who and David Tennant is introduced as the Tenth Doctor.
- Two spin-off series are launched: Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
- In 2008, Tennant announces his departure from Doctor Who. Matt Smith, a largely unknown actor is cast as the Eleventh Doctor at the age of 26; he later debuts in 2010.
- After four extremely successful seasons under the watch of Russell T Davies, Doctor Who goes on partial hiatus for 2009, producing a number of specials in lieu of a full season. This is to allow Davies to hand over production duties to Steven Moffatt, and also pave the way for Tennant's departure.
