Spain

Spain
Type:	Country
Location:	Europe
First mentioned in:	The Chase
First appearance:	The Sea Monsters
Appearances:	see list

Spain was a country in southwestern Europe in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth. It was bordered to the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean, to the north by France and Andorra via the Pyrenees and to the south by Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.

Tans and black hair were traits associated with Spaniards. The Eleventh Doctor attributed the "lovely tan" of Philip III of Spain to the Spanish sun along with oranges and paella. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz ^[+]Loading...["The Flames of Cadiz (audio story)"], GAME: The Gunpowder Plot ^[+]Loading...["The Gunpowder Plot (video game)"])

Geography

Spain was among the countries which the prime meridian of Earth passed through. Thus, it was partially located in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. (TV: Fear Her ^[+]Loading...["Fear Her (TV story)"])

History

Spain as seen on a map in an alternate timeline. (TV: War of the Sontarans)

13th century

In 1242, the Moors occupied Spain in what was known as Moorish Spain. (PROSE: Sanctuary ^[+]Loading...["Sanctuary (novel)"])

14th century

Following the 1346 siege of Kaffa, the bubonic plague spread throughout the continent of Europe, including Spain, in what became known as the Black Death. (PROSE: Bunker Soldiers ^[+]Loading...["Bunker Soldiers (novel)"])

15th century

By the 15th century, it was against Spanish customs to engage in the slave trade. (AUDIO: Trouble in Paradise)

In 1492, Christians kicked the Arabs out of Spain in a crusade, with Granada being the last town to fall in battle. (AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space)

16th century

The Aztec civilisation was destroyed by the Spanish following the landing of Fernando Cortez in 1519. (PROSE: The Aztecs ^[+]Loading...["The Aztecs (novelisation)"], TV: The Aztecs ^[+]Loading...["The Aztecs (TV story)"])

In the 1550s, Catholic Spain was engaged in a war with France. Philip II was King of Spain, married to Queen Mary I of England. Mary died with no heir in November 1558 and was succeeded by her Protestant sister, Elizabeth I, ending the Spanish alliance for good. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy)

In July 1572, Spain "thrashed" an English army raised by King Henri of Navarre to aid the Sea Beggars at Mons. The next month, Spain was among the nations whose ambassadors attended a banquet in honour of the Abbot of Amboise at the Louvre in Paris, France. (PROSE: The Massacre ^[+]Loading...["The Massacre (novelisation)"])

During the late 16th century, Spain fought a war with England. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz, AUDIO: Voyage to the New World)

In 1587, the execution of Mary Stuart, who the Spanish Catholics saw as the rightful Queen of England, inspired hatred towards the English Protestants, with King Philip swearing before the tomb of his father that he would avenge her. By this time, Sir Francis Drake was known to Philip as "Elizabeth's ruffian pirate", Francisco el Draque, having harried and pillaged Spanish ships bringing back treasures from the Americas. Drake launched an attack on the Spanish Armada poised to invade England in the port of Cadiz. The destruction suffered by the Spanish fleet delayed them until 1588. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz)

17th century

In 1603, shortly before her death, Queen Elizabeth I told the Seventh Doctor that the defeat of the Spanish Armada "saved [her] realm". (PROSE: Birthright)

In 1605, at the time of the Gunpowder Plot, Spain was ruled by King Philip. (GAME: The Gunpowder Plot ^[+]Loading...["The Gunpowder Plot (video game)"])

In 1658, Spain was at war with England. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam)

19th century

Spain was one of the allied nations which opposed Napoléon Bonaparte's French Empire in the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Following the Battle of Trafalgar, Napoleon invaded Spain along with Portugal. Spain fought against France in the Peninsular War. (PROSE: World Game) Soldiers from this conflict were taken by the War Lords to fight in their War Game. (TV: The War Games) Arthur Wellesley was sent to Portugal, in charge of a British expeditionary force, and fought his way up through Portugal, into Spain and eventually into France. Six of Napoleon's marshals, comprising the majority, were defeated by Wellesley one after another, battle after battle, victory after victory. Spain and Portugal remained in perpetual revolt, forcing Napoleon, surrounded by his enemies, back to Paris. (PROSE: World Game)

The first carrier of haemophilia in Britain's royal family, Queen Victoria passed the disease on through the royal houses of Europe, including those of Spain, Germany and Russia. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac)

20th century

The Spanish Civil War took place in the 1930s. It saw two large political parties and their supporters fight for control of Spain. During this time, many previously small factions came into play. Anarchists, communists and fascists all took part in the war.

The Eighth Doctor, Anji Kapoor and Fitz Kreiner visited Spain in 1937. They stayed in the anarchist-held Barcelona while studying anomalies in history. (PROSE: History 101)

Spain remained neutral during World War II, making it a prime destination for Resistance fighters and other people seeking to escape Nazi-occupied France. (AUDIO: Resistance)

In 1962, Barbara Wright went on holiday to Toledo. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz)

In 1966, the country was a destination of the villainous Chameleon Tours. (TV: The Faceless Ones)

As a child, Ace holidayed in Spain on several occasions. (AUDIO: Fiesta of the Damned)

In 1985, a Sontaran-Androgum group landed in Seville, taking over a local villa. Shockeye, along with the Second Doctor (who had been given genetic material that temporarily turned him into an Androgum), headed into town to try one of the local restaurants. (TV: The Two Doctors)

An H-bomb was lost off the coast of Spain; its radioactivity caused the sea creatures in the area to begin mutating to giant size. (COMIC: The Sea Monsters)

21st century

Elton Pope was fond of Spain, as he noted in his video diary. (TV: Love & Monsters)

La Cabra De Oro was "Spain's most famous goat"; an advert for him appeared on a 2007 issue of The Daily Telegraph. (TV: Love & Monsters)

During the "Cyberman invasion" of 2007, Donna Noble was scuba-diving in Spain and didn't witness them even though, as the Tenth Doctor noted, "they had Cybermen in Spain too". (TV: The Runaway Bride)

At 8:40AM GMT on a Wednesday in September 2009, Spain was among the numerous places across Earth in which RTAs occurred as a result of the 456 compelling every human child to suddenly stop and proclaim their message: "we are coming." (TV: Children of Earth: Day One)

Shortly after Miracle Day in 2011, Spain nearly went into bankruptcy. (TV: End of the Road)

In 2014, Liz Shaw visited Spain on a P.R.o.B.e. case to deal with a centuries-old ghost. Patsy Haggard later decided to quit her job at the Ministry of Defence and to move to Spain. She invited Liz to join her. (HOMEVID: When to Die)

By 2059, Spain was involved in space travel, conducing the Spacelink project. When the Tenth Doctor arrived at Bowie Base One, it was theorised that he might be part of a Spanish Mars mission. (TV: The Waters of Mars)

22nd century

By 2108, Malaga was an independent state. (AUDIO: The Two Irises)

An advertisement for Spain persisted in the ruins of London during the 2150 Dalek invasion of Earth. (TV: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.)

40th century

By the 40th century, the sea creatures mutated by the H-bomb had not only reached gigantic sizes, but also grew limbs and attacked a city. They were driven back to the sea and destroyed when the bomb was detonated. (COMIC: The Sea Monsters)

Alternate timelines

In the Game of Napoleon and Wellington, Spain was among the nations which were conquered by France and thus incorporated into Napoléon Bonaparte's World Empire. When the Empire collapsed upon Napoleon's death, Spain was among the conquered countries which were discreetly encouraged by the Players to "revert to type", spliting up into separate mini-states. (PROSE: World Game)

On Pete's World Ricky Smith's father, Jackson Smith, went to Spain some time before 2002 and left his son in Great Britain. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen)

References

Clara Oswald had a travel guide to Spain in her collection. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

Behind the scenes

Filming

As of 2024, Doctor Who has filmed 14 stories in Spain. The first was Planet of Fire, which was shot in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic. This was followed by The Two Doctors, shot in Seville. In the seventh series of the revived series, Spanish mountain range Sierra Nevada served as the surface of the Dalek Asylum in Asylum of the Daleks, while Almeria's legendary Spaghetti Western sets were used to depict Mercy, Nevada in A Town Called Mercy. In series 8, the BBC Wales production team shot in Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, to depict the surface of the Moon in Kill the Moon. The New Mexico scenes for series 9 episode The Zygon Invasion were filmed in Fuerteventura, another Canary Island, as was Gallifrey for the two part finale, whilst much of the landscapes in The Magician's Apprentice were filmed on Tenerife, including Missy's cafe and Skaro. The colony planet scenes for series 10 episode Smile were filmed in the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències) in Valencia, whilst The Pyramid At The End of the World returned to Tenerife. In series 11, the scenes in India and Pakistan were filmed in the province of Granada in Demons of the Punjab, and the team returned to Tenerife the following year for Gallifrey in Spyfall and the surface of Orphan 55.

The Doctor's TARDIS next to text using the word "Spain" instead of "Space". (WC: Tom Baker stars in John Lloyd's lost Doctor Who adventure, The Doomsday Contract)

References in invalid sources

When describing the acronym "TARDIS", it was initially referred to as "T.A.R.D.I.S - TIME AND RELATIVE DIMENSION(S) IN SPAIN" in all yellow text before being corrected to "T.A.R.D.I.S - TIME AND RELATIVE DIMENSION(S) IN SPACE". (WC: Tom Baker stars in John Lloyd's lost Doctor Who adventure, The Doomsday Contract)