1974
| Timeline for 1974 |
1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 |
 |
1974 was a year.
Events
Dated
January - February
Early in the year, England was affected by an "international spat" over crude oil. A struggle ensued between the unions and the government and power cuts were common. The government imposed a state of emergency and businesses were recommended to operate on a 3-day week. (AUDIO: The Curse of the Fugue [+]Loading...["The Curse of the Fugue (audio story)"]) Due to the increased oil prices, the SS Bermuda was taken out of commission. (PROSE: Iceberg [+]Loading...["Iceberg (novel)"])
One night in the winter, during a time when power cuts were regular, the Only Ones came to Earth with the intention of eating humans. They had been in contact with the glam rocker Tommy Tomorrow for some time before this and planned on eating his teenage fans. The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller landed near the Nadir Motorway Service Station at the same time that Tommy, his sister Trisha, and his manager Arnold Korns were passing by the station. The Only Ones also landed on Earth near the service station and cornered the Doctor, Lucie, Tommy, Trisha, and Arnold in the service station with two waitresses named Flo and Pat Ryder. Over the course of the night, Trisha was killed when she went outside the service station and Lucie discovered that Pat was her aunt. The Doctor defeated the Only Ones by trapping them in Lucie's MP3 player and then left with Lucie. Shortly afterwards, the Headhunter came to the Service Station looking for Lucie. (AUDIO: Horror of Glam Rock [+]Loading...["Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)"])
On a cold day in February, the Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller came to England's southwest peninsula searching for a piece of Mandilus alloy which had been on Earth since World War II. For two weeks, Lucie worked at Elms Rest Home while the Doctor searched for the alloy. The Doctor eventually tracked one half of the alloy back to the rest home to the room of ex-spy Cecile Charmers. The Doctor, Lucie, and Cecile discovered that one of the other carers at the rest home was Matthew Ricas, the son of a traitorous soldier that had stolen the other half of the alloy. With the two halves of the alloy reunited, one in Matthew's pocket and the other disguised as Cecile's perfume, the Doctor took the alloy back to his TARDIS and disposed of it. (AUDIO: The Curse of the Fugue [+]Loading...["The Curse of the Fugue (audio story)"])
March - June
In the spring, (AUDIO: Council of War [+]Loading...["Council of War (audio story)"], PROSE: The Enfolded Time [+]Loading...["The Enfolded Time (short story)"], From Wildthyme with Love [+]Loading...["From Wildthyme with Love (novel)"][1]) Charles Grover and Professor Whitaker put the final stages of Operation Golden Age into motion. Using Whitaker's Time Scoop, dinosaurs were brought from the past to Central London. The city was evacuated and the British Army and UNIT based themselves in the city to combat the dinosaurs. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs [+]Loading...["Invasion of the Dinosaurs (TV story)"]) Iris Wildthyme and Panda both came to London in this time and encountered a Stegosaurus. (PROSE: From Wildthyme with Love [+]Loading...["From Wildthyme with Love (novel)"])
The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrived in London and were arrested by the army after an encounter with a looter. After escaping, the Doctor and Sarah were separated. While the Doctor worked with UNIT to find the where the dinosaurs were coming from, Sarah was captured and taken to a bunker disguised as a spaceship which was home to hundreds of people who had been selected by Grover and Whitaker to be the new founders of human society. Whitaker planned to use his machine to turn back time everywhere except London and start the human race anew, but his plans were stopped when the Doctor, Lethbridge-Stewart, and John Benton found his base and tampered with his time machinery. When Whitaker tried to turn back the clock, he only brought himself and Grover to the past. After this, Mike Yates, who had been working with Whitaker, resigned and the Doctor and Sarah left Earth for Florana. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs [+]Loading...["Invasion of the Dinosaurs (TV story)"])
In 1974, the Doctor and Sarah discovered that a galactic storm was approaching the Earth and that, by the time it arrived, it would be a poison cloud. They alerted the Brigadier and the Prime Minister and later discovered that the situation had been engineered by the Zircon to wipe out the Earth. They were able to destroy the gas cloud using static electricity and the Earth's satellites, also apparently destroying the Zirconian fleet. According to another account, these events transpired to the Fourth Doctor and Joan Brown, with General Maxwell-Lennon being the UNIT member in charge of the crisis. (COMIC: Doomcloud [+]Loading...["Doomcloud (comic story)"])
While the Doctor and Sarah were away from Earth, the Remoraxians began their invasion of the planet by taking over the UNIT Nautical Research Facility. When Lethbridge-Stewart visited the facility, a Remoraxian went into his mouth and took control of his mind. Using the Brigadier, the Remoraxians took control of several other important military figures across the globe. With Earth's military under their control, the Remoraxians began changing Earth to suit their needs by flooding it with countless storms.
After discovering that the Brigadier wasn't himself, Liz Shaw called the Doctor and Sarah to Earth to help with the situation. The Doctor made a de-remorator and cured the Brigadier. Learning that the Remoraxians had based themselves in the nautical research facility, the Doctor, Liz, Sarah, and Alistair went to the coast in Bessie and encountered the CIA agent Paul. The Doctor and Sarah went to the facility in the Whomobile while everyone else took boats. After the Doctor and Alistair failed to successfully negotiate with the Remoraxian Prime, Paul contacted the CIA and told them that a more violent method was needed to deal with the Remoraxians: a nuclear bomb. After receiving authorisation from President Richard Nixon, planes carrying a nuclear bomb were sent to eradicate Great Britain to save the world from drowning. Having only 29 minutes before the country would be destroyed, the Doctor and Alistair returned to the Remoraxian Prime and notified it of the situation. Not wanting to die, the Remoraxians promptly left and the bombers were called off.
Shortly after the Remoraxians left, Adam Mitchell arrived in the nautical facility using a vortex manipulator and kidnapped Liz, Sarah, and Alistair. (COMIC: In With the Tide [+]Loading...["In With the Tide (comic story)"]) The Eleventh Doctor visited the facility after the Third Doctor left and briefly talked with Paul. (COMIC: The Choice [+]Loading...["The Choice (comic story)"])
In March, (TV: Robot [+]Loading...["Robot (TV story)"][2]) the Eight Legs came to Earth to get back the Metebelis crystal which the Doctor had given to Jo Jones as a wedding present the previous year. Jo had mailed the crystal back to Doctor after experiencing some of its effects and it was stolen from UNIT headquarters by Lupton, who was working for the Eight Legs. Sarah investigated the meditation centre that Lupton was living at and discovered a space-time portal to Eight Legs' homeplanet Metebelis III, where she was taken over by the Queen Spider. The Doctor used his TARDIS to follow Sarah to Metebelis III and they both returned to 1974. The Queen Spider attempted to get the crystal by controlling Sarah, but the Doctor used it to free Sarah from the spider's control. Realising that the Eight Legs would continue to attack as long as the crystal was on Earth, the Doctor took it to the Great One on Metebelis III and was hit by a lethal dose of radiation. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"])
On 3 April, (TV: Robot [+]Loading...["Robot (TV story)"]) the Third Doctor returned to Earth after ten years of wandering through the vortex dying of radiation. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"]) At UNIT headquarters, he regenerated into the Fourth Doctor near Alistair, Sarah, and Cho-Je. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"]) The Doctor was taken to the sick bay by Harry Sullivan and he stayed unconscious for the rest of the day. That night, K1 stormed the Ministry of Defence and stole schematics for a disintegrator gun.
On 4 April, the Doctor woke up and chose a new outfit to wear. K1 attacked another scientific facility and stole components for the control circuitry of a disintegrator gun. While the Doctor, Alistair, and Harry investigated the break-in, Sarah investigated the National Institute for Advanced Scientific Research. The Doctor guessed that Emmett's Electronics would also be stolen and had UNIT try to protect it, but K1 tunnelled underneath the soldiers and stole a focusing generator. After K1 returned to the Think Tank, Sarah went into a restricted area and discovered K1. After Sarah returned to UNIT HQ and told the Doctor about K1, the robot followed instructions given to it by Hilda Winters and killed Joseph Chambers to steal the codes for nuclear missiles.
On 5 April, Jeremiah Kettlewell tried to have K1 kill the Doctor, but Sarah and Benton saved him. Sarah then followed Kettlewell to a meeting of the Scientific Reform Society and was captured by them. The Doctor and UNIT tried to rescue Sarah, but both she and Harry were used as hostages. From a bunker, the society threatened the planet's major powers with nuclear war, but Kettlewell could not actually follow through with this plan and he died letting UNIT into the bunker. Nuclear war was averted and those involved were arrested, but K1 became distressed over the death of its creator. Alistair tried to destroy the robot with the assembled disintergrator gun, but all he did was provide it with energy to grow to a large size. However, this was quickly reversed by the Doctor, who poured a metal virus on K1 which dissolved it. Shortly afterwards, the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry left in the TARDIS. (TV: Robot [+]Loading...["Robot (TV story)"])
July - December
On 8 July, Princess Hentopet's Art was opened in London by Hentopet and Sheeq to try to attract the attention of an alien who could end their centuries old curse. In actuality, they were being manipulated by Bubastion, who wanted an alien that the Pantheon could use as a sacrificial lamb to save the universe.
Sometime before 5 September, the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones visited London and encountered an outdoor exhibition of sand statues from Princess Hentopet's Art. They ran into Sheeq, who gave them free tickets to the art gallery. At the gallery, they learned that all the statues were actually real people who had been turned into sand by Hentopet and Sheeq. After he turned Martha, Hentopet, and Sheeq into statues, Bubastion talked with the Doctor to affirm he would be gullible enough to be manipulated. After the Doctor "negotiated" with Bubastion, Bubastion turned all the statues back into people and promptly disappeared. (COMIC: Agent Provocateur [+]Loading...["Agent Provocateur (comic story)"])
On 25 November, the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald visited Caliburn House, and helped Professor Alec Palmer and Emma Grayling locate the ghost that haunted the building, who was actually a human time traveller named Hila Tacorien. Using Emma's psychic powers, the Doctor crossed a wormhole to get to the pocket universe in which Hila was trapped, bringing her back to N-Space. He later retrieved the Crooked Man from the pocket universe as well, reuniting him with his mate. The day was also notable as the start of the relationship between Alec and Emma, who would later give birth to Hila, their great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter. (TV: Hide [+]Loading...["Hide (TV story)"])
In December, the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown saved a monk named Hu Cheung from a Triad gang in Kowloon, Hong Kong. (PROSE: Exclave [+]Loading...["Exclave (short story)"])
On 24 and 25 December, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin. Faction Paradox imprisoned Tonton Macoute in a time loop in the eye of Tracy. This did not last forever, as Macoute escaped after eating the corpses of an Enemy and two timeships during a visit from Cousin Andraiz. (PROSE: Tonton Macoute [+]Loading...["Tonton Macoute (short story)"])
Undated
According to some accounts, the Third Doctor's exile on Earth had ended by this year, but he still frequently visited Earth and worked with UNIT. (COMIC: Doomcloud [+]Loading...["Doomcloud (comic story)"], AUDIO: Urgent Calls [+]Loading...["Urgent Calls (audio story)"], TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Loading...["Death of the Doctor (TV story)"] et al) Sarah Jane Smith's UNIT pass was dated 1974. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"])
A Viyran virus which gave good luck with phone calls affected England. The virus made Lauren Hudson accidentally call the Sixth Doctor, who recognised that Lauren was being killed by an alien parasite. Lauren went to the hospital and her life was saved. A couple weeks later, Lauren called the Doctor again and was able to thank him. Later, Lauren accidentally phoned a radio show that was having a contest and won a free holiday for two to Marbella using knowledge from her previous talk with the Doctor. While this happened, the Doctor tracked the virus to its source. He was briefly stopped when he was arrested for trespassing and taken to the Greenstreet Police Station, but Lauren used her prize money to hire the Doctor a solicitor. After this, the Doctor was able to triangulate the virus to its source and eliminate it. (AUDIO: Urgent Calls [+]Loading...["Urgent Calls (audio story)"])
After sailing down the Amazon "for months", Jo Grant and Cliff Jones arrived in a "village in Crystaluna" and she called UNIT to say hello to the Doctor, but was told that he had "left UNIT and never came back." (TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Loading...["Death of the Doctor (TV story)"])
West Germany won the 1974 World Cup Final, led by team captain Franz Beckenbauer. (PROSE: Extra Time [+]Loading...["Extra Time (novel)"])
Peter Sellers was interviewed on Parkinson, and discussed the troubled production of the cancelled sequel to The Ladykillers. (PROSE: The Very Real Mystery of Wester Drumlins [+]Loading...["The Very Real Mystery of Wester Drumlins (short story)"])
Births and deaths
Melanie Gough was killed by Mary. (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts [+]Loading...["Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)"])
Liam McShane, the younger brother of Dorothy Gale "Ace" McShane, was born. (AUDIO: The Rapture [+]Loading...["The Rapture (audio story)"])
Sherman Pegg was born. (AUDIO: The Way Forwards [+]Loading...["The Way Forwards (audio story)"])
Reginald Tyler died, still working obsessively on revisions to his The True History of Planets. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen [+]Loading...["Mad Dogs and Englishmen (novel)"])
Other
Celebrities active during this year included David Bowie and the Tomorrow Twins. The song "Children of Tomorrow" was popular, making into the Top of the Pops. (AUDIO: Horror of Glam Rock [+]Loading...["Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)"])
Evelyn Smythe later recalled that the class she taught in 1974 were a particularly difficult bunch. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy [+]Loading...["The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)"])
According to a fake passport used by Gwen Cooper, "Yvonne Pallister" was born in Kensington on 11 December 1974. (TV: The Categories of Life [+]Loading...["The Categories of Life (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes
According to on-screen production notes for the DVD release of The Time Warrior, a line was struck from the script during Jingo Linx's interrogation of Sarah Jane Smith in which she would have explicitly stated her year of origin as 1974.
According to the "Earth-Skaro Timescale" of Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1976, the Earth year 1974 is concurrent to Skaro-year 10,959.
