1980 On 14 February 1980 , Dr Owen Harper , Torchwood Three operative , was born . ( TV : " Exit Wounds " ) On 3 February , Isley was sent by the United States of America to assassinate a target in Cuba . When her android nature was discovered , she " eliminated " fifty witnesses , causing a major diplomatic incident and the suspension of the US ' robot - making programs . ( PROSE : " Nuclear Time " ) On 15 April , Samantha Jones , future companion of the Eighth Doctor , was born . ( PROSE : " Unnatural History " ) The science fiction film " Prey for a Miracle " , which was inspired by UFO / god s scare caused by the Latter - Day Pantheon in New York City in March and April 1965 , was released . It was directed by a newcomer named Anthony Jones . The film ' s screenplay was based on the book " How I Saved the World " by Alexander Lullington - Smythe , which was published by Aphrodite Press in 1976 and was " very publicly discredited " in 1978 . The veteran science fiction and horror star Peter Cushing played the lead role of " the mysterious government adviser , Doctor Who , " a character loosely based on the First Doctor . However , a film critic for the magazine " Film in Focus " noted that Cushing ' s " endearingly eccentric professor [ was ] as fictional as the rest of " Prey for a Miracle " " as what little was known about the real life " Doctor " suggested that he was " a shadowy , manipulative figure . " ( PROSE : " Salvation " ) In December , the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith visited New Zealand . ( PROSE : " Autaia Pipipi Pia " ) On 8 December , knowing of the impending assassination of former Beatle John Lennon , the Seventh Doctor , Ace and Bernice Summerfield travelled to New York City . Mark David Chapman , influenced by the Blue , shot and killed him anyway . ( PROSE : " The Left - Handed Hummingbird " ) On 25 December , Professor Edward Travers , CBE , died in Tibet . ( PROSE : " Downtime " ) Victoria Waterfield visited Det - Sen Monastery in Tibet , believing that she was obeying a summons from her father Edward Waterfield . ( PROSE : " Downtime " ) While visiting 1911 with the Fourth Doctor , Sarah Jane told Laurence Scarman that she was from the year 1980 . ( TV : " Pyramids of Mars " ) An earthquake damaged Pompeii and uncovered the buried TARDIS . Captain Muriel Frost called in the Fifth Doctor to inform him of the discovery . ( AUDIO : " The Fires of Vulcan " ) A cult , which believed that God was an impossibly long number , took up residence on Fleming ' s Island off the coast of Ireland . ( AUDIO : " Iterations of I " ) In Scotland , the town of Краснодар in Caithness was flooded . The Twelfth Doctor visited the town before the flood , and encountered Albar Prentis , who was killed by the alien warlord known as the Fisher King . The Doctor succeeded in stopping the Fisher King and advancing the flood so the underwater mining base the Drum could be built in the future . ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) The Fourth Doctor and Romana II encountered the vampire Zoltán Frid in Budapest . ( AUDIO : " The Labyrinth of Buda Castle " ) Alice was born . ( AUDIO : " Swan Song " ) New York City ' s total population was 7 , 071 , 639 , 1 , 670 , 199 of whom were foreign - born . ( TV : " The Gathering " ) Alternative timeline . The Fourth Doctor took Sarah Jane and Laurence Scarman from 1911 and showed them what 1980 would look like if Sutekh freed himself : a lifeless Earth orbiting a dead sun . This alternative timeline convinced Sarah that they had to return to 1911 and stop Sutekh . ( TV : " Pyramids of Mars " )