Events in Doctor Who

March 26, 1963: On the instructions of new BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman, Head of Serials Donald Wilson convenes a meeting to begin development of a science-fiction series to fill a perceived hole in the BBC's Saturday evening programming

August 2, 1963: Ron Grainer is contracted to compose the theme music for Doctor Who

August 20, 1963: Bernard Lodge of the BBC Graphics Unit records the Doctor Who title sequence used from 1963 to 1967

September 13, 1963: Test filming of the TARDIS materialising and dematerialising is carried out

October 4, 1963: Unhappy with the quality of the material recorded on September 27th, Sydney Newman orders it remounted

October 16, 1963: BBC Chief of Programmes Donald Baverstock orders nine further episodes of Doctor Who beyond 100,000 BC

October 18, 1963: Donald Baverstock rescinds his order of October 16th because of perceived cost overruns, but this is reinstated when it is discovered that he was acting on erroneous information

November 16, 1963: The first ever TV trailer for Doctor Who broadcast

November 21, 1963: A press conference is held to launch Doctor Who

November 22, 1963: A second set of thirteen episodes is ordered, to follow "Inside The Spaceship"

November 23, 1963: "An Unearthly Child" is the first episode aired

December 21, 1963: The Daleks make their first appearance in "The Daleks"

December 31, 1963: An additional set of ten episodes is ordered, to follow the slot ultimately filled by "The Keys Of Marinus"

February 20, 1964: Doctor Who appears on the cover of the Radio Times listings magazine for the first time, advertising the start of "Marco Polo"

November 12, 1964: First Doctor Who novelisation, "Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks", ased on the 1963 story "The Daleks", is published

July 28, 1965: 'Doctor Who and the Daleks' gets headline in TV Century 21, issue 28

August 23, 1965: The first cinematic Who story, 'Doctor Who and the Daleks' is released, based on the TV story "The Daleks", and starring Peter Cushing

December 16, 1965: The Manchester Evening News reports that William Hartnell is quitting Doctor Who; this does not transpire, but is a sign of the deteriorating relationship between Hartnell and the production team of John Wiles and Donald Tosh

April 5, 1966: Lynda Barron begins recording 'The Ballad Of The Last Chance Saloon' for "The Gunfighters"

July 16, 1966: William Hartnell informs his wife, Heather, that he has met with Innes Lloyd and agreed to leave Doctor Who after recording one more story at the start of the fourth production block

August 5, 1966: The second cinematic Doctor Who story, 'Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD' is released, based o nthe TV story "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth", and again starring Peter Cushing

August 6, 1966: The BBC announces that William Hartnell will be leaving Doctor Who, and Patrick Troughton is contracted to play the Second Doctor for twenty-two episodes

September, 1965: The first Doctor Who annual, The Dr Who Annual 1966, is published

October 29, 1966: William Hartnell makes his last regular appearance, and Patrick Troughton his first, in Ep 4 of "The Tenth Planet"

November 22, 1966: The BBC passes on Terry Nation's proposed Dalek spin-off, prompting Nation to market the idea in America; the BBC decides to kill off the Daleks in one final Doctor Who story

September 26, 1967: On the BBC programme Talkback, Kit Pedler responds to concerns about disturbing content in "The Tomb Of The Cybermen" episode four

December 5, 1967: Permission is sought from Terry Nation to develop a story featuring both the Daleks and the Cybermen; he declines

June 8, 1968: A rebroadcast of "The Evil Of The Daleks" episode one heralds the first-ever repeat of a complete Doctor Who story

June 28, 1968: Recording for "The Mind Robber" takes place in BBC Television Centre Studio 3; Frazer Hines is absent due to illness, so the script is rewritten to allow Hamish Wilson to play Jamie

June 21, 1969: Patrick Troughton makes his last regular appearance in Ep 10 of "The War Games"

August 3, 1969: A new colour title sequence, created by Bernard Lodge and used from 1970 to 1973, is filmed

January 3, 1970: Jon Pertwee makes his first appearance as The Doctor in Ep 1 of "Spearhead from Space"

January 2, 1971: Roger Delgado makes his first appearance as the Master in Ep 1 of "Terror of the Autons"

April 22, 1971: Terry Nation gives his permission for the Daleks to return to Doctor Who after five years

May 9, 1972: A new TARDIS console room set appears, but is damaged in storage after "The Time Monster" is completed

November 27, 1972: A new TARDIS console room set appears for "The Three Doctors"

December 30, 1972: Multiple incarnations of the Doctor appear together for the first time in "The Three Doctors". While Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee worked together, William Hartnell appeared through separately filmed footage due to ill health.

March 31, 1973: Roger Delgado makes his final appearance as the Master in Ep 6 of "Frontier In Space"

June 18, 1973: Roger Delgado (the Master) dies; as a result of the tragedy, the planned story “The Final Game” is abandoned

February 5, 1974: Head of Serials Bill Slater receives a letter from an actor named Tom Baker, which prompts him to recommend Baker as a candidate to play the Fourth Doctor

May 23, 1974: Due to the labour dispute, Blue Peter is recorded on the set for "Robot"

June 8, 1974: Jon Pertwee makes his final regular appearance as the Doctor, and Tom Baker makes a brief first appearance in Ep6 of "Planet of the Spiders"

September 29, 1974: During filming for "The Sontaran Experiment", Tom Baker slips and breaks his collarbone, although he is able to continue recording

December 28, 1974: Tom Baker makes his first full appearance in Ep 1 of "Robot"

April 24, 1977: A new TARDIS console room set designed by Barry Newbery appears, during recording of "The Invisible Enemy", after the previous version warped in storage.

October 17, 1979: The first periodical dedicated to the show, 'Doctor Who Weekly' appears on newsagent shelves

November 30, 1979: Ongoing industrial action results in the wholesale cancellation of "Shada", leading to Douglas Adams leaving his post as Doctor Who's script editor

June 25, 1980: A lack of studio space forces John Nathan-Turner to abandon his plans to complete "Shada" as a Christmas special

September, 1980: The Doctor Who magazine goes monthly

March 21, 1981: Tom Baker makes his last regular appearance as the Doctor in Ep 4 of "Logopolis", regenrating into Peter Davison

January 4, 1982: Peter Davison begins his time as the Doctor in Ep 1 of "Castrovalva"

November 23, 1983: Debut broadcast of "The Five Doctors"; this occurs on Public Broadcasting Service station WTTW in Chicago, Illinois, marking the first instance of a Doctor Who episode premiering outside of the United Kingdom

November 25, 1983: 30th Anniversary special "The Five Doctors" is first broadcast in the UK

March 16, 1984: Peter Davison leaves Doctor Who in Ep 4 of "The Caves of Androzani", and regenerates into Colin Baker

March 22, 1984: Unusually, the first full appearance of a new Doctor occurs mid-season with Colin Baker debuting in Ep 1 of "The Twin Dilemma"

February 16, 1985: Patrick Troughton joins Colin Baker in "The Two Doctors"

February 21, 1985: John Nathan-Turner and Eric Saward are alerted to rumours that Doctor Who has been cancelled

February 25, 1985: BBC Head of Series and Serials Jonathan Powell informs John Nathan-Turner that the start of production on Season Twenty-Three has been deferred from Spring 1985 to Spring 1986

February 27, 1985: The British press leaks the news that Doctor Who has been put on hiatus by the BBC

March 1, 1985: The BBC announces that Doctor Who will return to television in September 1986 instead of the preceding January, and will revert to twenty-five-minute episodes

April 6, 1985: Rumours begin to circulate that Season Twenty-Three will consist of fewer than the anticipated twenty-six episodes

December 18, 1985: After months of rumours, the BBC publicly confirms that Season Twenty-Three will run to only fourteen episodes

May 24, 1986: Robert Holmes passes away, leaving Eric Saward to complete the final episode of "The Trial Of A Time Lord" (Segment Four)

September 20, 1986: Colin Baker appears on 'Roland Rat - The Series'

October 29, 1986: Colin Baker learns that the option on his contract for Season Twenty-Four will not be taken up, meaning that he has been fired from Doctor Who

December 13, 1986: The press reports that Colin Baker has been fired from Doctor Who

December 18, 1986: The BBC confirms that Colin Baker will not be returning to Doctor Who for Season Twenty-Four

December 6, 1986: Colin Baker makes his final regular appearance in "The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe"

September 7, 1987: Sylvester McCoy makes a sudden appearance as the new Doctor, first pretending to be Colin Baker and then regenerating into himself in Ep 1 of "Time And the Rani". Due to the circumstances of Baker's exit, he was not available to film the regeneration scene.

October 18, 1989: Columbia Pictures tenders a formal offer to co-produce Doctor Who with the BBC

October 27, 1989: The BBC defers a decision on the co-production deal with Columbia Pictures until at least 1990

December 6, 1989: Sylvester McCoy makes his final regular appearance in Ep 3 of "Survival"

November 26 & 27, 1993: A two-part story as part of the 1993 Children In Need appeal, "Dimensions in Time" featuring all the surviving Doctors, alongside various past and present companions and the cast of BBC's EastEnders

May 12, 1996: The TV movie makes its premiere broadcast on a Canadian TV station. Sylvester McCoy appears briefly at the beginning of the story, handing over the TARDIS to Paul McGann

May 14, 1996: The TV movie makes its premiere broadcast in the US. Sylvester McCoy appears briefly at the beginning of the TV Movie, handing over the TARDIS to Paul McGann

May 27, 1996: The TV movie makes its premiere broadcast in the UK. Sylvester McCoy appears briefly at the beginning of the story, handing over the TARDIS to Paul McGann

March 12, 1999: The last appearance of the Doctor in the 20th Century is in a Comic Relief segment, for 1999's Red Nose Day, called "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death". Rowan Atkinson stars as the Tenth Doctor, Richard E Grant, the Eleventh Doctor, Jim Broadbent, the Twelfth, and Joanna Lumley as the Thirteenth.