Despite this intended ambiguity, however, Series 1 simultaneously indicates that the year is 1892 (the revolution that occurred in Eastern Rumelia in 1885 happened “seven years ago”, according J&L: The Bellova Devil) and that a fair amount of time has passed since Talons (Jago says in J&L: The Similarity Engine that the “demonic deflagration” that closed the Palace Theatre happened “a few years back”; Litefoot calls Jago one of “his oldest friends” in J&L: The Spirit Trap; Litefoot says in J&L: Litefoot and Saunders that the events which brought him and Jago together happened “some time ago”; and even The Mahogany Murders has Jago stating that the “adventure in Limehouse”, presumably meaning Talons, was “a while back”. He and Litefoot appear to have working together off and on since then.
Jago & Litefoot Series 1 and 2 (as well as the Companion Chronicles audio leading into them, The Mahogany Murderers) seem to happen in relatively close succession to one another. Litefoot’s conversation with Ellie the barmaid in J&L: The Bellova Devil, for instance, suggests that as little as a week has passed since the previous episode. However, the seasonal time frame within the mini-series is a little warped... a week passes within The Similarity Engine, but only a few days then seem to elapse between Ellie the barmaid being “killed” by the vampire Saunders (in Litefoot and Saunders, which occurs the day after The Similarity Engine) and her body being shipped via train for burial in a pauper’s field (in J&L: The Necropolis Express). And yet, in that relatively short space of time, it’s magically gone from being “the middle of summer” (as Jago claims in The Similarity Engine) to Litefoot commenting upon the “frosty air” and wishing he were at home in front of a warm fireplace (in The Necropolis Express). At least “a month” seems to pass in the course of J&L: The Theatre of Dreams, and another passes during J&L: The Ruthven Inheritance, so if it isn’t already autumn when The Theatre of Dreams begins, it almost inescapably is when Series 2 finishes.
The references given in Series 3 point to it taking place the following year (1893), even if this wasn’t necessarily the intent, and there’s a little ambiguity about it. Jago says in J&L: The Man at the End of the Garden that “It’s August” - as Series 2 concluded so late in the year, it must now be the following August, i.e. August 1893. Also, J&L: Chronoclasm has Jago referring to the panto performance held at the New Regency in Christmas - he only inherited the theatre in Series 2, so, again, it must now be the following year. However, mention is made in J&L: Swan Song that Jago has only been at the New Regency “a few months”, when (if it really is 1893), it’s been more like a year.
Where this becomes especially tricky is that in the final Series 3 story (Chronoclasm), Litefoot says to Sgt Quick: “You and I, and Jago and Miss Leela, we’ve come across some of the most vile and appalling things over the past year or so...” - a line possibly meant to suggest that a year had passed within Jago & Litefoot Series 1, 2 and 3. Given the aforementioned math on how much time passes in Series 1 and 2, though, Litefoot’s line probably has to be construed as indicating how much time has passed in Series 3 alone. This would mean that Leela literally spends about a year dashing around resolving time breaks with Litefoot and Jago, but to date there’s nothing to particularly rule that out. Leela arrives at Litefoot’s house in the epilogue of Series 2, so it’s possible that the first story of Series 3 (J&L: Dead Men’s Tales) happens in 1892, even if the bulk of Series 3 must then unfold in 1893.
In Chronoclasm, Payne is suitably vague when he tells Nikolas Tesla that the year is “1890, give or take a few years.” Jago and Litefoot’s encounter with Claudius Dark is the lead-in to Jago & Litefoot Series 4 (released in 2012, so outside this chronology).
[1133] The background to Jago & Litefoot Series 1, largely given in The Mahogany Murderers and J&L: The Similarity Engine.
[1134] Dating Benny: The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel (Benny audio #9.3) - Benny guesstimates her arrival in this era as being “late spring” based upon the “filthy weather”, and she seems to spend some weeks helping Mycroft solve cases. Her diary states that her confrontation with Straxus begins on “7th of May”, and events spill over to the next day. It’s doubtful that Benny spends much more time in 1893 after getting a working time ring on 8th May, as she seems awfully eager to check on Peter.
The legendary figure of the Cwejen, “Mr Seven”, also here called Time’s Champion, is almost certainly the seventh Doctor. Mycroft’s housekeeper is named as “Mrs Grose”, presumably the character seen in Ghost Light. Cloisterham is a fictional town from The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens’ unfinished work. A different incarnation of Straxus appeared in Big Finish’s BBC7 range.
[1135] Dating Camera Obscura (EDA #59) - It’s the “nineteenth century” (p6), Maskelyne (presumably the magician John Nevil Maskelyne, 1839-1917) is alive (p7) and it’s a “century” before Anji’s time (p35). Fitz here meets George Williamson, so this is before Time Zero.
[1136] Camera Obscura. William is the human version of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, the dating is awry - in Buffy, Spike became a vampire in 1880.
[1137] Army of Death
[1138] “Four years” before Grand Theft Cosmos.
[1139] TW: To the Last Man
[1140] Dating Time Zero (EDA #60) - This was in “1894” (p15).
[1141] The Burning
[1142] The Gallifrey Chronicles. This is the same issue of the Strand the Doctor is looking for in The Bodysnatchers.
[1143] Dating Demon Quest: The Demon of Paris (BBC fourth Doctor audio #2.2) - The Doctor dates the poster to “1894” in Demon Quest: The Relics of Time. Mrs Wibbsey affirms that year in Demon Quest: Starfall, and it’s “June 1894” according to the sleeve notes.
[1144] Demon Quest: The Demon of Paris
[1145] Dating Iris: Enter Wildthyme (Iris novel #1) - The year and month are given (p80). It’s a Thursday (p82).
[1146] Dating The Bodysnatchers (EDA #3) - It is “11.01.1894” (p15). It is six years since the Ripper murders (p2), and five years since The Talons of Weng Chiang (p37). Previous editions of Ahistory postulated that the minor character “Mr. Stoker” (no first name given) was Dracula author Bram Stoker, but a closer examination of Stoker’s life voids this idea. Stoker was living in London in 1894, but served as the business manager of the Lyceum Theatre from 1878 to 1905 - it doesn’t seem likely that such an established businessman, husband and father would moonlight (as “Stoker” does here) as a thuggish enforcer to a factory-owner.
[1147] “Three years” before Grand Theft Cosmos.
[1148] Dating The Burning (EDA #37) - It’s “a few years” since the Doctor arrived on Earth (p142), dated in Escape Velocity to 1888. The most precise indication in The Burning itself is that it’s “the late nineteenth century”. It is “fifty years” before The Turing Test (p59), which is set in January 1943.
The fire elemental first manifests on Earth in Time Zero and writer Justin Richards has confirmed that whereas bits of the creature seep through Williamson’s time corridor (causing a residual presence of it to be worshipped by ancient cultures, etc.), it’s only when the main chunk of it arrives in 1894 that the elemental attains enough critical mass to work toward its own insidious agenda. Therefore, The Burning - in which the elemental works to its own design, and the Doctor defeats it - manifestly has to occur after Time Zero.
The Burning (p238) specifies that it’s January, so allowing that some time (a few months at least) probably pass while the elemental and Nepath forge their pact and start to implement it, January 1895 seems the most likely time for The Burning to occur. The date was given as 1889 in the original story synopsis.
[1149] Assassin in the Limelight
[1150] The Gallifrey Chronicles, a reference to Nicholas Meyer’s novel The West End Horror, which features Holmes and Shaw. Holmes at this point would have resurfaced following his encounter with Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, per Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Empty House”, set in 1894.
[1151] “The Forgo
tten”. He actually got the stick from Kublai Khan, and the shroud from the San Francisco hospital where he regenerated for the seventh time.
[1152] Wolfsbane. George was born in 1895.
[1153] J&L: Chronoclasm. Year unknown, but Tesla lived 1856-1943. Duncan Wisbey, who played Tesla, was 40 when this story was recorded. Tesla might well be the same age when Payne abducts him, but that only puts him a few years ahead of the Jago & Litefoot stories, and begs the question of why Payne didn’t just look up Tesla’s contemporary self.
[1154] Dating The Vampire of Paris (DL #5) - The year is given (p10). This “time vampire” has different attributes from those described in The Time Vampire, and follows Varlos’ “time trail” - suggesting that he has, in fact, come back in time (see Dating The Darksmith Legacy). For the Doctor and Gisella, the story continues in The Game of Death.
[1155] Dating The Sands of Time (MA #22) - The date is given (p29).
[1156] Paper Cuts. Queen Victoria’s reign began on 20th June, 1837, and her Diamond Jubilee was held in 1897.
[1157] Dating The Death of Art (NA #54) - It’s “26 November 1897” (p16).
[1158] TW: Miracle Day
[1159] According to the Doctor in Heart of Stone (p79). War of the Worlds was published in 1898 and had a contemporary setting.
[1160] Dating FP: Warring States (FP novel #4) - The White Pyramid seems to (mostly) be located outside linear time, so the dating here, based upon the year in which Compassion allows the Pyramid to become historically noticeable (p187), might be a bit of a cheat. One interpretation of the ending is that Octavia and Ying leave the realm of fiction altogether.
[1161] TW: From Out of the Rain
[1162] Dating The Banquo Legacy (EDA #35) - The date is given (p7).
[1163] The Curse of Fenric
[1164] Dating Grand Theft Cosmos (BF BBC7 #2.5) - Lucie expresses frustration to the Doctor that as it’s 1898, she can’t play her MP3 player in public.
[1165] According to Alice’s diary on Torchwood.org.uk. A morgue inventory on the website suggests that Holroyd’s partner was named Philip Lyle. Holroyd and Guppy appear in TW: Fragments.
[1166] Dating FP: Movers and FP: The Labyrinth of Histories (FP audios #1.5-1.6) - It’s “one hundred and twenty-five years” after 1764. More specifically, it’s “about six months” before the Siege of Mafeking, which commenced in October 1899. Emma comments that Justine’s step-mother is always “drunk after a Saturday”, so it’s probably Sunday.
[1167] Dating TW: Fragments (TW 2.12) - The exact year isn’t given, but it’s before 1900 per the prediction of The Girl (who everyone calls the tarot-reader according to Torchwood.org.uk). Jack generalises that Earth is “a century away” from official first contact with alien life, also hinting that it’s closer to 1900 than not.
Transcripts of Jack’s bar conversations - seen briefly on screen, but better illustrated on the official Torchwood website and in The Torchwood Archives - are dated to 12th February, 1987; 16th December, 1897; and 4th April, 1898. However, as Alice Guppy only joins Torchwood in mid-September 1898 and seems very adept when she meets Captain Jack, it’s probably 1899 when she and Holroyd approach him.
[1168] Dating TW: Consequences: “The Baby Farmers” (TW novel #15a) - Charles Dickens’ reading at the Taliesin Lodge (in The Unquiet Dead) happened some “thirty Christmases past”. Moreover, the future Jack writes a letter to Holroyd (p241) that says, “I’m guessing the year [where you are] is 1899.”
[1169] Torchwood.org.uk, elaborating on TW: From Out of the Rain.
[1170] Dating Players (PDA #21) - The date is given (p15).
[1171] Dating Castle of Fear (BF #127) - The exact day is given. The fifth Doctor here says that he hasn’t visited Stockbridge prior to 1899.
[1172] The Scarlet Empress. Although never specified, the “fish people” could be the amphibious gondoliers that appear in Paul Magrs’ The Stones of Venice. This meeting must have occurred after Wilde’s release from prison on 19th May, 1897, but before his death on 30th November, 1900.
[1173] Per Torchwood.co.uk. There’s some confusion regarding Gerald’s surname - on screen he’s credited as just “Gerald”, the official Torchwood website gives his last name as “Carter”, but The Torchwood Archives and Torchwood: The Encyclopedia both claim that it’s “Kneale”.
[1174] Human Nature (TV). The Battle of Spion Kop occurred on 23rd and 24th January, 1900.
[1175] The Daleks’ Master Plan, The Invasion of Time, The Unicorn and the Wasp. This occurred on 17th May, 1900, when British troops ended the Siege of Mafeking during the second Boer War.
[1176] TW: Consequences: “Kaleidoscope”
[1177] Paradox Lost
[1178] The War Games. The Boer War ran 1899-1902, the Boxer Rising was in 1900.
[1179] TW: Miracle Day. It’s not specified that this was for Torchwood, and it might’ve been during his time as a Time Agent.
[1180] Year of the Pig. The South African War (also known as the Second Boer War) lasted 1899-1902.
[1181] The Unicorn and the Wasp
[1182] “The Glorious Dead”
[1183] A Thousand Tiny Wings. Baum lived 1856-1919; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz saw print in 1900, but the described argument could have taken place either before or after publication.
[1184] Iris: The Two Irises. Arthur Balfour, UK Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905, lived 1848-1930.
[1185] Dating Tales from the Vault (BF CC 6.1) - Steven says that “The year is 1900”. The Battle of Spion Kop lasted from 23rd to 24th January.
[1186] Dating FP: Warring States (FP novel #4) - “Cousin Octavia... stepped... into a May afternoon in Peking, 1900” (p4). Prester John, here a member of Faction Paradox, is a legendary figure said to have ruled over a lost Christian nation.
[1187] TW: Risk Assessment. Victoria died on 22nd January, 1901, and as her conversation with Havisham occurs in December of a year that Victoria fears will see “her last Christmas”, it’s likely December 1900.
[1188] Dating Foreign Devils (TEL #5) - It’s “December 1900” (p35).
[1189] Dating TW: Exit Wounds (TW 2.13) - The year is given.
[1190] “About seven years” after the 1894 component of Iris: Enter Wildthyme.
[1191] TW: From Out of the Rain, off a newspaper reported dated “August 11th 1901”.
[1192] The Mind Robber
[1193] Byzantium! (p179). No date given, but McKinley was shot 6th September, 1901, and died eight days later.
[1194] Demon Quest: The Demon of Paris. Toulouse-Lautrec died 9th September, 1901.
[1195] TW: Dead Man Walking. Proust lived 1871-1922.
[1196] As strongly implied by a photo of Jack and an unidentified woman in TW: Something Blue. The Torchwood Archives state that the marriage occurred “in the early 1900s”. The eleventh Doctor mentions “all of Jack’s stag parties” in The Wedding of River Song.
[1197] Dating Cryptobiosis (BF subscription promo #3) - The date is given.
[1198] Benny: Walking to Babylon
[1199] TW: Trace Memory. Sam is 96 in 1967, and says that he met Jack when he was 31 (p184-185). The second Boer War ended in 1902.
[1200] TW: “Hell House”
[1201] The Silent Stars Go By. Lt General Robert Baden-Powell, a.k.a. Lord Baden-Powell, served in India and Africa from 1876 to 1910, and authored many books on the art of reconnaissance and scout training.
[1202] Eye of Heaven
[1203] J&L: Swan Song. No year given, but Bernhardt debuted as Hamlet in the silent film Le Duel d’Hamlet (1900), and would have been more likely to have continued in the role prior to a leg injury she incurred in 1905. Gangrene forced an amputation in 1915, although her acting career did continue.
[1204] Circular Time: “Autumn”. Wodehouse lived 1881-1975, but the date is otherwise arbitrary.
[1205] The Suffering. Raffles is a fictional “gentleman thief” created by Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law, E.W. Hornung, as something of a mirror reflection of Sh
erlock Holmes. The first collection of Raffles stories was published in 1899; the last by Hornung - a novel, Mr. Justice Raffles - saw print in 1909.
[1206] Wishing Well
[1207] “One hundred and seven Earth years” before “Ghosts of the Northern Line”.
[1208] Dating Horror of Fang Rock (15.1) - The Terrance Dicks novelisation and contemporary publicity material set the story “at the turn of the century”. Electric power was introduced to lighthouses around the turn of the century. Fang Rock is in the English Channel (“five or six miles” from Southampton) and is particularly treacherous, and was probably upgraded early on.
There’s a reference to King Edward. As fan Alex Wilcock has noted, although the Doctor’s style of dress is often referred to as “Edwardian”, this is the only Doctor Who TV story set in the Edwardian period (and there’s not a frock coat to be seen). The young lighthouse worker Vince states that the Beast was last seen “eighty years ago”, “back in the twenties”. The Programme Guide offered the date “1909”, The Terrestrial Index claimed “1904”. The TARDIS Logs suggested “c.1890”, The Doctor Who File “early 1900s”. The TARDIS Special gave the date “1890s”. Timelink makes a convincing case for 1902, based on mumbled references to Salisbury and Bonar Law.
[1209] Dating Forty-Five: “False Gods” (BF #115a) - It’s “1902”.
[1210] Dating Revenge of the Judoon (Quick Reads #3) - The back cover gives the year; in the story the Doctor says it’s “the very beginning of the twentieth century”.
[1211] The City of the Dead
[1212] “The Curse of the Scarab”. It’s “forty years” before the story, but that’s clearly rounding up as the Melies’ silent movie Trip to the Moon is referenced, and that was released in 1902.
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