Then: Before the Universe

 

Strictly speaking, there can’t be a “before” the universe, as the Doctor points out in The Impossible Planet. Let us suppose this refers to anything located in the Omniversal medium in the direction away from which the universe is moving (for more on this concept, see The Taking of Planet Five). I have had great difficulty finding material outside Who-related narrative set outside the universe, in this sense. Arthur C Clarke’s short story The Wall of Darkness  (collected in The Other Side of the Sky (1957)) is set in a tiny universe with one star and not quite enough volume for its inhabited planet.

 

From Eternity   Short story, published 2004                                    Doctor: 1

featuring The Time Lords (informative mention)

Written by Jim Mortimore.

The protagonist of this story experiences time backwards and eventually emerges from the universe from its beginning. He is addressed by the Doctor, speaking on behalf of the Time Lords.


Rough Magic   Short story, published 2005                                               Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme

Written by Kate Orman.

Informed guess Takes place in the Vortex, and featuring Iris, so there is no obvious way to place it in relation to everything else in this chronology. It is suggested that the universe somehow depends on the Vortex, implying in turn that the Vortex in some sense precedes the universe, so I’m sticking it here.


Warriors’ Gate   TV story, broadcast 1981                                          Doctor: 4

featuring K9 II, Romana, Adric

Written by Steve Gallagher, script edited by Christopher H Bidmead.

This takes place at “zero co-ordinates” for the TARDIS. I reason that zero time co-ordinates must take place before co-ordinates of one, two, etc.

 

 

Total Stories Considered               2111

Proportion Written By Women   12%                                        

 

Top Docs

3                 223 stories

10               159 stories

4                 157 stories

7                 149 stories

11               132 stories         

8                 111 stories

6                 98 stories  

5                 90 stories  

2                 82 stories  

12               72 stories  

1                 56 stories

Unbound   35 stories  

13               30 stories

9                 25 stories                     

War            2 stories    

 

 

Top Twenty Recurring Elements

 

London                                                                581 stories         

Regional England                                               432 stories

UNIT                                                                    355 stories

Alastair, Kate, Kadiatu, Lucy Weston and the Lethbridge-Stewart family                                                                                      349 stories

Wales                                                                  239 stories

Torchwood                                                         228 stories  

North America                                                   225 stories

Captain Jack                                                       177 stories

Sarah Jane                                                          143 stories

Christmas                                                            121 stories

Continental Europe                                           110 stories

The Master, including Missy                           104 stories

Iris Wildthyme                                                   101 stories Climber!   

Jo                                                                         101 stories

Ace                                                                       96 stories

Benton                                                                95 stories  

The Time Lords                                                  88 stories  

At sea                                                                  86 stories  

Amy and Rory                                                    80 stories  

Yates                                                                    78 stories

 

 

Top Decades

 

The Teens                                                           923 stories

The Noughties                                                   604 stories                   

The Nineties                                                       195 stories

The Twenties                                                     174 stories

The Seventies                                                    121 stories         

The Eighties                                                        59 stories  

The Sixties                                                          35 stories  

 

 

And Top Twenty Years

 

2016                                                          146 stories

2008                                                          127 stories

2018                                                          112 stories

2017                                                           106 stories

2011                                                          101 stories

2020                                                          99 stories  

2009                                                          98 stories  

2019                                                          95 stories

2015                                                          93 stories  

2010                                                          85 stories  

2013                                                          76 stories  

2021                                                          75 stories  

2007                                                          74 stories

2001                                                          69 stories  

2006                                                          62 stories  

2012                                                          60 stories           

2005                                                          49 stories   Climber!    

2014                                                          49 stories  

2004                                                          47 stories  

1999                                                          42 stories  

 

 

Total Writers (including showrunners, script editors, anthology linking material writers)                                                637

Proportion of Female Writers                         18%      

 

Top Twenty Writers

 

Russell T Davies                                       86 stories  

Paul Magrs                                                59 stories  

James Goss                                               53 stories  

Terrance Dicks                                          36 stories  

Steven Moffat                                          36 stories  

Justin Richards                                         34 stories  

Eddie Robson                                            33 stories  

Gareth Roberts                                        31 stories  

? John Canning                                         30 stories  

Joseph Lidster                                          30 stories  

Steve Lyons                                               29 stories  

James Hornby                                           28 stories

Jonathan Morris                                      25 stories  

Guy Adams                                               23 stories           

Andrew Cartmel                                      23 stories            

Matt Fitton                                                23 stories  

Christopher Cooper                                 22 stories

John Dorney                                             22 stories           

Andy Frankham-Allen                             22 stories

Gary Russell                                              22 stories  

 

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