Then: The Eighteen Eighties

 

Second Hand   Charity short story, published 1998                      Doctor: 0

featuring Ace

Written by Rob Stradling.

Informed guess Takes place probably in Paris in the late nineteenth century CE (for Ace, after Set Piece); self-dated the New Year.


Photo Finish   Comic story, published 2009                                 Doctor: 10

Featuring Heather, Wolfie

Written by Eddie Robson.

Takes place in London; self-dated 1880 CE.


The Parliament of Fear   Comic story, published 2017                Doctor: 12

Featuring Bill

Written by Scott Gray.

Takes place in the Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma); self-dated Spring 1880 CE.


Perils of Paris   Comic story, published 1974                                 Doctor: 3

featuring Sarah Jane

Written by an anonymous Polystyle writer.

Takes place in Paris, Texas and Paris, France; self-dated 1880 CE.


Evolution   Novel, published 1994                                              Doctor: 4

featuring Sarah Jane, the Rutan (informative mention)

Written by John Peel.

Takes place on Dartmoor; self-dated 1880 CE.


The Adventure of the Gloria Scott  Short story, published 1893         Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes, being at sea

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle

Takes place in Norfolk. My basic chronology for Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories is taken from Brad Keefauver’s magisterial timeline, posted online as The Birlstone Railway Timetable. This story is dated by it as September 1880 CE.


Eygptian Escapade   Comic story, published 1967                        Doctor: 2

featuring Gillian, John

Illustrated ?and written by John Canning.

Takes place in Egypt; self-dated 1880 CE.


The Guttering Candle   Audio drama, released 2013           Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Jonathan Barnes.

I am including the original Big Finish audio dramas of Sherlock Holmes: they intersect with Dorian Gray and the Vampires, and arguably with the Doctor himself in the dramatization of All Consuming Fire. Takes place in London and Afghanistan; self-dated 1880 CE.


Terrible Lizards  Novel, published 2012                             Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy, Rory

Written by Jonathan Green.

Takes place in Florida; self-dated 1881 CE.


The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual   Short story, published 1893       Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle

Takes place in London and Sussex; dated June 1881 by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


Empress of Mars   TV story, broadcast 2017                            Doctor: 12

Featuring the Ice Warriors, Missy, Nardole, Bill

Written by Mark Gatiss, script supervised by Steven Moffat.

Takes place principally on Mars; self-dated 1881 CE.


Ghosts of the Seas   Comic story, published 2016                        Doctor: 12

Written by Keiron Moore.

Takes place variously, but pivotally off the coast of Australia, self-dated July 1881 CE.


The Gunfighters   TV story, broadcast 1966                      Doctor: 1

featuring Steven, Dodo

Written by Donald Cotton, script edited by Gerry Davis.

Takes place in Arizona. Historically, the gunfight at the OK Corral happened in October, 1881 CE.


Dead Man’s Hand   Comic story, published 2013                        

                                                Doctors: 11, with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, War, 9, 10 (glimpse)

Featuring Clara

Written by Tony Lee.

Takes place in Deadwood, the South Dakota Territory; self-dated 1882 CE.


A Study in Scarlet   Novel, published 1887                        Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes, with Utah (informative mention)

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London. Watson is wounded at the battle of Maiwand in June 1880, then catches a fever and spends “months” dangerously ill. He then recovers his health sufficiently to take a month-long voyage to the UK, where he spends some time at a private hotel in the Strand. He then meets Holmes at Barts, a teaching hospital; apparently during an academic holiday. By March, when the action of the novel concludes, they are living together at 221b Baker Street. I place this as March 1882.


The Adventure of the Speckled Band   Short story, published 1892   Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London and Surrey; self-dated April, 1883 CE.


Ghost Light   TV story, broadcast 1989                                  Doctor: 7

featuring Ace

Written by Marc Platt, script edited by Andrew Cartmel.

Takes place in Perivale, at this point some distance outside London; dated 1883 CE by Parkin in Ahistory.


A Photograph to Remember   Audio drama, released 2019         Doctor: 0

Featuring the Earth Reptiles, the Sontarans, the Paternoster Gang

Written by Roy Gill.

Informed guess Takes place in London. We are told in The Red-Eyed League that Jenny and Vastra celebrate their second anniversary in December 1884. As Strax is as yet unfamiliar with the phrase “afternoon break”, we may infer that this is set in the early days of the Paternoster Gang, before that. True, Vastra and Jenny meet Strax when the Doctor takes them from 1888 CE to take part in the Battle of Demon’s Run, but it is a feature of time travel that one may arrive earlier than one left. It may be that the Doctor and the couple themselves knew that they would loop back and live the preceding six years again in Paternoster Row. Or less than five years, as their marriage will have been some time before their departure in 1888 CE.


Erasing Sherlock   Novel, published 2006                        Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes, the Second War in Heaven

Written by Kelly Hale.

Takes place in London and Indonesia, an archipelago between Asia and Australia; concluding self-datedly in August, 1883 CE.


Under the Volcano   Comic story, published 2006                      Doctor: 10

Featuring Rose

Written by Si Spencer.

Takes place in Indonesia, immediately after Erasing Sherlock.


Her Own Bootstraps   Audio story, released 2020                      Doctor: 9

Featuring Rose

Written by Amy Veeres.

Takes place in Indonesia, simultaneously with Under the Volcano and the end of Erasing Sherlock.

 

The main action of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story The Colour Out of Space concludes in late autumn of 1883 CE, and plausibly represents an incursion of The Enemy onto Earth.

 

The Adventure of the Yellow Face   Short story, published 1893    Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; dated April 1884 CE by Keefauver in The Birlstone Railway Timetable.


Judoon in Chains   Audio drama, released 2018                    Doctor: 6

Featuring the Judoon, with the Ogrons (informative mention)

Written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris.

Takes place in Surrey and on Mars; self-dated May 1884 CE.


The Red-Eyed League   Short story, published 2018                   Doctor: 0

Featuring the Earth Reptiles, the Sontarans, the Paternoster Gang

Written by Dave Rudden.

Takes place in London; self-dated December 1884 CE.


The Adventure of the Red Circle   Short story, published 1911             Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; dated January 1885 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


Peacemaker   Novel, published 2007                                     Doctor: 10

featuring Martha

Written by James Swallow.

Takes place in Colorado; self-dated ten years before the publication of H.G.Wells’s The Time Machine.


Track Attack   Comic story, published 2010                                   Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy

Written by Eddie Robson.

Takes place in and north of London; self-dated July 1885 CE.


The Wondrous Box   Audio short story, released 2011                 Doctor: 4

Featuring Sarah Jane

Written by Juliet Boyd.

Concludes in St.Thomas, Ontario; Jumbo the elephant died in September 1885 CE.


Reality Cheque   Comic story, published 2011                               Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy, Rory

Written by Eddie Robson.

Takes place in the City of London; self-dated 1885 CE.


A Perfect Christmas   Illustrated short story, published 2020     Doctor: 0

Featuring Faction Paradox, the Earth Reptiles, the Sontarans, the Paternoster Gang

Written by Dave Rudden.

Takes place in London; self-dated the Christmas after The Red Eyed League.


The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet   Short story, published 1892     Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; dated February 1886 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.

 

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was published in 1886, the action concluding in March. We may assume that Jekyll/Hyde survived his suicide attempt to be recruited into the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen some years later.

 

A Town Called Eternity   Short story, published 2000                Doctor: 5

featuring the Master, Peri

Written by Lance Parkin and Mark Clapham.

Takes place in California; self-dated one hundred and ten years after the US Declaration of Independence.


The Adventure of the Resident Patient   Short story, published 1893      Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; dated October 1886 by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


The Invasion of E-Space   Audio drama, released 2010          Doctor: 4

Featuring Romana, Adric, with K9 II (informative mention)

Written by Andrew Smith.

Arbitrary placement Takes place on Ballustra, in E-Space.


Iris in Dead Man’s Gulch   Short story, published 2011                          Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme

Written by Paul Ebbs.

Takes place in what seems to be the south-west of the USA; self-dated 1886 CE.


The Adventure of the Reigate Squire   Short story, published 1893      Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in Surrey; self-dated April 1887 CE.


The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter   Short story, published 1893    Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London. Keefauver in The Birlstone Railway Timetable places this story in midsummer of either 1887 or 1888 CE, owing to its falling in midweek. He plumps for 1888: but this story is also the one in which Watson learns of the existence of Mycroft Holmes, so it must be before All Consuming Fire and therefore in 1887 CE.


All-Consuming Fire   Novel, published 1994      Doctors: 7, with 1, 3 (glimpse)

featuring Ace, Benny, Sherlock Holmes, with Susan (glimpse) and Litefoot, Vortis, the Great Intelligence, the Nestene Consciousness, the Earth Reptiles (informative mention)

Written by Andy Lane.

Takes place in London, Austria, at sea, India, and on San Francisco and on Ry’leh; principally self-dated 1887 CE.


The Sign of the Four   Novel, published 1890                 Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; self-dated September, “nearly ten years” after 1878 CE, and Mary Morstan has six pearls, received annually, the first in 1882. It is perhaps unsurprising that Holmes is taking cocaine after the events of All-Consuming Fire.


The Five Orange Pips   Short story, published 1891                    Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; self-dated September 1887 CE, evidently after Watson has married or at least got engaged to Mary Morstan.


The Death of Captain Jack   Audio drama, released 2018 Doctor: 0

Featuring Unbound Queen Victoria, Captain Jack, Torchwood

Written by David Llewellyn.

Takes place in London and Wales; self-dated 1887 CE.


The Living Image   Short story, published 2017                           Doctor: 7

Featuring Ace

Written by Scott Handcock.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated 1887 CE.


The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor   Short story, published 1892     Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Informed guess Takes place in London; dated October 1887 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


Doctor Who - The Gunfighters   Novelisation of a TV story, published 1986                                                                                                                 Doctor: 1

featuring Steven, Dodo

Adapted from his own script by Donald Cotton, edited by Gerry Davis.

Narrated in Colorado (at Doc Holliday’s deathbed); self-dated November 1887 CE.


Gaze of the Medusa    Comic story, published 2016                     Doctor: 4

Featuring Sarah Jane

Written by Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated 1887 CE.


The Valley of Fear   Novel, published 1915                        Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London, regional England and the USA; dated early 1888 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


Inside Every Warrior   Audio drama, released 2019             Doctor: 0

Featuring the Earth Reptiles, the Sontarans, the Paternoster Gang

Written by Gemma Langford.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated early March. The 8th fell on a Thursday in 1888 CE.


The Great White Hurricane   Audio drama, released 2017  Doctor: 1

Featuring Susan, Barbara, Ian

Written by Guy Adams.

Takes place in New York, NY; self-dated March 1888 CE.


A Scandal in Bohemia   Short story, published 1891                    Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes, with central Europe (informative mention)

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; self-dated March, 1888 CE and just over a week after The Great White Hurricane.


A Broodmare for Gloriana   Online short story, posted 2011     Doctor: 0

Featuring Unbound Sherlock Holmes

Written by Lawrence Miles.

Takes place in a version of London, simultaneously with A Scandal in Bohemia.


A Case of Identity   Short story, published 1891                           Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; self-dated a few weeks after A Scandal in Bohemia.


The Shape of Things   Short story, published 2010                     Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme, Sherlock Holmes, with Senor 105, Faction Paradox (informative mention)

Written by Stuart Douglas.

Informed guess Takes place pivotally in London, though also Manchester and Hong Kong; self-dated 1888 CE.


The Adventure of the Crooked Man   Short story, published 1893     Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London and Hampshire; self-dated the summer after Watson’s wedding.


The Adventure of the Second Stain   Short story, published 1904       Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; dated the July after Watson’s wedding in The Adventure of the Naval Treaty.


The Adventure of the Naval Treaty   Short story, published 1893       Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London and Surrey; self-dated the July after Watson’s Wedding.


One Must Not Look At Mirrors   Audio drama, released 2016   Doctor: 0

Featuring Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray

Written by Guy Adams.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated 1888 CE.

Oscar Wilde is a Tellurian, born in 1854 CE.


The Adventure of Silver Blaze   Short story, published 1892    Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Informed guess Takes place in London and on Dartmoor; dated October 1888 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


Matrix   Novel, published 1998                                                   Doctor: 7

featuring Unbound Barbara, Unbound Ian, the Valeyard, Ace

Written by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker.

Takes place mainly in London, mainly in November 1888 CE.


The Map and the Spiders   Short story, published 2018             Doctor: 0

Featuring the Second War in Heaven, with Faction Paradox (informative mention)

Attributed to Wilhelm Liebknecht, with introductory material written by Simon Bucher-Jones.

This story was ostensibly written by Wilhelm Liebknecht, a date is given of 1888 CE, shortly before his polemical pamphlet The Spider and the Fly (1889 CE.) I am inclined to think that this story predicts a victory for the Great Houses. By the end of The Book of the Enemy, the Enemy is definitely associated with horror. Unjust imprisonment, as practiced by the king in this story, is a staple of horror. The spiders, on the other hand, not necessarily very bright but diligent in their map-making, seem rather a good analogue for the Great Houses. Intentionally or otherwise, as I have said, this story offers the possibility that Fritz Lieber’s seminal novel of temporal war, The Big Time, is set in the Second War in Heaven, as the human footsoldiers know the contending sides as Snakes and Spiders, without knowing anything very much beyond that, as is usually the case with footsoldiers.


Ripper’s Curse    Comic story, published 2011                               Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy, Rory

Written by Tony Lee.

Takes place in London, ending in November 1888 CE.


Holmes and the Ripper   Audio drama, released 2010           Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Brian Clemens.

Takes place in London, in late 1888 CE. It would appear that the murders of Jack the Ripper should be added to the list of temporally overwritten events.


Other Wars, Other Worlds   Novella, published 2017        Doctor: 0

Featuring the Travers family

Written by Robert Mammone.

Takes place in a version of London; self-dated 1889 CE.


The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk   Short story, published 1893      Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London and Birmingham; dated June 1889 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


The Boscombe Valley Mystery   Short story, published 1891    Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes, with Australia (informative mention)

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London and Herefordshire; dated June 1889 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable, a week after The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk.


The Man with the Twisted Lip   Short story, published 1891     Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; self-dated June 1889 CE.


The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb   Short story, published 1892   Doctor: 0

featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London and Berkshire; self-dated summer, 1889 CE.


The Reification of Hans Gerber   Audio drama, released 2011     Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by George Mann.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated the nineteenth century, and Watson is married, so between The Sign of the Four and The Adventure of the Final Problem.


The Adventure of the Cardboard Box   Short story, published 1893   Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London, Croydon and Merseyside; dated August 1889 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


The Talents of Greel   Audio drama, released 2019              Doctor: 0

Featuring Jago, Mr Sin, River Song

Written by Paul Morris.

Informed guess Takes place in London, shortly before The Talons of Weng Chiang.


The Time Machination   Comic story, published 2009              

10, with 4 (glimpse) and 6 (informative mention)

Featuring Torchwood, with Leela (glimpse), and Peri, Captain Jack (informative mention)

Written by Tony Lee.

Takes place in London; self-dated 1889 CE, and ending as The Talons of Weng Chiang begins.


The Talons of Weng Chiang   TV story, broadcast 1977       Doctor: 4

featuring Leela, Litefoot, Jago, Mr Sin

Written by Robert Holmes.

Takes place in London, soon after the murders of Jack the Ripper.


The Duke’s Folly   Short story, published 2005                            Doctor: 1

featuring Susan, Barbara, Ian

Written by Gareth Wigmore.

Informed guess Takes place in London and the USA; towards the end of the nineteenth century CE.


The Hound of the Baskervilles   Novel, published 1902    Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London and on Dartmoor; concluding self-datedly in November “five years” after 1884.


The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle   Short story, published 1892   Doctor: 0

Featuring Sherlock Holmes

Written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Takes place in London; dated Christmas 1889 CE by Keefauver in the Birlstone Railway Timetable.


The Tangled Skein   Audio drama, released 2012            Doctor: 0

Featuring the Vampires, Sherlock Holmes

Adapted by Richard Dinnick from a story by David Stuart Davies.

Takes place in London and Devon, soon after The Hound of the Baskervilles.

 

 

 

 

 

Total Stories Considered               3678

Proportion Written By Women   12%                                        

 

Top Docs

4                 338 stories                   

3                 296 stories

7                 283 stories         

10               254 stories   Climber!

8                 251`stories             

11               244 stories   Climber!

5                 241 stories         

1                 223 stories         

6                 214 stories  

2                 198 stories         

12               123 stories

Unbound   92 stories  

9                 67 stories  

13               53 stories           

War            46 stories                     

 

 

Top Twenty Recurring Elements

 

London                                                                783 stories         

Regional England                                               620 stories

The Time Lords                                                  409 stories 

UNIT                                                                    406 stories

Alastair, Kate, Kadiatu, Lucy Weston and the Lethbridge-Stewart family                                                                   401 stories

North America                                                   300 stories  Climber!

Continental Europe                                           288 stories

Wales                                                                  247 stories

Torchwood                                                         236 stories  

The Daleks and Davros                                     227 stories   

Sarah Jane                                                          226 stories  

The Master, including Missy                            218 stories   

Captain Jack                                                       193 stories

Ace                                                                      169 stories 

The K9s                                                               163 stories  

Romana                                                               157 stories  

At Sea                                                                  153 stories 

Christmas                                                            146 stories

Asia                                                                      143 stories           

Amy and Rory                                                    142 stories 

 

 

Top Decades

 

The Teens                                                           1535 stories

The Noughties                                                    947 stories                   

The Nineties                                                       360 stories

The Twenties                                                     303 stories

The Seventies                                                    210 stories         

The Eighties                                                        205 stories

The Sixties                                                          90 stories

(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)                                  28 stories  

 

 

And Top Twenty Years

 

2016                                                          221 stories

2018                                                          196 stories 

2017                                                           183 stories

2020                                                          178 stories 

2008                                                          174 stories  

2015                                                          166 stories 

2011                                                          157 stories

2019                                                          146 stories Climber! 

2013                                                          145 stories Climber!  

2021                                                          144 stories

2009                                                          142 stories  

2010                                                          127 stories

2001                                                          115 stories

2007                                                          111 stories 

2014                                                          106 stories  

2006                                                          92 stories  Climber!

2005                                                          91 stories  

2012                                                          86 stories Climber!

2004                                                          85 stories              

1993                                                          84 stories                     

         

 

           

  

 

         

 

 

Total Writers (including showrunners, script editors, anthology linking material writers)                                  963

Proportion of Female Writers              17%      

 

Top Twenty Writers

 

Terrance Dicks                                          119 stories  

James Goss                                               111 stories

Russell T Davies                                       110 stories

Paul Magrs                                                81 stories  

Justin Richards                                         80 stories           

Steven Moffat                                          70 stories           

Jonathan Morris                                      67 stories           

John Dorney                                             49 stories           

Robert Holmes                                         49 stories   Climber!

Gareth Roberts                                        49 stories  

Eddie Robson                                            49 stories   Climber!

Matt Fitton                                               46 stories  

Eric Saward                                               46 stories           

David Llewellyn                                       40 stories   Climber!

Steve Lyons                                               40 stories  

Gary Russell                                              40 stories  

Marc Platt                                                 39 stories   Climber!

David Whitaker                                        39 stories  

Guy Adams                                               38 stories   Re-entry!

Alan Barnes                                              38 stories=         

? John Canning                                         38 stories= Climber!

Andrew Cartmel                                      38 stories=

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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