Because I know you want to know this: Doctor Who dates

As I prepare my Whoniversary posts, I’ve been noting the dates of broadcast of Doctor Who stories over the years. Not very surprisingly, they are distributed very unevenly around the calendar.

Month

Old Who episodes

New Who episodes
(inc specials)

Others (1996,
Torchwood, SJA,
Comic Relief since 2005)

Total

January

107

1

6

114

February

95

0

5

100

March

90

2

5

97

April

52

21

1

74

May

51

20

1

72

June

36

20

1

56

July

11

2

6

19

August

11

0

0

11

September

55

0

2

57

October

61

0

18

79

November

69

1

19

89

December

56

5

6

67

Total

693

72

70

835

Not totally sure of the counts there but the overall picture is clear: heavy concentration in the colder months of the year (in the British climate), very little in the summer. There are 48 days on which no Doctor Who (or spinoff) episode has been broadcast, and 21 are in August and 16 in July. The longest run of such dates is 2-7 August inclusive (also 26-31 July if you don’t count the 27 July 2008 Proms concert). On the other hand there’s a complete run of 169 days (170 if it’s a leap year) from 28 December to 14 June inclusive when every day is a broadcast Who anniversary, and another run later in the year of 56 days from 25 October to 19 December.

For Old Who, there are seven dates which saw the original broadcasts of Doctor Who episodes in six different years:

5th January The Time Warrior #4 (1974) The Horns of Nimon #3 (1980) Castrovalva #2 (1982) Arc of Infinity #1 (1983) Warriors of the Deep #1 (1984) Attack of the Cybermen #1 (1985)
12th January Invasion of the Dinosaurs #1 (1974) The Horns of Nimon #4 (1980) Castrovalva #4 (1982) Arc of Infinity #4 (1983) Warriors of the Deep #3 (1984) Attack of the Cybermen #2 (1985)
8th February "The Edge of Destruction" / The Edge of Destruction #1 (1964) The Seeds of Death #3 (1969) The Ark in Space #3 (1975) Kinda #3 (1982) Mawdryn Undead #3 (1983) Resurrection of the Daleks #1 (1984)
15th February "The Brink of Disaster" / The Edge of Destruction #1 (1964) The Seeds of Death #4 (1969) The Ark in Space #4 (1975) The Visitation #1 (1982) Terminus #1 (1983) Resurrection of the Daleks #1 (1984)
2nd March The Web of Fear #5 (1968) Death to the Daleks #2 (1974) Black Orchid #2 (1982) Enlightenment #2 (1983) Planet of Fire #4 (1984) The Two Doctors #3 (1985)
9th March The Web of Fear #6 (1968) Death to the Daleks #3 (1974) Earthshock #2 (1982) Enlightenment #4 (1983) The Caves of Androzani #2 (1984) Timelash #1 (1985)
16th March Fury from the Deep #1 (1968) Death to the Daleks #4 (1974) Earthshock #4 (1982) The King’s Demons #2 (1983) The Caves of Androzani #4 (1984) Timelash #2 (1985)


I had forgotten that the demises of Adric and the Fifth Doctor were precisely two years apart.

For New Who, the winning date is 25th December, Christmas Day, which has seen five specials (The Christmas Invasion in 2005, The Runaway Bride in 2006, Voyage of the Damned in 2007, The Next Doctor in 2008 and The End of Time #1 in 2009). Add to that "The Feast of Steven" / The Daleks’ Master Plan #7, and it gets up to six as well. 

If you add together all incarnations of Who including Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures, 22nd October also joins the list of dates which have had six episodes first broadcast over the years: The Tenth Planet #3 (1966); The Invisible Enemy #4 (1977); the first two episodes of Torchwood, Everything Changes and Day One (2006); Warriors of Kudlak #2 (Sarah Jane Adventures, 2007); and The Mad Woman in the Attic #1 (Sarah Jane Adventures, 2009).

But that also gives you one day of the year which on which seven episodes of Doctor Who and the spinoffs have been broadcast for the first time. That day is 1st January, and the episodes are "Volcano" / The Daleks’ Master Plan #8 (1966); Day of the Daleks #1 (1972); The Face of Evil #1 (1977); the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot, Invasion of the Bane (2007); the two last episodes of the first series of Torchwood, Captain Jack Harkness and End of Days (also 2007), and of course The End of Time #2 (2010) where we bade farewell to David Tennant and heard Matt Smith say ‘Geronimo!’

Well, I hope you appreciate that. It amused me on a wet Sunday afternoon.

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