| Pre-An Unearthly Child |
Prequel. |
Stories set before An Unearthly Child. |
| Marco Polo - The Keys of Marinus |
Artificlal. |
Opened and closed by The Sorceror's Apprentice. Can't really fit anything else. |
| The Sensorites - The Reign of Terror |
Artificlal. |
Opened and closed by The Transit of Venus. Can't fit anything else. |
| The Reign of Terror - Planet of Giants |
Seasonal. |
|
| Planet of Giants - The Dalek Invasion of Earth |
Artificial. |
Uncomfortable stretch. |
| The Dalek Invasion of Earth - The Rescue |
Natural. |
Only place for stories with the Doctor and Ian and Barbara and nobody else. Tight, but there's space here. |
| The Romans |
In-episode. |
There's definitely a narrative gap here, but it's been filled. Twice. It's full now. |
| The Romans - The Web Planet |
Artificial. |
Awkward. Ian/Barbara/Vicki stories fit better in the next one. |
| The Web Planet - The Crusade |
Natural. |
Comfortable fit. |
| The Space Museum - The Chase |
Natural. |
|
| The Chase - The Time Meddler |
DWRO |
There's no gap here - Steven stows away (unseen) at the end of The Chase, and is discovered in the first scenes of The Time Meddler, but for the purposes of this reading order, we follow Ian and Barbara home first. |
| The Time Meddler - Galaxy 4 |
Seasonal. |
The only good spot for new Vicki/Steven stories. |
| The Myth Makers - The Daleks' Master Plan |
DWRO |
Again, we simply follow the companion home instead of the Doctor. |
| The Feast of Steven - The Destruction of Time |
Artificial. |
Though the idea of Sara Kingdom having had many more adventures with the Doctor comes from the novelisations, this gap essentially exists to allow Jean Marsh to reprise the character for Big Finish. |
| The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve - The Ark |
Artificial. |
Salvation inserts a new "first" adventure for Dodo, which both opens and closes it. No space for any further stories. |
| The Gunfighters - The Savages |
Before the final scene. |
An okay gap for further Dodo/Steven stories. |
| The Savages - The War Machines |
Natural. |
|
| The War Machines - The Smugglers |
Seasonal. |
|
| The Smugglers - The Tenth Planet |
Artificial. |
You can just about get away with Ten Little Aliens, but anything further would need serious narrative defending. |
| The Power of the Daleks - The Highlanders |
Artificial. |
Very forced. Interrupts and stops dead Dr Who's post-regenerative arc. |