A calendar showing December 1986. (TV:The Tenth Planet^[+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"])

31 December was the final day ofDecember when manyEarth-based cultures celebratedNew Year's Eve.

Holidays and observances

As the last day ofDecember, 31December was the date ofNew Year's Eve celebrations for manyEarth-based cultures. It was not a well-known holiday by theyear4000, asSara Kingdom did not recognise it. (TV:The Daleks' Master Plan^[+]Loading...["The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"])

Events

Early years

In1879,QueenVictoria issued theTorchwood Charter and founded theTorchwood Institute. (TV:Children of Earth: Day One^[+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)"];AUDIO:New Girl^[+]Loading...["New Girl (audio story)"])

In1899, theTorchwood One agentGerald Kneale assistedTorchwood Three with theCenturian Incident and its clean-up inCardiff. (COMIC:Rift War! (part six: circles)^[+]Loading...{"part":"Six: Circles","1":"Rift War! (comic story)"})

In1926, theMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) playedAll India in the2nd Unofficial Test match of the scene inCalcutta,British India. The MCC won the match by fourwickets. TheFifth Doctor considered it to be one of the bestcricket matches of all time. (AUDIO:The Emerald Tiger^[+]Loading...["The Emerald Tiger (audio story)"])

In1930, theEighth Doctor finally broughtCharley Pollard to theRaffles Hotel inSingapore, butan old enemy of the Doctor soon forced them to leave for a whirlwind tour of history. (AUDIO:Seasons of Fear^[+]Loading...["Seasons of Fear (audio story)"])

In1965, chasing theDaleks, theFirst Doctor briefly materialisedhis TARDIS inTrafalgar Square during the New Year's Eve celebrations. (TV:"Volcano"^[+]Part ofThe Daleks' Master Plan,Loading...{"namedpart":"Volcano (8)","1":"The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"})

According to acalendar on theSnowcap base, 31 December1986 was aWednesday. (TV:The Tenth Planet^[+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"]) On that day,Ben andPolly reunited long after their travels with theSecond Doctor had ended and they reflected on their time with him. (PROSE:Mondas Passing^[+]Loading...["Mondas Passing (short story)"])

In1993,Tko-Ma tried to escape hisdimensionalprison. He was stopped by theSixth Doctor. (PROSE:Instruments of Darkness^[+]Loading...["Instruments of Darkness (novel)"])

1999

1999 was an eventfulyear for 31 December.

TheSixth Doctor andMelanie Bush saved the Earth from being taken over bySaraquazel, a being from theafter-universe, and his servantAshley Chapel. (PROSE:Millennial Rites^[+]Loading...["Millennial Rites (novel)"])

A younger version of the Seventh Doctor and an older version of Mel gate-crashed the New Year's Eve party being thrown byAlisha Hammerson, theAuton head ofHammerson Plastic PLC, inLondon. They foiled her plan to replace her guests with Auton replicas so the Earth could be dominated and absorbed by severing her link to theNestene Consciousness. (COMIC:Plastic Millenium^[+]Loading...["Plastic Millenium (comic story)"])

Inside theWalker General Hospital morgue, after having hisregenerative ability delayed byanaesthetic, theSeventh Doctor regenerated into hiseighth incarnation, forced his way out, and discovered his memories were gone too. The Doctor tried to convince Grace he was the same man she attended theprevious day, and recruited her to help him with his bout ofamnesia, eventually regaining his memories. Meanwhile,Chang Lee, having pocketed the Doctor'sTARDIS key, began raiding it. The Master found Chang Lee in the TARDIS and manipulated him to open theEye of Harmony. Opening the Eye destabilisedEarth's physics and the Master used it to begin stealing the Doctor's lives. The Doctor helped Grace put the TARDIS in atemporal orbit, draining the power from the Eye and thwarting the Master. After the Master killed Grace and Lee, the Master fought the Doctor and fell into the Eye. The TARDIS reversed Lee and Grace's deaths and closed the Eye. (TV:Doctor Who^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"])

TheFourth Doctor stopped theY2K bug as theNew Year arrived. (PROSE:Millennium Shock^[+]Loading...["Millennium Shock (novel)"])

WhileJack Harkness fought a "Millennium Bug" of his own,Alex Hopkins killed the rest of hisTorchwood Three team, thenhimself after Jack returned, just as theNew Year arrived inCardiff's time zone. He had been driven insane by theLast of Erebus, which showed him dark things awaiting in the future. Hopkins tricked Jack to leave the Hub because he wasimmortal and would have prevented Hopkins' "mercy killings." Harkness subsequently took over Torchwood Three, given the leadership by Alex just before he claimed his own life. (TV:Fragments^[+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]) Alex also spoke toYvonne Hartman atTorchwood One of his epiphany beforehand on thephone, as he shot the team. This incident made her realise that theTorchwood Institute needed a stronger leader to face the 21st century. (AUDIO:One Rule^[+]Loading...["One Rule (audio story)"])

Dave Young spent the entire evening trying to convince his girlfriend,Anji Kapoor, that the millennium wouldn't actually begin foranother year. Kapoor, for her part, thought this extreme pedantry meant their relationship was in trouble. This incident led to her insisting onNew Year's Eve2000 that the two of them spend2001 doing "Wild and Spontaneous Things' — the result of which was the couple spontaneously going toBelgium inFebruary2001. There, she met the Eighth Doctor and begantravelling with him. (PROSE:Escape Velocity^[+]Loading...["Escape Velocity (novel)"])

Therenegade Time LadyIris Wildthyme and her companionPanda arrived in San Francisco inher TARDIS. Immediately after their arrival, Iris spilledgin into the bus' control and out into theTime Vortex, resulting in various different versions of Panda fromalternative realities crossing over into the primary universe. With the assistance ofDr George Strangeways, Iris was able to close the rift, though not before the Panda from the primary universe had been dragged into it. (AUDIO:The Panda Invasion^[+]Loading...["Iris Wildthyme and the Panda Invasion (audio story)","The Panda Invasion"])

"Dara Morgan" suddenly came into being, and registeredMorganTech. He was broadcast live on a news channel that same day. (PROSE:Beautiful Chaos^[+]Loading...["Beautiful Chaos (novel)"])

In analternate timeline, theFifth Doctor,Peri Brown andErimem visitedEdinburgh. (PROSE:Graham Dilley Saves the World^[+]Loading...["Graham Dilley Saves the World (short story)"])

Later years

In2004,Rose Tyler missed a New Year's Eve party, thereby allowing her to unwittingly meet the regeneratingTenth Doctor prior to her first encounter with theNinth Doctor on4 March2005. (TV:The End of Time^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"])

In2007, theEighth Doctor andCharley Pollard arrived at 8:00, and witnessedNew Year's Eve. They had intended to go to1931, Charley's time, as she wanted to leave.The TARDIS had brought them to the wrong time because of atime hump on17 January1942. (AUDIO:The Girl Who Never Was^[+]Loading...["The Girl Who Never Was (audio story)"])

In2020, theEuropean Space Agency'sMars roverLeonardo discovered a copy ofDavid Bowie'sLife on Mars which had been left on the planet byErimem andAndy Hansen in2016. Most of the rover's mission control had been celebrating New Year's Eve at the time, and onlyJohn Wilcox witnessed the find. Assuming it to be a prank by his colleagues, Wilcox did not record the rover's encounter with the album. (PROSE:Life on Mars on Mars^[+]Loading...["Life on Mars on Mars (short story)"])

In2021, theThirteenth Doctor,Yaz,Dan,Sarah andNick were trapped in a time loop with a squad ofDalek executioners. (TV:Eve of the Daleks^[+]Loading...["Eve of the Daleks (TV story)"])

In2066, Jack Harkness visited abar onZog. There, an individual ofan unnamed species gave him instructions for the either earlier or later version of him. This version, upon opening a box on7 August1941, relived these experiences. (COMIC:Overture^[+]Loading...["Overture (comic story)"])

In2599, a New Year's Eve party at theBraxiatel Collection was interrupted bymurder. (PROSE:The Doomsday Manuscript^[+]Loading...["Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Doomsday Manuscript (novel)","The Doomsday Manuscript"])

Other

In2018,Astrid Ferrier's helicopter registration was set to expire. (TV:The Enemy of the World^[+]Loading...["The Enemy of the World (TV story)"])

TheEleventh Doctor left ahomeless parent andchild a slip of paper containinglottery numbers, dated to 31 December, forChristmas. (COMIC:Silent Knight^[+]Loading...["Silent Knight (comic story)"])