Step Back In Time With Kylie Minogue

On Christmas Day, I watched the Doctor Who special, The Voyage of the Damned. And I also received the DVD of Utopia/ The Sound of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords, which finished off the last season.

One feature of modern Doctor Who is how much is set in a quasi-contemporary era. From Rose, which kicked of Season 27, through to now, there have been a stream of stories set in the early 21st century.

In general, one is set after the preceding ones. The exceptions so far were in the middle of Season 27, with Dalek and the closing scenes of The Long Game set in 2012; and towards the end of Season 28, with Fear Her also set in 2012.

But apart from those set in 2012, you can watch one of the quasi-contemporary stories and know that, from the perspective of people on Earth, the prior quasi-contemporary stories are in the past.

Did Voyage of the Damned continue with this?

Well, it was clearly set at Christmas. And reference was made to it being one year after the Racnoss (in The Runaway Bride) and two years after the Sycorax (in The Christmas Invasion).

So, Christmas 2008. What was Martha Jones doing then? Looking back on her time with the Doctor?

I don't think that she had even met him by then.

The first bit of evidence is Jack Harkness rejoining the TARDIS crew in Utopia, which follows straight on from the Torchwood season finale, End of Days.

Earlier on in Torchwood, travellers from the 1950s ended up in present-day Cardiff in Out of Time. The shops are decorated for Christmas, and we later learn that Diane leaves Owen on Christmas Eve (incidentally, the day of Donna Noble's non-wedding, as it's 2007).

In Combat, Owen has been off work for several days. So, this has to be set around the 2007/2008 New Year.

Now, you could argue that when the Master escapes in the TARDIS at the end of Utopia, the Doctor, Martha and Jack might follow him back a point before End of Days. But, I think it's clear from The Sound of Drums that they have returned to when they left Earth, as the Doctor says that he fused the TARDIS controls to mean the Master can only travel to when the TARDIS left Earth.

In addition, the Master has sent Owen, Gwen, Toshiko and Ianto on a wild-goose chase to the Himalayas. If The Sound of Drums was set prior to End of Days, then this is something that Jack would have known about, and gone on.

The second piece of evidence is that The Sound of Drums is set on the two days after a general election. Now, assuming that the convention of a Thursday election is followed, then the Representation of the People Act 1983 would rule out 1 January 2009.

The third piece of evidence is that Arthur Winters is the President-Elect of the USA. A pedant would note that this places his first meeting with the Master between Saturday 3 January and Tuesday 20 January 2009.

The fourth piece of evidence is that Martha mentions to the Doctor that it is only 4 days since she met him.

So, that week is:

• Monday- Smith & Jones. Martha meets the Doctor
• Tuesday- The Lazarus Experiment.
• Thursday- 42. At least the Earth-based parts were, as Martha's mother, Francine, says it's election day.
• Friday- Utopia (opening scenes) and The Sound of Drums (first day)
• Saturday- The Sound of Drums (second day)

But, which week is it?

The earliest Thursday is 8 January 2009. 22 January is too late, as Winters would be President by then.

So, the Earth-bound parts of 42 are either on 8 or 15 January.

Hence, Martha joined the Doctor on either 5 or 12 January 2009.