Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time

Dimensions in Time is a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and the soap opera EastEnders. The special was broadcast in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993 and was filmed on location at Greenwich and the EastEnders Albert Square set.

The Rani has opened a hole in time, allowing her access to the Doctor’s timeline. She uses this to cycle through the Doctor’s lives, causing him and his companions to jump back and forth between past and present incarnations. Her intention is to capture all of the Doctor’s selves in a time loop, trapping him in the East End of London; she has already captured the First and Second Doctors. This causes the Fourth Doctor to send a message to his remaining selves, warning them of the Rani’s plan:

Mayday! Mayday! This is an urgent message for all of the Doctors. It’s vitally important that you listen carefully to me, for once. Our whole existence is being threatened by a renegade Time Lord known only as the Rani! She hates me. She even hates children! Two of my earlier selves have already been snared in her vicious trap. The grumpy one and the flautist, do you remember? She wants to put us out of action, lock us away in a dreary backwater of London’s East End, trapped in a time-loop in perpetuity. Her evil is all around us! I can hear the heart beat of a killer. She’s out there somewhere. We must be on our guard and we must stop her before she destroys all of my other selves! Oh… Good luck, my dears!

The Seventh Doctor and Ace are confused when the TARDIS lands in Greenwich, near the Cutty Sark, thanks to the Rani’s attack on the TARDIS. The Doctor finds a newspaper showing the year to be 1973, but before he can make any more conclusions, the Rani causes time to jump. Ace finds herself in Albert Square in 1993 with the Sixth Doctor. Local resident Sanjay tries to sell Ace some new clothes from his stall, and when his wife Gita tells the Sixth Doctor that the clothing is going to be all the rage in 1994, the Rani jumps time again.

The Third Doctor and Mel Bush appear from the time jump, and question an older Pauline Fowler and Kathy Beale on when they are. When Pauline and Kathy reply that it is 2013, another time jump occurs. In 1973, Pauline and Kathy remember the assassination of John F. Kennedy, while Kathy tells off a young Ian Beale. The Sixth Doctor and Susan Foreman appear, but she wonders what has happened to the First Doctor and her other companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.

After another time jump to 2013, Susan changes into Sarah Jane Smith and after chatting to Sharon Watts she meets up with the Doctor who changed from the Sixth to the Third Doctor. They start to piece together what is happening to them, but the Rani releases her menagerie of specimens, including a Cyberman, Fifi, a Sea Devil, an Ogron and a Time Lord from Gallifrey in the next time jump. In 1993, the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Peri are attacked by the Rani’s menagerie, and after trying to warn Pat Butcher of the danger, the Rani stops them outside the Queen Vic.

In 1993, after the Fifth Doctor changes to the Third Doctor in the next time jump, along with Nyssa and Peri changing into Liz Shaw, the Rani takes control of Liz’s mind. As Mandy Salter tries to stop the Rani, Captain Mike Yates of UNIT arrives in Bessie to save the Third Doctor and get him to the Brigadier who is waiting for them.

After another time jump, the Doctor changes to the Sixth Doctor and after he says goodbye to the Brigadier time jumps again. In 1993, at the Arches, Phil and Grant Mitchell find Romana looking for the Doctor, but they point her to Dr Legg. As Romana walks past the Queen Vic, the Rani captures her in front of Frank Butcher.

Back in 1973, the Third Doctor explains to Victoria who the Rani was and thinks that her control is breaking down, as they return to the TARDIS.

After the Seventh Doctor lands the TARDIS in 1993, Leela escapes from the Rani, after being cloned in the form of Romana. This results in an additional Time Lord brain imprint being left on the computer inside the Rani’s TARDIS instead of the human one she needed, which gives the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and K9 the edge needed to rig up a device to overload it, sending the Rani into the time tunnel where she had trapped the First and Second Doctors and freeing the Doctors’ other selves from the loop. As the Seventh Doctor and Ace leave in the TARDIS, the Doctor observes “Certainly, I – I mean, we – are difficult to get rid of.”

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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link

Doctor Who Episode Guides for Sale on Amazon

Step aboard the TARDIS and journey across the universe with every incarnation of The Doctor in this series of unofficial Doctor Who episode companions.

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