A few days ago I bought the New Doctor Who Adventures novel 'Blood Harvest' by Terrance Dicks on eBay.

http://www.doctorwhoreviews.altervis...st%20Cover.jpg

I managed to get it for £2.96 with free p&p, in very good condition.

I got it because it has both Romana II and K9 Mark II getting out of E-Space and arriving back on Gallifrey with the help of Seven and Ace. Romana assumes the role of Lady President towards the end of the book.

I have got loads of original Doctor Who novels on my bookshelf, such as The Murder Game, Harvest of Time and The Eight Doctors, plus loads of TV novels, my favourite being Remembrance of the Daleks.

I was lulling something over in my mind earlier to do with this book, and also to do with the Modern Series too. How is it that we have never had Lady President Romana mentioned in any Modern Doctor Who TV stories? Has she never been Lady President as far as the TV show is concerned?

When Gallifrey returned in The End of Time in 2009, we saw Rassillon as Lord President, plus Gallifrey ruined with a few Dalek Spaceships that had crashed just outside the Citadel.

So, that had to have been during the Time War. If Romana was Lady President before The Time War, according to one or two novels, plus a few audios, then is the novel 'Blood Harvest' canon? Can we actually say that Romana has been Lady President as far as the TV stories are concerned?

So, if 'Blood Harvest' is canon, then how can Rassillon have been back on Gallifrey? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Rassillon supposed to have been Lord President during the dark times, according to The Five Doctors?
That would have been long before The Time War even started.

I just find it strange that when Amy looked at all the past Companions faces in the mini-sode 'Meanwhile in the Tardis', the Doctor didn't say that Romana had been Lady President of his home planet.

I also find it strange that when we saw Gallifrey in both The Day of the Doctor and Hell Bent, nothing was mentioned about Romana or her having ever been Lady President.

So, as I was saying. Can I call 'Blood Harvest' and Romana being Lady President canon?

SM may have said they are canon, but very few things which happen in the audios and novels will be held true in the show.

The show already has its history established. Which is why i don't see the audios and novels as canon as it won't effect the TV program.

And you might want to put spoilers.

While never mentioned on TV RTD did write an article in a DW annual (2006 I think) that stated Romana did return from ESpace and became President.

IIRC it did say she was President at the start of the Time War.


If so she was deposed or stepped down at some point.



Lalla Ward has said that she was asked back to work on the show on a number of occasions but declined so RTD (or less likely SM) did want to include the character.

RTD did state somewhere or other that The Apocalypse Element, featuring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Lalla Ward as President Romana, was one of the catalyst events that lead to the Time War, so he at least considered that canon.

Personally, I like to consider a lot of the Big Finish content to be canon, as some of the stories are so fantastic and we saw characters like the Sixth and Eighth Doctors, Nyssa and Vicki really shine, as well as great new ones like Charley and Evelyn. I think Romana definitely went on to become President of Gallifrey, but to the show's nature of not getting too hung up on the past it just doesn't bring it up.