Professor Urban Chronotis is a fictional character created by Douglas Adams. He originally appeared in the Doctor Who serial Shada, starring Tom Baker and Lalla Ward. However, since the filming of the latter was never completed due to industrial action, the public was not introduced to him until the publication of Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency in 1987. Image File history File links Chronotis. ... This article is about the Time Lords from Doctor Who. ... Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... This is a list of Doctor who episodes in the chronological order they occur in. ... Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Denis Carey (3 August 1909 - 28 September 1986) was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles. ... James Fox (born 19 May 1939) is an English actor. ... Andrew Sachs (born Andreas Siegfried Sachs, April 7, 1930) is a British actor. ... Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. ... For other uses, see Doctor Who (disambiguation). ... Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... For other persons named Tom Baker, see Tom Baker (disambiguation). ... Lalla Ward (born Sarah Ward, June 28, 1951) is an English actress and illustrator best known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by employees to perform work. ... Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency is a novel by Douglas Adams. ...

An incomplete version of Shada was eventually released on VHS, and in 2003 it was remade as an animated webcast by Big Finish Productions for the BBC. Professor Chronotis was played by Denis Carey in the unaired 1980 version of Shada, and by James Fox in the webcast remake, which was also released as an audio play on CD by Big Finish. Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays released straight to compact disc, based on British cult science fiction properties. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Denis Carey (3 August 1909 - 28 September 1986) was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles. ... James Fox (born 19 May 1939) is an English actor. ... Radio drama is a form of audio storytelling broadcast on radio. ... A compact disc or CD is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. ...

Chronotis as depicted in the webcast version of Shada.

Chronotis — or "Reg" as he is known — holds the post of Regius Professor of Chronology at Cambridge University. He is also a Fellow of the fictional St. Cedd's College, Cambridge, where he has resided for many centuries. In the Shada version, Chronotis is a retired Time Lord and old friend of the Doctor, living out his remaining centuries in academic seclusion. Owing to repeated time travel and advanced age, he is extremely forgetful and absent-minded. He often does not remember which time period he has traveled nor the reason why. Among other things, Reg has a liking for tea and silly jokes. It is also revealed during the course of Shada that Chronotis was a Time Lord criminal named Salyavin, who was imprisoned on and escaped from the prison planetoid Shada. Image File history File links Chronotis_(Shada). ... Image File history File links Chronotis_(Shada). ... Regius Professorships are Royal Professorships at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Dublin, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. ... For the novel by Michael Crichton, see Timeline (novel). ... The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... St. ... This article is about the Time Lords from Doctor Who. ... Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. ...

The Dirk Gently version of the character is almost identical to the Shada version, though the novel contains no references to Time Lords. Here Chronotis is so old and forgetful that he has no idea who or what he originally was, though he has vague memories of Cleopatra (who he claims wore outrageous earrings and reeked of cat food). His Chair of Chronology was created by mad king George III who was terrified that if time were to start flowing backwards, all the bad experiences of his life might recur; an understandable fear, particularly if a person is as barking mad as George III was. In fact, central to the book's theme are the three questions the King asked Reg upon his appointment; if one could travel through time, if there was a reason one thing happened after another, and if there was any way of stopping it (The answers are, in order, yes, no and maybe, which leads to Dirk deducing the existence of the time machine as his associate, Richard, was only told about the second and third questions but given all three answers). However, at the conclusion of the novel his time machine was burned out when the cable repair man fixed Reg's telephone so that it would never go wrong again; for some reason the phone always malfunctioned whenever Reg used the time machine due to there being something fundamentally inexplicable about the British telephone system. Dirk Gently is a fictional character created by Douglas Adams and featured in the books Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. ... Cleopatra was a co-ruler of Egypt with her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes), her brothers/husbands Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, consummated a liaison with Gaius Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne, and, after Caesars assassination, aligned with Mark Antony, with whom she produced twins. ... A chair or seat is also a seat of office, authority, or dignity, such as the chairperson of a committee, or a professorship at a college or university, or the individual that presides over business proceedings. ... “George III” redirects here. ...

In both versions, Chronotis is a clandestine time-traveler, whose time machine (or TARDIS, as they are termed in Doctor Who) is disguised as his college rooms. The current TARDIS prop as seen at the BBC Wales reception in 2005. ...

In "The End of the World" the Doctor stated that his homeworld had been destroyed. Whether Chronotis was on Gallifrey at the time is unknown, but the Doctor also declared that no Time Lords, aside from himself, were left in the universe. In "Utopia", however, this was shown to be not strictly true. The End of the World is an episode in the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on April 2, 2005. ... Utopia is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...