Be Excellent To Each Other

Bradley is indeed remarkably close in appearance to Arnold Ridley

Tom Baker on Doctor Who: 'It was so much better than real life'
By Tim Masters Entertainment and arts correspondent, BBC News

As Doctor Who nears its 50th anniversary, Tom Baker reflects on his seven years as the fourth Doctor. "It was so much better than real life," he says.

Tom Baker is planning to break the habit of a lifetime on 23 November.

The actor says he's never been interested in watching Doctor Who - including his own stories - but he plans to sit down in front of this month's special episode that will mark the show's 50th anniversary.

"I hope it's going to be terrific," he says. "It's such a landmark. It'll be a big, emotional thing, but I don't know what they'll do - I'll make an exception and watch that."

With his long scarf and love of jelly babies, Baker's fourth Doctor remains one of the most instantly recognisable incarnations of the Time Lord. He is also the show's longest-serving star, having played the role from 1974 to 1981.

"I can't explain the show's longevity any more than I can explain my own," booms the 79-year-old actor when we meet in a private members' club in London's Covent Garden. "It's just a happy accident."

Baker admits he "wasn't at all happy" just before he was cast to replace Jon Pertwee in what is arguably British TV's most well-known role.

After joining Olivier's National Theatre company in the late 1960s, Baker moved into films. He was Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and had roles in Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales (1972) and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973).

But he was working as a labourer when he was cast in Doctor Who.

"I was going through a bad time of feeling rejected, even though I'd had a flirtation with movies. I was on a building site, having no skill there except to make the tea and use a drill," Baker recalls.

"So when the opportunity came to play Doctor Who, it was a jackpot."

Baker's co-workers on the building site found out the news by reading it in the Evening Standard.

"I went to work next morning - famous! They were so thrilled for me. I legged it down to Barclays Bank and got an advance and gave them a party. It was like being reborn."

Baker admits he had no idea how he was going to tackle his role as the new star of Doctor Who.

"How could I? I didn't watch it. I didn't watch it when I was in it and I haven't watched it since. So when it came, and these scripts were given to me, one of the problems was they were being written for Jon Pertwee - so I had to wrench it my way."

Without doubt, Baker made the part his own. Viewing figures went up and many of his stories - The Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius, The Deadly Assassin and The Robots of Death - are regarded as classics.

How did he find being the Doctor?

Baker beams. "It was a great experience. Actors want a big audience, and to be admired and to get applause is one thing, but to be adored is something I recommend."

He reminisces about visiting schools and hospitals, doing charity work and being flown round in helicopters.

"Everywhere I went I was waving like royalty and dishing out 50 pence pieces," he says.

"It was so much better than real life. I stayed so long because real life at the time wasn't so terrific.

"Being Doctor Who, I used to look at the clock and know at half past four we were going to stop rehearsing - and that was a sad moment for me because I wanted to stay in this beautiful, unreal world."

Asked if he has kept any Doctor Who props, Baker responds: "I had lots of bits and pieces but they've all been begged off me by the charities. It's all gone now."

"I have some interesting letters from fans who saw me as a messianic figure and thought I could do miracles."

He flashes one of his Doctor-like grins: "They were quite mistaken, but I didn't disabuse them."

After leaving Doctor Who in 1981, Baker's career embraced TV, stage and film.

In 1982 he was Sherlock Holmes in BBC TV's The Hound of the Baskervilles, and his stage roles included Hedda Gabler, Educating Rita (RSC) and She Stoops to Conquer (NT).

More recent TV roles include Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Monarch of the Glen (2004-5) and the narrator of Little Britain.

Despite his assertion that he's not watched his own stories, Baker has, of course, sat through some of them for DVD commentaries and at conventions.

In recent years he has reprised the role of the Doctor for a number of Big Finish audio adventures.

"I'm back now in the groove," Baker says. "The fans want to go back in time and I don't disappoint them because I haven't advanced at all from Doctor Who."

All these years on, the actor notes, Doctor Who fans can still be in awe of him.

"Anyone who's on television gets a reaction when playing a heroic part like the Doctor. And it still happens now with much older people.

"But some of them are telling me lies," he adds, with a glint in his eye. "I met an old lady, aged about 85, the other day, who said: 'When I was a little girl I used to hide behind the sofa when I saw you!'"

Many of those who watched the show in the 1960s and '70s have helped bring on the next generation of fans.

"People introduce me to their grandchildren or to their children," Baker says. "It's very sweet that it's passed on affectionately by parents, showing my old stuff.

"Small children sometimes approach me and ask 'is it true you used to be Doctor Who?'"

The Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, will be shown on BBC One on 23 November.

An Adventure in Space and Time premieres on BBC Two on Thursday, 21 November at 9pm. It’s a brilliant one-off exploring the origins of Doctor Who, written by Mark Gatiss who recently shared his thoughts about the drama, the people involved, and what he thinks the audience will make of it…

Question: What can viewers expect from this drama?
Mark Gatiss: Principally, it's the story of how Doctor Who was created, so we concentrate on the very beginnings and the first few episodes. There are lots of treats for the fans but it's also the story of William Hartnell, the first Doctor and how the part transformed his life.

Q: Why did you want to tell this story?
MG: I'm a life-long Doctor Who fan and the origins of this beloved show have always fascinated me. But, above all, I wanted it to strike a chord on a human level. These were brilliant, complex, talented people making something revolutionary. And, in William Hartnell, we have the very affecting story of a man redeemed by the role of a lifetime who then, sadly, had to let it go. I think we can all relate to something like that in our lives.

Q: What was the casting process like? Did you set out to find such good lookalikes?
MG: I'd had David Bradley in mind for some years but it wasn't simply a question of a good likeness! David is such a fine and delicate actor, I knew he'd find something wonderful in the part. With everyone else, I stressed that we must first and foremost get the right people for the job. But it turned out the right people also bear the most amazing resemblances to the originals! Costume and make up, of course, played a huge part in that.

Q: Could you explain a little bit about the research process?
MG: Doctor Who is probably unique in terms of TV shows in that its history has been exhaustively researched for years. Happily, this means that there are lots of interviews existing with people who are no longer with us. I'd wanted to tell the story for years – I sort of grew up with it. How no-one wanted the Daleks. About the first episode going out just after JFK was shot. But I wanted to get deeper than just the details of production and find the human story. I conducted new interviews with a lot of the original cast and crew. They were all hugely enthusiastic and very helpful.

Q: Did you uncover any facts or information that you didn’t previously know as a Doctor Who fan?
MG: A few bits and bobs but, as I say, most of it is very well documented now! It was very touching, though, to talk to people about a part of their loves that was often very happy and to discuss people long gone.

Q: There were so many people involved in the show’s beginnings, why did you decide to focus on the four central characters of Hartnell, Newman and Lambert and Hussein?
MG: I had to focus it down. Simple as that. This is a drama not a documentary and though it's extremely painful to have to leave out some people who played a huge part, it makes dramatic sense. You simply can't do everyone justice in 90mins. For instance, the story of how Terry Nation and Ray Cusick created the Daleks is almost a film all on its own! Jeff Rawle plays Mervyn Pinfield, who was the Associate Producer, and his character sort of absorbs several others including Donald Wilson and the brilliant David Whitaker – the first script editor - whose contribution was immeasurable.

Q: Set in the 1960s the drama brings to life that era through the costumes, hair and make-up and the sets, including the first ever TARDIS console. What was it like being on set?
MG: It was extraordinary. To see the original TARDIS recreated genuinely took my breath away and everyone who came to the set had the same reaction. It was frequently quite uncanny. We used some of the original Marconi cameras and, on the black and white monitors, seeing David, Jemma, Jamie and Claudia was like looking back through Time. Spooky and very moving.

Q: Finally, what do you hope audiences take away from ‘Space and Time’?
MG: This is my love-letter to Doctor Who! In this 50th anniversary year, I hope fans will enjoy and be thrilled by it and all the kisses to the past it's laden with. But my greatest wish is that it appeals to people who know very little or nothing about Doctor Who and see the struggle of talented people (almost) accidentally creating a legend!

Night of the Doctor mini-episode available on iPlayer now. I haven't watched it yet, but it's definitely worth it if you're a fan in general. I won't say why!

Well, that explains a lot!

Turns out i'm getting married on new Dr Who night

Turns out i'm getting married on new Dr Who night

Turns out i'm getting married on new Dr Who night

Night of the Doctor mini-episode available on iPlayer now. I haven't watched it yet, but it's definitely worth it if you're a fan in general. I won't say why!

Shame you didn't use spoiler tags for your tweets to me!

F*CK !

Shame we won't see:

Shame we won't see:

Did he take on the name Warrior? Is that why Ecclescakes is still 9?

There are four non-numbered Doctors: Valeyard, Dream Lord, Watcher and now the War Doctor.

(although some of these Doctors may not have/will not have happened/happen). Essentially, Eccleston will still be 9, yes.

Could you imagine the shock if at the end of the Special, Hurt regenerates into someone else entirely?

Or into Capaldi ? :-)

I dont think they will show the Hurt regen , they've closed down one side of the 'unknown' by the minisode yesterday I think they will leave the other open (at least for a while)