The Sixth Doctor speaks with Gary Russell and Justin Richards and we record the Baker's
dozen replies to their questions.
Colin baker is a very difficult gentleman to interview! Every answer, statement or question is
accompanied by a twinkle in his eye: a clue that despite the seriousness of that answer, your
question has been answered by a man with an unusual sense of humour. He also has an
astonishing talent for side-tracking his interviewers.
He may be nearly six feet tall, well-built and with the look of a manic boxer but beneath it all,
Colin Baker is a very gentle man, and both a pleasant and exciting person to interview. Over
the course of two days, whilst filming The Mark of the Rani in Shropshire, he grabbed
every available chance to talk to us, whether sitting on a plastic tree or sheltering under a
multicoloured umbrella (a prop from The Two Doctors which seems now permanently
at Colin's side, off screen.)
Colin's route to the sixth Doctor has taken him through Shakespeare's Hamlet and Macbeth,
historical dramas like War and Peace, modern drama like Juliet Bravo, and the programme
that first made him a household name both here and abroad, The Brothers, where he played
the scheming Paul Merroney.
Clad in the multicoloured jacket of famed 'bad taste', complete with Blackpool-rock like trousers
and horrific green shoes, and only an ever-changing cat badge at his side, the sixth Doctor
strode around the woods and hills of Shropshire as if it was something Colin had been doing
all his life, not just under a year.
Groups of small children, on educational school trips to see a museum of 19th-century
mineworkings were far more interested in watching Colin going through the motions of fighting
evil and saving the universe again, despite the rain. Although so far, he'd only been on our screens
for one four-part story, it was clear he was already the Doctor to the show's viewers.
Doctor Who Magazine: So what had Colin been doing when he was asked to play the Doctor?
Colin Baker: I was touring with a play called Suddenly At Home with a lady called Ann Aston
and I was in Richmond when I got a phone call from John Nathan-Turner, who rang me and said,
"Look I want to talk to you - can you come in to London?"
"Well, what's it all about? "I asked, but he said he would rather tell me when I got there. I thought
I knew what it was: it was the summer and someone wanted me to go and open a fete or something
and he'd used up all his Doctor Who friends and so was branching out a bit further - I still get
asked to do things like that because of The Brothers.
So, I trotted in to his office and he said it was a preliminary chat with a view to possibly playing
the Doctor! The following week I was, by chance, in Blackpool and wandered into the exhibition
and that's where I heard the rumour about Brian Blessed playing the Doctor. As far as I know, that
whole thing was a rumour manufactured by the press and I am assured he was never offered it,
or even considered - or knew anything about it until he read it in the papers!
I didn't know Peter was leaving and when I did that was something I had to keep very quiet about.
Then I met with John and the then Head of Series and Serials at the BBC, David Reid, and we
talked it over. They said, "Go away and think about it", and I had two more weeks of this tour,
thinking about what I could do, what I could contribute, so I borrowed a few old tapes. I must have
watched between twenty and thirty old stories - and I enjoyed it!
It wasn't compulsory but I thought it was one was to assimilate the programme, although there's
no way I'd want to slavishly copy any of my predecessors, but to assimilate that which is
the Doctor and then wondered what characteristics I could add myself. I found it very useful - it
meant I understood what I was talking about when I said the word "Sontaran" or "Daleks."
How long did it take you to decide to accept the offer and be the new Doctor Who?
Oh, the moment John first mentioned it! He said that Peter was leaving and although it wasn't an
offer there and then - how did I think I would play it? I said I'd love to play it and we talked at some
length as to how I would approach it. But it was a good few weeks after that he said he wanted
me to do it. Basically, I thought the reason John has asked me is because he sees something
in me as a person which he thinks is useful for the Doctor.
How much of the character of the sixth Doctor is actually the character of Colin Baker, the man?
An enormous amount of Doctor number six is Colin Baker. On top of that, there are other things -
some similar to what has gone before, Hartnell's slight irrascibility, for example. I was also very
keen that it should be clear the Doctor doesn't come from Tunbridge Wells but he is actually from
a planet called Gallifrey. So even though he looks like you or me, he does have two hearts and
other things that are different - maybe he doesn't have the same values.
Even though he does believe in justice and truth, he might not be as sentimental as Earthlings.
A sense of humour, a love of language; he immerses himself in other cultures. I think he'll move
away from the Shakespearian quotes - I'm more interested in some of the less obvious quotes.
It's my intention to slip a few into each script.
Originally these quotes were my idea, but now the writers are taking them up and are slipping
them in, too. We do do ad-libs - there's a nice one in The Two Doctors about Columbus,
but they have to be worked out in rehearsals. A lot of the changes come from the Director, or
the Producer at the Producer's Run. (That's a big rehearsal that occurs after we've been rehearsing
for about a week.)
After that time, John comes to see it, and says, 'How about saying this there?' And a lot of the
things he adds are things I've wanted to do anyway but thought they'd say no to - but if John
suggests it well that's all right!
How did your own costume evolve?
That's one area I was heavily involved in. I spent a lot of time trying to think of something for me and
I kept coming back to something like the Master wears - very black and severe, but of course it was
totally impractical and unsuitable for me - you can't have two people doing that. Then I rather dried
up on ideas for something to go with my personality - so John said it therefore ought to be something
with very bad taste. I accepted that and the costume designer, Pat Godfrey came up with some
drawings which were stunning, all multicoloured - and in extraordinarily good taste! We kept saying
'But that's far too nice - go away and try again' and eventually she came up with what I have now.
I think what's clever about this is that it is appalling taste, in the sense of what is juxtaposed with
what, but the overall effect is very eye-catching and I'm rather fond of it. I have no strong wish for it
to change - unless the natural evolution moves it on. It might have odd details change, though, for
practical reasons but I'm happy with it.
As for the cat. . . well, one of the few contributions I made was the badge. Personally, I love cats
and it's always easier to choose something you like yourself - like Peter with cricket and so I
suggested a cat motif. There are going to be refinements on it - and there are reasons for it, which
I won't spoil future scripts by divulging but it certainly isn't a restorative! But it is symbolic.
There is a quotation that goes: 'I am the cat that walks by himself and all places are the same to
me'. Now if you stick the word 'times' in there: 'I am the cat that walks by himself and all times
and places are the same to me'. I think that sums up the Doctor, his own being, prowling through
life. If you ever observe cats, they are very contained; very sure of themselves and do ridiculous
things - just like the Doctor!
What about developing the character of the sixth Doctor?
Developing isn't really a conscious thing. A thing develops by feeding backwards and forwards
between people. There's John Nathan-Turner, who's a very strong producer, with a good eye for
what is good in stories and characters and I believe - not just because he cast me - his eye is
the best one on the programme and I trust absolutely what he says. He has ideas, writers
have ideas - even I have ideas, heaven forbid, and it's like (breaking into his best Carl Sagan
impersonation) an organic, growing thing. The character in The Twin Dilemma was obviously
the post-regenerative character - very excessive.
So many actors have said to me, 'You are really lucky, you've got the best part in the country,' and
it is. It's like playing Robin Hood, William Tell and King Arthur all in one. It's very much in the
current mythology, it's been going for twenty-one years now. It's not like playing Hamlet - even
though each Doctor has the same name, each one is different. You can't research a character
like the Doctor, you can only look at the past, and see what went on. But even the past isn't anything
very strongly attached to my Doctor.
On the less theoretical side, how does rehearsing a show like Doctor Who go on?
You start rehearsing, for instance, on a Monday and go right through until the following Saturday
morning. Then the Monday after, you have something called a Technical Run, where all the senior
cameramen, lighting men, soundmen, etc. all come into what is essentially a blank room, with
chalk marks on the floor and you go through the script, so they know roughly what they've got
to do in the studio.
The next day, you have the Producer's Run and sometimes the writers come along to that and
they all give you notes, suggestions and ideas, cuts or whatever and the next day is the first of
three in the studio - starting about midday, so that the sets can be put up. So if there are any
changes, you've got about twenty-four hours to get used to them! They're never drastic changes
though. Before all that, we normally do a couple of days' location film work, although on The Mark
of the Rani we've got lots more, because nearly fifty per cent of the story is on film.
What's it like, being a regular in a long-running series where, apart from Nicola Bryant and the producer's team, everyone changes from story to story?
The atmosphere is great - we have a good time. We always have the same camera crew in the
studio, and I've known them from other programmes - we get on very well. I flatter myself that I'm
a fairly easy person to get along with, and I'm not at all autocratic. There are people paid to do
jobs: writers to write, directors to direct, producers to produce and actors to act.
Of course you discuss things with them but I would hate to be in the position where my power was
such that I could say, 'No, I want that cut, I want this line in,' and all that - because I think
when you're this closely connected with it, you are least qualified to know best.
Are you interested in the technical side of the programme making?
Very. There is no way you can't be. You have to know what is going on; or you can't help properly. I like
to have an understanding between myself and the cameramen and the soundmen, so that they feel they
can come up to me and say, 'Look, it would help us if you shifted your weight onto your left foot for that
line,' things like that, rather than do seven takes before someone asks the director: 'Could you ask him
to...' If you've got that sort of rapport going, it works much better.
Would you like to get into the technical side?
Writing - no. It's a fantasy, but I know I'm not disciplined enough. Directing - well not right now, because
I'm doing this part, which is sufficiently absorbing to keep my interest. I have been directing for the theatre
in the past - and would envisage doing so in the future, but directing television? No, it's not an immediate
ambition.
What about your plans for the future, in relation to Doctor Who?
I think my first instinct was to say I can't bear to think of anyone having done it longer than me. So that
means I've got to do it longer than seven years! I've seen nothing so far to make me change that opinion -
I'm enjoying it very much - I expect to carry on doing so. It's like being paid to play cowboys and Indians
in real life. It's all great fun. I like it!
What is your reaction to all the 'fame and fortune' that goes with each actor who becomes Doctor Who?
I'm partly used to it, because of The Brothers - although the reaction was different as old ladies threw
things at me and struck out with umbrellas - I was the original JR character, really! I love it - what's the
point of going into this job if you are not prepared to accept the fact that you might be sitting eating your
soup in a motorway cafe when a coach-load of eighteen-year-olds arrive and you have to cope with it?
If you don't like it go and hide for ever. I like it as a phenomenon; although occasionally it does intrude
on your private life, but you live with it.
However, you are still only human and if you are sitting with your wife having a candlelit dinner you can
get the worst thing, which is when someone comes over and says: 'Come and join us, we're having a
dinner party,' and you say, 'Well, actually I'm here because I want to talk to my wife,' and they get
offended and there's nothing you can do.
You either have to offend them and say: 'Look it is terribly nice of you, and I'm sure you are a nice
person but we don't know you, so no thank you,' and they go 'Oh you're flaming rude,' and stomp off,
or you don't go out very often. But little kids are wonderful. All you have to do to them is say 'Hello' and
smile and you've made their day. Even if it is a little inconvenient you know it is balanced by the pluses
in their lives. I get very cross with actors who say, 'Oh, I want my privacy'.
What do you enjoy most about the series?
I enjoy the physical challenges. I've said this to John, so he keeps giving me things to do! Like in this one,
there's a pit I have to try to jump over, grab hold of the chains and nearly slide down and all that stuff.
It tears the flesh off your hands but I enjoy the challenge. In The Two Doctors, I hung on a Kirby
Wire, like you see in circuses, but it wasn't the danger of falling in that which worried me but the harness
they put me in. As you may have noticed I'm not exactly sylphlike and as I was hanging there, all droopy,
the harness dug in and I found it quite difficult to breathe - there was nowhere for the lumps to go! I would
hate to have a stuntman, because I just love to have a go. Diving off things and all that. You may have
guessed: I'm slightly mad!
Some of the other actors this week said I was mad to go downhill fast on a trolley but I said no, because
you can always tell if it's a stuntman - he holds his head at a strange angle to hide his face - it's better to
see that it is actually the Doctor in danger.
I've always said the Doctor must be practical, which sometimes means physical action. If you are going
to genuinely frighten someone into telling you things, you've got to make them have a real fear that you're
going to hurt them. That was my intention - to be unpredictable. What I want is for people not to think,
'This is how he'll react in this situation.' One time he may be very lethargic and allow himself to be caught,
the next he'll do something extraordinary!"
In Issue 111, we asked readers to send us questions they'd like to put to Colin Baker. Penny Holme put a selection of them to him recently, during a break from rehearsals...
How and where were you chosen to play the Doctor?
The question is probably more appropriately asked of John Nathan-Turner. But I know what he says, so... I was asked to play the part of a Gallifreyan guard in Arc of Infinity, when Peter Davison was playing the Doctor.
It was a smallish part. and my agent said, 'Do you want to do this?' I happened to be free (actually I was working in the theatre, and it all fitted in rather nicely), so I said, 'Yes, of course I'll do it,' and came along, and I had a very pleasant time playing this guard.
I'm not an actor who's inclined to think, 'Oh, that's a boring part, so I'll play it in a boring way.' I tend to do the opposite, and think, 'How can I spice it up a bit?' I tend to perhaps give a little more than is required sometimes, in the belief that a director will always pull you back. So, I did make this guard into quite an interesting character, which was probably beyond its requirements, and in fact I got a note from the Producer, John Nathan-Turner, when he saw it!
Then the assistant floor manager on that particular show invited me to her wedding about two months later, and I went along with my wife, and John was there, and Peter Davison. What I
didn't know at that point was that Peter had told John he was leaving, so John was thinking in terms of who was going to be the next Doctor, and he says, (and modesty should prevent me
from repeating this!), that I was witty, entertaining, and all those things on that particular day, and as he left, he said to somebody else, 'I think I've found my next Doctor.'
That's his story, and the only reason I repeat it is because of the pure chance of being invited to a wedding, because I'd done that tiny part, which a lot of actors would have refused. You see, that's how this business works.
I've always believed that working is better than not working, I've never allowed false pride to get in the way of actually earning a bob or two, and getting where it's at. I'd rather do that, than sit at home watching telly, and I'd had a thin time in television after The Brothers finished in 1976.
I didn't do another TV part until 1980, when I did an episode of Blake's Seven. Nobody was interested in employing Paul Merroney. Producers and directors all thought, 'Well I don't want to use him, because the public will remember him as that character!' but the public would have accepted it. It underestimates them.
Did you watch much Doctor Who before you became involved?
I watched a lot of Hartnell and Troughton, and some Pertwee, not so much Tom, and not as much Peter, because I was working.
The ones I watched were in the days when I was younger, before I was an actor. But I've always watched it when I could. I've enjoyed the series and I have memories dotted all along its twenty-four years.
How did you prepare yourself for the role of the Doctor?
John Nathan-Turner lent me a lot of tapes; of Pertwee, Troughton, and Hartnell, and Baker mark one. I watched the tapes, not with a view to copying any of them, but simply to
assimilate what it is that is the Doctor, that is, in addition to whatever the actors bring to it. But it is very much a part that depends on the personality of the actor. Producers cast because they see something in you that they want to bring to it. But I did have meetings with John and the script-editor and the Head of Series and Serials, and I said what I thought I could do, and what I'd like to do in addition to that, and they seemed to like it.
I wanted to bring unpredictability to it, and I wanted to highlight the fact that he was not an Earth person, and that he came from this place called Gallifrey, and that he was a Time Lord with twelve regenerations and therefore he was not always going to behave in the way human beings would expect him to behave. And I wanted to do things quite deliberately - like not crying when a person dies, but being extremely angry about other things.
Did you consciously try to make your portrayal almost the opposite of Peter Davison's?
No, not consciously the opposite of anybody. I didn't decide on my Doctor as a result of the previous ones at all, really. I did what I would do, no matter who had played it before. Presumably, any contrast was dictated by the choice of me. Obviously, I am different from Peter, Peter is a much more introspective person, much more of a matinee idol sort.
Would you say that many of the Doctor's characteristics are your own?
It's an impossible question, because it implies you can be objective about what you are doing. It's such an amalgum.
I think the Doctor is nearer to me than any other character I've ever played. But on top of that, obviously I don't have all those powers. Yes, it's me, plus an amalgum of twenty-four years of what we've discovered the Doctor to be.
Would you say that you are similar to any of the other Doctors?
I've tried to get little echoes of my predecessors; Hartnell's irrascibility, the disrespect for authority and the impishness of Troughton, the derring-do that Pertwee had, Tom's irreverence and weirdness, and Peter's innocence and honesty. But all these are characteristics that they all share anyway. It's just that various personifications heighten one particular aspect.
What do you think of your famous `bad taste' costume?
John said to me, `what would you like to wear?' and I found that very difficult. My first instinct was wrong, which was to wear something like the Master wears, all in black, something quite austere. It would have been wrong, I can see that. . . it's just that I would like to wear slimming black!
Nothing in Earth's history appealed to me, and you can't really use something futuristic for the Doctor, it's wrong. Then John said, 'I think it should be very bad taste.' I thought, Yes, that is rather a good idea for my Doctor, that he would just grab something and not care about it, and then even though he may have realised that it's appalling would never admit it, and therefore be stuck with wearing it!
We gave it to a designer, Pat Godfrey, and said, 'Give us something in bad taste,' and she came back with an exquisitely tasteful design of lots of apparently clashing colours... it's very hard for a designer to design something in bad taste. We said, 'No, too good,' and sent her away and away and away, until she came back with the present one, which she hated actually putting together because it was so appalling, but even so, when you get used to it, it has its own entity.
The only thing I don't like about it is that it's so hot when we're out filming. When we were filming in Spain it was a hundred and ten degrees, and a couple of weeks ago on Brighton Beach, there was no respite from the sun, and it was horrendous.
But it's lovely on cold locations, when the companions in their skimpy costumes are all shivering and chattering their teeth. So you can't win 'em all.
If the idea of Doctor Who had been conceived in the Eighties instead of the Sixties, and you had been chosen to play the part of First Doctor, would you have played it any differently?
No, I haven't decided on this character as a result of previous ones. But if I had been chosen to play the Doctor, and I had read those scripts, I'd have played them in exactly the same way.
The whole dilemma of Doctor Who is, 'How come this Gallifreyan is so constantly hovering around Earth?' and basically it's because that's the only planet we have access to for filming. If you want to invent other planets, it gets frightfully expensive, and also if you have companions from other planets, how come they speak English?
So, we accept that the Doctor has an affinity and affection for the people of the planet Earth, and visits them an awful lot.
Why do you think the Doctor has such an affection for the planet?
I like to think it's because the Doctor has a certain kind of sentimental affection for weakness, because he has several himself. He left Gallifrey because he couldn't bear their pompous, narrow-minded belief that perfection was everything, and that they were right at all times, and he wanted to go out and experience imperfection. The most flawed civilisation of the universe must be on Earth, it is in many senses appalling, and he quite likes that.
Which story did you most enjoy doing?
I most enjoyed doing The Two Doctors, because of working with Pat Troughton and Frazer Hines.
Pat, I've adored for many years, and I've known him for a long time. I was best man at his son David's wedding, and I shared a flat with David for ten years, so I've known Pat off and on, and always admired his acting, and adored his Doctor, so to actually work with him was a special treat.
I was a bit in awe actually, but that was dispelled in a couple of days, and Frazer also is a delight. Frazer and I got on extremely well, and we larked around a lot, and Pat treated us like an affectionate... I'd say father... but he'd be offended. No, I'll say father anyway, because he calls me Miss Piggy at the moment (a reference to my weight); I call him Gonzo (which is a reference to his physical appearance)!
Which story have you least enjoyed doing?
I suppose it was Time Lash, which never quite gelled for me.
What did you feel about the end result of that story?
I thought it was actually much better than I thought it was going to be. I thought it worked extremely well. Pennant did a good job on it. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with it, it's just that of that particular series, it was the one that didn't work for me. I don't think that the Doctor's element was as strong as I'd have liked.
Who are your favourite enemies?
My favourite enemy is the Master, because Sherlock Holmes has his Moriarty, and while most monsters have no particular desire to destroy the Doctor, (they want to get on with whatever it is they are doing that's particularly evil and the Doctor gets in the way) the good thing about the Master is that it's a personal matter. So that it means there is great opportunity for confrontation.
I would like, and haven't yet had, a really thundering good Master story.
I would also love to work with the Rani again. She was a wonderful adversary. But after the Master, and the Rani, I would say the Daleks and Cybermen come joint second, along with Sil, who is in the new season.
What do you think of having a new companion?
We've only done a few days so far, so we haven't quite worked out who we are, and what we are, but I think it's going to be excellent. I think Melanie's been conceived as being a little
more 'up and at 'em' than Peri, and less complaining than Peri was, and in fact in a certain sense the situation is being reversed, in that she is so keen that I'm the one who is saying, 'Hey, hey, just a minute, shouldn't we think about this!'
Would you like to have more than one companion?
I think the problem with having more than one companion is that it makes it extremely difficult for the writers to maintain a narrative, because you have to have a separation between the Doctor and one companion, which means that you've got two threads.
If you've got more than one companion, somehow, you've got to maintain three or four threads, and it's very difficult for a writer to maintain the audience's interest.
I thought for instance, that Turlough was a fascinating character, and I'd love to work with a character like that. With someone as strong and definite as him, then you would be all
right having more than one, but the danger with the female companions is that they are put there in place of the viewer, so they are there to say, 'Why are you doing that, Doctor?' and 'Oh, Doctor, I'm frightened,' which makes it very difficult for them, because they've got a fairly negative line to pursue, and it takes a great deal of experience to cope with that. Being
cast young often means that the people playing the parts haven't had that experience and you have to gain it while doing the programme.
Would you like to meet the Brigadier in a future story?
I'd love to meet the Brigadier; I know Nick Courtney well, having met him at many conventions, and he's worked with all the Doctors. I think it would be very sad if that was not continued. I know that JN-T says that he cannot conceive that Doctor number six will not meet the Brigadier, so I'm sure at some point it will happen.
What in your opinion is the most interesting facet of the Doctor's personality?
The fact that he's so good looking! (Say, he said that with a wry smile!)
Have you got a jacuzzi in the TARDIS?
The TARDIS is infinite, so I haven't examined all of it yet. But I'm sure there is bound to be one.
Who's your favourite Doctor apart from yourself?
Spock!
Apart from your own, which Who stories have you particularly enjoyed watching?
The Talons of Weng Chiang, the Auton stories, The Caves of Androzani, which in a sense was mine, because I came in at the end of it, but I only said three lines...basically anything by Robert Holmes.
What for you has been the best aspect of playing the Doctor?
Being associated with something that has such a grip on the imagination of several generations. It really is part of current mythology. It's like playing Robin Hood, or King Arthur. It's one of those characters...
I was already sufficiently impressed with the fact that I was playing it, but I've had a great many very respected actors who've said to me, 'You've got the best part on television.' And in a sense they are right.
It's given me more, or rather did give me a more, secure life until Michael Grade's intervention last year, when the future of the programme seemed a little bleak, but that's
beginning to turn over again, and I think everyone is now aware of the value of Doctor Who in people's lives.
Also, the fact that it is a massive earner abroad shows this. The sad thing is that BBC programme-making does not benefit from the sale of the programmes. BBC Enterprises sell them, and they take the money which goes into general BBC coffers, which pays for the paper clips in Scotland etcetera, as well as the programmes.
We should be making programmes that people want to see. I know that the British Broadcasting Corporation should be making programmes for Britain, and the selling should be incidental, but nonetheless, I think seven million, which was what we averaged last year, were very good viewing figures for five-thirty on a Saturday evening. The fact that we were compared unfavourably with The A-Team, which went out at the same time, obscures the issue. The A-Team is an extremely violent programme, and we've been told to tone down the violence.
Do you think the programme had become too violent?
I didn't think it was, but I can understand that others would miss the point, when the violence they complained of was in Vengeance on Varos in particular, which was a programme saying, 'Violence is bad for you'. I can quite understand that some people would miss that message and just see the violence.
The good thing about Doctor Who is that it does carry messages. Behind every story, if you look for it; and particularly if it was written by someone like Robert Holmes, it's usually making some other point. I think the tolerance of violence on television goes with swings of the pendulum, and we have to go with whatever is publically acceptable.
Do you agree with critics of the programme who have said there should be less violence, and more comedy?
One way of watering down the effects of violence is to approach it in a more light-hearted way. I don't mean to say that you laugh when somebody has their arm sawn off, but you can diffuse fear with humour.
If the audience says, 'We want less violence,' then we must give them less violence. However, I think there are other programmes on television which are much more violent, and regarded as children's programmes. I think the danger of those is that it's dishonest
violence. I believe that you should show that if someone gets clonked on the head, it actually hurts, not that they can get up and with one bound are free.
Do you ever suggest ideas for storylines?
No, I haven't done yet. Sometimes when I've been on aeroplanes going to America with John Nathan-Turner, I've said things like, 'It would be an awfully good idea if...' and suggested something. But obviously plans are made years ahead.
I make suggestions about alterations, or, as I would have it, 'improvements' to existing scripts, some of which are quite rightly rejected for very good reasons, and others of which they say, 'Yes, that is interesting, we'll use that.'
As I get more into the part, I'm having more of an input into it, which I think is fair, really.
Are there any plans for you to enjoy the company of a space cat?
No, there never have been. That space cat thing has grown as a distortion from the little cat badge that I wear. It's just simply an idea of mine because I noticed all my predecessors
had some kind of object that was associated with them.
How long do you intend to stay with the programme?
I think that's probably in other people's hands, rather than my own. Say the choice was mine; when I started doing this, I said that Tom Baker's record of seven years was awfully attractive. I've done it three years now, even though we've only done two seasons, and I'm enjoying it.
So I see no desire on my part in the near future to stop; also, I'd like to beat the episode tally! In order to do that at the present rate, I'd take about twenty years, because in Tom's day
they were making twenty-six episodes a year, now we're down to fourteen.
Are you worried about getting typecast?
No, not really. Whether I worry or not, it'll happen or not happen. If you turn down work because you are frightened of getting typecast, you'll never do anything good. Because you only get typecast for doing things for which are recognised as being good.
How old were you when you first began acting?
I was twenty-six when I did my first professional job.
For the five years before, I was allegedly a lawyer, and I did so much acting that my law studies were suffering.
I studied law as an external student while I was articuled. I could, I think, quite easily have gone to Oxford. I got four good 'A' levels, but my father's income was such that I wouldn't have got a grant, and he wouldn't let me go to university, and that was the end of it.
It's too late now, there's no point going and being a mature student. It's a necessary part of life when you're eighteen. I did think of doing it; I thought 'Shall I get it out of my system?' but it wouldn't be the same, because it's not just the studies, it's all the ancillary things. I would be somewhat conspicuous, and I would probably find a lot of eighteen-to-twenty year olds rather irritating now as well.
What is your favourite type of cat?
Well, I've got five myself, they are all mogs. I like proper cats; cats who are cats. I love looking at pictures of beautiful breeds, but I don't class them as cats. A real cat is like the ones I've got. Morris, my own cat, is a bit pugnacious. He was a motorway chuck out; I found him at the bottom of my garden, with a broken leg, and we patched him up, and he's got a
kind of amazing ability to walk up to a barking Alsatian, and say, 'So what!' and they're a bit put off, whereas other cats run away and get chased.
What is your favourite hobby?
Watching sport, participating, only in tennis, walking the dogs. I quite enjoy playing cricket occasionally, I read and listen to music.
What is your favourite food?
I do adore food. If I have any vice it's eating. If I was told I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, I could put up with sausage and mash for ever.
Other foods include a good Sunday roast; I'm not mad on Italian food, I like Mexican food and curries, and I loathe cheese, it makes me ill.
What programmes other than Doctor Who do you watch?
I was riveted to the World Cup, and Wimbledon. I have very much enjoyed watching Mapp and Lucia, and I haven't seen enough of A Very Peculiar Practice. I've only seen two episodes, but it made me laugh an awful lot. I'm glad that Peter (Davison) has got something nice, that's what makes me hopeful for my future.
Would you like to take part in space exploration?
Yes, I would still like to go up in the space shuttle. It's appalling that the accident happened, but it was an accident and obviously if I knew there was any risk, I'd be foolish to do it. I'd
love to stand outside the Earth and look at it. Extraordinary feeling that, something that we've been tied to for millions of years, and a handful of people have looked at it, to be able to
do that would be stunning.
It's changed everybody who's done it, so in that sense maybe one shouldn't do it, because I quite like me as I am!
Finally what are your feelings about the Twenty-Third Season?
I'm very excited by the new season. The trial has a great many twists. The three stories are all very different stories, and there are also interconnections in them. There are lots of layers,
and it's very, very complicated, which I rather like.
I like things you can't understand, like Edge of Darkness. What I loved about that is what other people objected to, that they hadn't got a clue what was going on. It stimulates your
thoughts. It's like doing a crossword. I wanted to make the pieces fit before they told me, and I didn't, but it was all totally consistent.
There is an awful tendency to let the 'game show' mentality take over, which is reducing television to its lowest common denominator, because more people will watch that.
I think we have to get away from viewing figures. The BBC is about providing television for everyone, not necessarily at the same time. You can have seven million people watching
one programme, and then going and doing something else, and another seven million watching the next one.
I think that it is more important than having fourteen million sitting in apathy watching something with no contact, which only sinks them further into the stupor which we are
encouraged to descend into. The BBC has stood for quality for so long, it would be a shame to allow it to be watered down.
Character: Commander Maxil/The Sixth Doctor.
Years: January 1983 (An of Infinity) as Commander Maxil
March 1984 (The Twin Dilemma) to Dec 86 (The Trial of a Timelord: The Ultimate Foe) Returned 1989 in Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure stage production.
Colin Baker was the only actor to have played another role in Doctor
Who before donning the title role, playing Gallifreyan Guard
Commander Maxil who was bent on capturing the Doctor during the
Omega crisis. Indeed at the conclusion of Part One he actually shot
the then current Doctor, Peter Davison, although Colin has always
stressed this was not to get the job as the Doctor.
Colin's relatively short tenure as the Sixth Doctor actually began in
the closing seconds of The Caves of Androzani and was rather
abruptly halted after the eighteen month hiatus of the show. Despite
the unfortunate nature of his departure Colin still makes the
occasional personal appearance and retains fond memories of his
time in the show. He returned to the role in 1989, replacing Jon
Pertwee as the Doctor in the stage production of Doctor Who: The
Ultimate Adventure.
Since leaving Doctor Who, Colin has worked mainly in the theatre:
amongst his many stage credits are Deathtrap! with Anita Harris,
also the role(s) of Rupert and Evelyn Farrant in Gerald Moon's
excellent and hysterical comedy-thriller Corpse! and more recently
with Brian Cant and Sandra Dickinson in the black comedy, Born in
the Gardens as "Mo".
His more recent television credits include Casualty. Although he has been
away from the Doctor Who scene for some time Colin does make the
occasional personal appearance.
Colin lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Marion and three
daughters and we would like to thank him for taking time to answer
these questions:
Favourite Story: The Two Doctors (1985)
Least Favourite: Timelash (1985)
Favourite Doctor: Patrick Troughton
Favourite Companion: Peri / Nicola Bryant
Favourite Enemy: The Master
Colin Baker, actor, is currently touring in a production of Kind Hearts and
Coronets. He lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Marion Wyatt and their
daughters Lucy, 13, Bindy, 10, Lally, seven, and Rosie, five.
Best Day out: Alton Towers. Their idea of a good day out does not
necessarily match mine, but their enjoyment is a joy.
Best day in: Summer Sundays in the garden, relaxed, unhassled. It's
my favourite time, the kind of day I look on with great fondness, when all
four play together, absorbed for hours with no dissension.
Worst day ever: Some years ago, when we only had the first two and I was
doing Doctor Who. I'd been invited to some charity do, a toy fair at Earl's Court,
and without checking I took my wife and children. I'd been telling them how we
would play with all the great new toys and games. We got there to be told that
children were not allowed. The idea of it! Marion and the girls had to spend
hours in a room the size of a broom cupboard. It was a vile day.
Favourite food: Lucy has just discovered Chinese and Indian; Bindy is a tuna
freak; Lally just wants bacon; and Rosie loves apples.
Favourite books: I am always prevailed upon to read Allen Ahlberg's Mr Biff the
Boxer or Mrs Wobble the Waitress.
Most successful toy: A small trampoline in the garden. It's paid for itself many
times over, as they bounce up and down for hours.
Best Advice: Let your children enjoy their childhood. Don't treat them like
trophies, and extension of the house and BMW.
After his stint in the Tardis as Doctor Who, Colin Baker has more recently been
seen in The Knock, Jonathan Creek and as Judge Turnbull in Hollyoaks. He is
married with four daughters.
Name: Colin Baker.
Age: Middle.
Status: Alive.
Car: Traded in Tardis for an Audi.
Favourite soap/character: Corrie/Bet Lynch.
Favourite other tv programme: Twin Peaks - it had the courage not to spell
things out and to be obscure. Very moody. Great acting.
First job: Solicitor's clerk in Manchester.
One job you would have loved: One yet to be written which becomes a bench-mark
for future programmes with a great central character - like Morse or Frost.
Who makes you laugh? Eric Morecambe, Victoria Wood, Harry Enfield, Eddie Izzard.
Favourite film: Bladerunner.
Describe yourself in five words: Incapable of five word description.
Worst item of clothing ever bought: Tapestry trousers (1970s).
What do you wear in bed? Shorts.
Favourite song: Noel Coward's Someday I'll Find You from Private Lives in which my wife, Marion, and I were playing when we met.
Favourite sportsman: Ian Botham.
Who has sex appeal and why? Dame Judi Dench, who can be beautiful, sexy, plain or whatever the part demands. A combination of talent and that indefinable extra
- charisma.
All-time hero: Bilbo Baggins.
Most disgusting habit: Nasal excavation whilst driving.
What do you hate about your body? The fatty bits which defy destruction.
When was the last time you cried? Demise of pet cat.
Who or what is the great love of your life? My wife, Marion.
What is the most expensive treat you've ever bought yourself? New lawn mower.
When was the last time you were in hospital? When I was in my twenties - for ingrowing toe-nails.
If you were an animal what sort would you be? Grizzly bear.
What has been the best/worst advice you have ever been given?
Best: from Lord Olivier in the canteen at the Old Vic.
He said: "Get rid of that moustache, it messes up your face. Separate your features."
Worst: "You'll be all right parking here - the river never rises this high",
on the day in Teddington when my Mini Cooper ended up in the Thames.
Where would you live if not in the UK? I cannot imagine living away from the UK but if I had to then the Northern California coast (definitely not LA) from
Carmel up to San Francisco is the least worst alternative.
Dream dinner guests: Raymond Blanc (to cook), Peter Ustinov, Willie Carson, Terry Pratchett, Jilly Goolden (to bring wine), Jilly Cooper, Sandy Toksvig,
Betty Boothroyd.
What do you despise most? Bigotry and terrorism.
If you had three wishes what would they be? An end to bigotry and violence. The job that secures an end to personal financial worries. Instant loss of three
stone.
If you were re-incarnated who would you want to come back as? My own
great-grandchild because I want to know what is going to happen next.
When were you happiest? The day I realised that my wife felt the same way about me as I did about her and the days on which all our children were born.
For three years he played the timeless hero who did everything in his power to
fight evil.
Now former Doctor Who Colin Baker has turned nasty for a part in The Knock
(Sunday, ITV, 9pm).
He is forger Desmond Dewhurst and it's the sort of bad guy he often played
before he stepped into the Tardis in 1983.
"Dewhurst was an artist who found it was easier to make money making plates for
$20 bills than it was painting," says Colin, 53.
"He's very much a white-collar criminal and doesn't really get involved in
hands-on nastiness, until he is forced to by circumstances that are beyond his
control.
"It was lovely to do The Knock because I haven't done anything really
significant since Doctor Who."
By significant, Colin means in the world of work - not home, where he has a
young family of Lucy, 12, Bindy, nine, Lally, six and four-year-old Rosie.
He is also busy as chairman of the Foundation For The Study Of Infant Death.
Colin and actress wife Marion Wyatt lost their son Jack to cot-death syndrome in
1993.
"Jack died a month before I started Doctor Who. It didn't half focus my mind on
what was important.
"Now I am very clear about what is important in my life. Once I might have lived
to work, now I work to live for my family."
The husband of TV presenter Anne Diamond last night branded a doctor's claim
that poor parenting causes cot death as "criminal".
TV producer Mike Hollingsworth joined experts who attacked anaesthetist Dr
Michael Simpson for proposing a theory which they said was based on flimsy
evidence that would cause enormous distress.
Ms Diamond and Mr Hollingsworth lost their four-month-old son Sebastian to cot
death five years ago.
Since then they have been involved in helping other parents who have suffered
similar tragedies and supporting research into sudden infant death.
Dr Simpson, a former consultant anaesthetist at the Bristol Royal Infirmary now
living and working in the Algarve, Portugal, published his theory in the
magazine Hospital Doctor.
He claims lack of caring causes a baby to become stressed and unable to sleep.
According to his theory, the overtired baby eventually falls into such a deep
sleep that it stops breathing.
Last night Mr Hollingsworth declared: "I really think it is criminal that
somebody has come up with something like this.
"It will only increase the guilt you feel as a parent when you're child dies for
no visible reason."
"I am appalled and very surprised that Hospital Doctor saw fit to publish this
article. I think it has done serious damage."
Actor Colin Baker, who played Doctor Who from 1983 to 1986, and whose son Jack
died from cot death 13 years ago, also strongly attacked Dr Simpson's ideas.
Mr Baker, vice-chairman of the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, said:
"It's grossly insulting to all those hundreds of cot death parents I've met over
the years to accuse them all in a blanket way of being bad parents and saying
that's the cause of their cot death.
"It's absurd. We've found over many, many years that the factors behind cot
death are multiple and varied and it certainly can't be attributed to one
thing."
Mr Baker, who has four daughters aged four to 11, added: "I know I'm not a bad
parent, and I've met hundreds of other cot death parents who I know are not bad
parents."
In his article Dr Simpson claimed the reason why maternal smoking raised the
risk of cot death was not the cigarette smoke but the type of mother.
Mothers who smoked were more impulsive than non-smokers and less likely to be
consistent, calm parents, he said.
Known risk factors such as teenage mothers, drug addiction and smoking were
linked by a tendency to erratic care, irregular feeding and poor feeding
technique.
According to Dr Simpson the anxiety caused by sleep deprivation led to "special
recovery sleep" with reduced muscle tone in the airways.
Experts pointed out that the theory was not backed by any solid research and had
not been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Professor Richard Cooke, professor of paediatric medicine at Liverpool
University, said: "Dr Simpson has never had anything to do with children, and
never had any research in this field published.
"Basically he's cobbled together some rather selective quotations and come up
with a rather wild theory."
Latest official figures for England and Wales show a fall of 70 per cent in the
rate of cot death since a record high of 1,500 cases in 1988.
The fall coincides with advice issued by the Department of Health in 1991
advising parents to put babies to sleep on their backs, but babies are still
dying at a rate of around 10 a week.
