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Colin Baker (born 8 June 1943) is an English actor who played Paul Merroney in the BBC drama series The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1984 to 1986. Baker's tenure as the Doctor proved to be a controversial era for the series, which included a hiatus in production and his subsequent replacement on the orders of BBC executive Michael Grade.

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Colin Baker
Baker at the 2014 Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest
Born	(1943-06-08) 8 June 1943 (age 79) Waterloo, London, England
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–present
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Spouses	Liza Goddard ​ ​ (m. 1976; div. 1978)​ Marion Wyatt ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	5
Website	Colin Baker Online

Early life

Colin Baker was born in Waterloo, London, England. He moved north to Rochdale with his family when he was three years old. He was educated at St Bede's College, Manchester, where he passed A' Levels in French, Latin and Greek.[1] Particularly strong in Latin and Greek, Baker achieved 2 A grades.[2] He studied law at a London college[3] and subsequently trained to become a solicitor.[4] At the age of 23, Baker enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).[5]

Career

Early work in television

Baker's numerous television roles in the early 1970s included a supporting role in a 1970 BBC adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's trilogy The Roads to Freedom, a leading role as Count Steinbock in their adaptation of Cousin Bette the following year, playing opposite Margaret Tyzack and Helen Mirren. In 1972 he played Anatole Kuragin, opposite Anthony Hopkins in the BBC adaptation of War and Peace. His regular television work continued and in Fall of Eagles, Baker appeared as Crown Prince Wilhelm of the German Empire.

By far his most prominent role to date came in 1974, playing the ruthless banker Paul Merroney in the BBC Sunday evening series The Brothers.[6] Baker joined the series half-way through its run, as Merroney became one of the leading characters over 3+1⁄2 series from 1974–76.

After The Brothers, he worked regularly in theatre and his television work became less frequent, although he guest-starred as Bayban the Butcher in a 1980 episode of Blake's 7, "City at the Edge of the World". He had further guest roles on television and in 1983 featured in a BBC production of A.J. Cronin's The Citadel.

Doctor Who (1984–1986)

Baker made his first appearance in Doctor Who as Commander Maxil in the Peter Davison-era story Arc of Infinity (1983). He then became the second of three actors to be cast as the Doctor by producer John Nathan-Turner.[7] Baker's first appearance in the starring role occurred in the final moments of The Caves of Androzani (1984), where he delivered his first few lines. He then made his full story debut the following week in The Twin Dilemma. The serial, and Baker's portrayal of the Doctor, caused immediate controversy, with one scene in which the Doctor attempts to strangle his companion, Peri Brown. According to PopMatters, "Colin Baker's first appearance was just out-and-out dislikable, showcasing a hubris and harshness that was heretofore unseen in the Doctor's emotional canon."[8]

Baker's era was interrupted by an 18-month hiatus which was announced in February 1985, midway through transmission of Season 22, his first full season. The Controller of BBC1 at the time, Michael Grade, criticised Doctor Who, saying that the programme had become overly violent in 1985. Grade later admitted that he "hated" the series, which he described as a "very clunky studio show".[9][10] One new Doctor Who story, Slipback, was produced for radio during the hiatus, which starred Baker and his regular television companion Nicola Bryant.

Doctor Who returned to television for its 23rd season in September 1986. The season featured a reduction in episodes, was made entirely on video for location scenes and was produced as a 14-episode-long serial called The Trial of a Time Lord. This serial was a meta-textual reference to the fact that the series itself was "on trial" at this time.[11] In 1986 Baker told an interviewer: "Tom Baker did it for seven years. ... There's a part of me which likes to have a tilt at records. I would like to think that maybe I'd still be doing it in eight years' time."[12] However, later that year Grade agreed to commission another series on the condition that Baker was replaced.[13] The BBC's Head of Series, Jonathan Powell, later said that the BBC was looking for "one last chance saloon, for an actor who would take off with the public."[14] However, Davison argued in 2018 that the decision was more to do with the executives wanting to get rid of Nathan-Turner, saying: "I was upset about what happened, really – because, first of all, it wasn't to do with Colin, I know that. It was to do with other issues. The power structure in the BBC had changed and they didn't want John Nathan-Turner around is the truth of it."[15]

Baker was removed from the part after starring in only eleven stories and just short of three years in the series, including the hiatus, making his tenure as the Doctor the shortest at that point. After his sacking, Baker was offered a single four-part story that would end in his character's death and subsequent regeneration, but he refused the offer. Baker offered to do the entirety of the following season and regenerate at its conclusion, but the BBC never responded to his letter. Instead, his replacement, Sylvester McCoy, played the injured Sixth Doctor in a blonde wig as he regenerates in the opening minutes of Time and the Rani, his face hidden by video effects as the regeneration process occurs.[6] In an interview in 2019, Baker expressed regret for not returning for the scene, stating that he was "brutally selfish at the time" and that he was not thinking about the fans.[16]

On 4 September 2011 at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, Baker accepted the presidency of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, which had previously been held by Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney. He was elected following an online poll of the society's members where he won more votes than all the other candidates combined.[17]

Doctor Who appearances in other media

From 5 June to 19 August 1989 Baker agreed to appear as the Doctor once more, in the stage play Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure, taking over from original lead Jon Pertwee who had fallen ill.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Baker became the first Doctor to write a published Doctor Who story, The Deal, as part of Doctor Who Magazine's Brief Encounters series. He wrote a second Brief Encounter the following year. Both featured the Sixth Doctor and Mel. In 1994 Baker wrote a comic strip, The Age of Chaos featuring the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher, and in 2001 contributed a story entitled "The Wings of A Butterfly" to a charity short story anthology based on Doctor Who, "Missing Pieces". He also presented special Doctor Who videotape releases Cybermen – The Early Years in 1992 and The Colin Baker Years in 1994, with the latter a look back at his tenure on the series highlighted by clips and his memories.

Baker reprised the role on television only twice after his official run ended, in the 1993 Children in Need charity special Dimensions in Time alongside Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy, and in the 2022 special "The Power of the Doctor" alongside David Bradley, Davison, Paul McGann and McCoy.

In 1997, Baker provided audio dialogue for the BBC video game Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors.

1999 saw Baker voice his first Doctor Who audio adventure for Big Finish Productions, The Sirens of Time. As of October 2022 Baker has feautured as the Sixth Doctor in 166 releases, with more planned for the future. These audio plays are generally well received by fans and in a poll conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker was voted the "greatest" of the Doctors in this format. He also reprised the role of Commander Maxil in the audio drama Appropriation in 2006, as well as an alternate War Doctor in the Unbound Series since 2022.

In recent years, Baker has appeared on a number of DVD releases of his episodes, featuring in either "making-of" documentaries or commentaries. The documentary Trials and Tribulations, included in the 2008 DVD release of The Trial of a Time Lord examines his turbulent three years on the show.

In November 2013, Baker co-starred in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.[18]

After Doctor Who

Since leaving Doctor Who Baker has spent much of his time on the stage with appearances throughout the country in plays as diverse as Peter Nichols' Privates on Parade, Ira Levin's Deathtrap, Ray Cooney's Run for Your Wife and Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden. For many years he has been a pantomime stalwart. In 2000 he appeared in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs alongside actress Louise Jameson who had previously played the Fourth Doctor's companion Leela. In 2003 he starred in the Carl Rosa Opera Company's production of operetta H.M.S. Pinafore, directed by Timothy West. In 2008, he toured with ex-wife Liza Goddard in She Stoops To Conquer. Other theatre appearances have seen Baker tackle the role of Inspector Morse in House of Ghosts[19] and a UK tour of The Woman in White.

In 1991, Baker played a Doctor-like character in the BBV video series The Stranger. This character appeared in six video adventures as well four audio stories. Another standalone BBV drama entitled The Airzone Solution appeared in 1993 and featured former Doctor Who actors Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy.

Television work during the 1990s included guest appearances in the BBC's medical drama Casualty, The Knock, Dangerfield, the first episode of Jonathan Creek, Channel 4's adaptation of A Dance to the Music of Time and as himself as the resident celebrity in 'Dictionary Corner' on the daytime quiz show Countdown, also on Channel 4.

In 2003, Baker appeared on Top Gear, participating on a one-lap run on the Top Gear track in a Honda Civic hatchback. Baker competed against a Klingon, a Cyberman, a Dalek, Darth Vader and Ming the Merciless. Baker came in 4th position, with the Cyberman coming 1st.

A 2005 guest appearance in comedy sketch show Little Britain was never transmitted but can be seen in the deleted scenes special feature on the Little Britain series 3 DVD. Other television appearances have seen Baker appear in Kingdom, Hustle and Doctors.

Away from his Doctor Who work for Big Finish Productions (see above), Baker appeared in the audio dramas Sapphire and Steel: The Mystery of the Missing Hour and the 3 part Earthsearch Mindwarp. The latter, based on a James Follett novel, was broadcast on the digital radio station BBC 7 in 2006.

In 2010, Baker narrated and provided additional voices for Candy Jar Books' comedy sci-fi audiobook Kangazang, written by Terry Cooper.

Baker's film work over the years includes The Harpist (1999), The Asylum (2000)[20] and D'Artagnan et les trois mousquetaires (2005).[20] In 2010 he filmed scenes for an independent feature film, Shadows of a Stranger.[21] Since 1995 Baker has written a regular weekly column for local newspaper Bucks Free Press. A compilation of his articles from 1995 to 2009 were published in the book, Look Who's Talking.

Baker participated in the 12th series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!,[22] finishing in 8th place out of 12 celebrities.

Personal life

Baker's first wife was actress Liza Goddard who had appeared with him in the TV series The Brothers. Their marriage lasted 18 months and ended in divorce.[23] With his second wife, actress Marion Wyatt, whom he married in 1982, Baker has four daughters.[24] They also had a son who died of sudden infant death syndrome.[25][26] Baker is a friend of American writer Stephen R. Donaldson, who dedicated his 1991 novel Forbidden Knowledge to him.[27]

Baker is a critic of fox hunting and was among more than 20 high-profile people who signed a letter to members of parliament in 2015 to oppose Conservative prime minister David Cameron's plan to amend the Hunting Act 2004.[28]

Books

• Look Who's Talking (Hirst Books), First Published December 2009. First reprint February 2010 ISBN 978-0-9557149-2-4
• Second Thoughts (Hirst Books), First Published September 2010 ISBN 978-0-9566417-6-2
• Gallimaufry: A Collection of Short Stories. First Published 30 September 2011. ISBN 1-907959-02-5.
• Sixth Sense – from the columns of the Bucks Free Press. FBS Publishing Ltd. 6 April 2017. ISBN 978-0993204371

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective	William Lind
1991	Summoned By Shadows	The Stranger
1992	More Than A Messiah
1993	In Memory Alone
	The Airzone Solution	Arnold Davies
1994	The Terror Game	The Stranger
	The Zero Imperative	Peter Russell
	Breach of the Peace	The Stranger
1995	Eye of the Beholder
1999	The Harpist	Father Rupitsch
	Soul's Ark	Galico
2000	The Asylum	Arbuthnot
2014	Shadows of a Stranger	William Fallon
2015	A Dozen Summers	The Narrator
	A Christmas Carol	Charles Dickens
2017	Arrows of Time	Narrator
2021	Hiraeth	Wynn Seaward
	You Might Get Lost	Conrad	Post-production
	The Ghosts of Borley Rectory	Charles Sutton
TBA	Secrets of a Wallaby Boy	Bruce

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	The Adventures of Don Quick	Rebel	Episode: "People Isn't Everything"
	Happy Ever After	Receptionist	Episode: "The Ambassador"
	No – That's Me Over Here!	Uncredited	2 episodes
	Roads to Freedom	Claude	3 episodes
1971	The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder	Reigate	Episode: "The Shadow Man
	Public Eye	Town Hall Clerk	Episode: "The Man Who Didn't Eat Sweets"
	Cousin Bette	Count Wenceslas Steinbock	5 episodes
	The Silver Sword	German Lieutenant	Episode: #1.3
	Now Look Here	Uncredited	Episode: #1.4
1972	War & Peace	Anatole Kuragin	4 episodes
	The Moonstone	John Herncastle	Episode: #1.1
	The Man Outside	Glover	Episode: "Murder Story"
	Villains	Reporter	Episode: "His Dad Named Him After the General"
1973	The Edwardians	Joseph Laycock	Episode: "Daisy"
	Harriet's Back in Town	Mike Baker	2 episodes
	Orson Welles Great Mysteries	George Barclay	Episode: "A Terribly Strange Bed"
1974	Within These Walls	David Jenkins	Episode: "Prisoner by Marriage"
	The Carnforth Practice	Bob Anderson	Episode: "Undue Influence"
	Fall of Eagles	Crown Prince Willie	2 episodes
1974–1976	The Brothers	Paul Merroney	46 episodes
1979	Doctors and Nurses	Mr. Bennett	Episode: Mums and Dads
1980	Blakes 7	Bayban	Episode: "City at the Edge of the World"
	For Maddie with Love	Uncredited
1982	Juliet Bravo	Frankie Miller	Episode: "The Intruder"
1983	The Citadel	Mr. Vaughan	Episode: "Part 4"
	Doctor Who	Commander Maxil	Episode: "Arc of Infinity" - 3 episodes
1984	Swallows and Amazons Forever!: Coot Club	Dr. Dudgeon	TV film
	Swallows and Amazons Forever!: The Big Six		TV film
1984–1986, 1993, 2022	Doctor Who	Sixth Doctor	34 episodes
1985	Jim'll Fix It		Episode: "A Fix with Sontarans"
1986	Roland Rat: The Series		Episode: #1.3
1989	Casualty	Colin Miles	Episode: "Accidents Happen"
1993	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Harry George Chauvel	Episode: "Palestine, October 1917"
1995	Harry's Mad	Mr. Perkins	Episode: "Meaty Chunks"
1997	The Famous Five	Fake Mr. Brent	2 episodes
	Jonathan Creek	Hedley Shale	Episode: "The Wrestler's Tomb"
	The Knock	Donald Dewhurst / Desmond Dewhurst	4 episodes
	A Dance to the Music of Time	Canon Fenneau	Episode: "Post War"
	The Bill	William Guthrie	Episode: "Going Down"
1998	Casualty	David Vincent	Episode: "An Eye for an Eye"
1999	Sunburn	John Buchanan	Episode: #1.2
	The Waiting Time	Giles Fleming	TV film
	Dangerfield	Vicar	Episode: "Haunted"
2000	Hollyoaks	The Judge	Episode: #1.524
	Time Gentlemen Please	Professor Baker	Episode: "Day of the Trivheads"
2001	Doctors	Jack Howard	Episode: "Matters of Principle"
2004	The Impressionable Jon Culshaw	Mr. Allen	Episode: #1.2
	The 4 Musketeers	Rutaford	2 episodes
2005	Little Britain	Man in Regatta Tent	Deleted scene
2006	The Afternoon Play	Judge	Episode: "Your Mother Should Know"
	Doctors	Charles Dillon	Episode: "Honourable Gentlemen"
2009	Kingdom	Mr. Dodds	Episode: #3.2
	Doctors	Professor Claybourne Jarvis	Episode: "The Romantics"
2010	Hustle	Phil	Episode: "Tiger Troubles"
2011	Doctors	Augustus Bloom	Episode: "Every Heart That Beats"
2013	The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot	Colin Baker	TV film
2014	Comedy Feeds	Colin Baker	Episode: "The Committee Meeting"
2015	Star Trek Continues	Minister Amphidamas	Episode: "The White Iris"
2021	Emmerdale	Michael	Episode: #1.9156

Audio drama

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Doctor Who: Slipback	Sixth Doctor	6 mini episodes
1999–2021	Doctor Who – Main Range		82 releases
2006	Gallifrey	Commander Maxil	Episode: "Appropriation"
2009–2012, 2019	Doctor Who: The Lost Stories	Sixth Doctor	12 stories
2011–2018	Jago & Litefoot		7 stories
2016–Present	Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters		2 stories
2016	The Diary of River Song		2 stories
2021	Avalon	Bayban	Volume Two
	Bayban the Butcher

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Destiny of the Doctors	Sixth Doctor
2015	Lego Dimensions		Archive sound

References

External links

• Official website
• Colin Baker at IMDb
• Colin Baker at the BFI's Screenonline
• Archive of columns by Baker at the Bucks Free Press
• Another archive of columns by Baker
• Interview with Colin Baker on Dracula and acting for theatre
• Article in the Guardian 30 October 2007

На других языках

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[de] Colin Baker

Colin Baker (* 8. Juni 1943 in London) ist ein englischer Schauspieler. Seine bekannteste Rolle ist der sechste Doktor in Doctor Who von 1984 bis 1986.

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- [en] Colin Baker

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[ru] Бейкер, Колин (актёр)

Колин Бейкер (род. 8 июня 1943, Лондон, Англия, Великобритания) — английский актёр, наиболее известный благодаря роли Шестого Доктора в научно-фантастическом телесериале «Доктор Кто», которую он исполнял с 1984 по 1986 годы.

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