Tom Baker


Thomas Stewart Baker is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1981, a longer tenure than any other actor in the title role, and provided narration in the television comedy series Little Britain. His voice, which has been described as "sonorous", was voted the fourth-most recognisable in the UK in 2006.
At age 15, Baker began study as a religious brother. He gradually lost his vocation, leaving religious life at age 21 to undertake national service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Upon leaving the army, he served in the Merchant Navy and then became an actor, joining the Royal National Theatre under Laurence Olivier. He was in his thirties when his professional acting career began, and his first major film role was as Grigori Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971, when he was 37. He went on to play the villainous Prince Koura in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1973, which led to his casting in Doctor Who.
During his period as the star of Doctor Who, the series received high viewing figures and featured many stories which became regarded as classics. He remains one of the most instantly recognisable incarnations of the character. He continued to feature in regular television roles later in his career, including in the series Medics and Monarch of the Glen. He has also narrated commercials, video games, audiobooks, radio plays, music albums, and television series.
Baker has been married three times, firstly to Anna Wheatcroft with whom he had two sons, the second time being to his Doctor Who co-star Lalla Ward. Baker met his third wife Sue Jerrard whilst working at the BBC in London.

Early life

Thomas Stewart Baker was born on Scotland Road in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool on 20 January 1934. His mother, Mary Jane was a cleaner and devout Catholic. His father, John Stewart Baker, was a seaman, and Jewish, and largely absent from the family due to being away at sea. Baker attended Cheswardine Boarding School. At age 15, he became a novice religious brother with the Brothers of Ploermel in Jersey and later in Shropshire, but left the monastery six years later after losing his faith. In his autobiography, he said he realised he wanted to break each of the Ten Commandments in order and thought he should get out before he did something serious. He did his national service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving from 1955 until 1957. He took up acting around 1956, joining the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Sidcup, where he met his first wife. He went on to become a professional actor in the late 1960s after the marriage broke down.

Career

Early work

After his marriage ended in 1966, Baker eked out a living in provincial rep theatre. He had his first break in 1968 whilst performing in a late-night pub revue for the 1968 York Festival. His performance was seen by someone with the National Theatre who encouraged him to audition for the company, then headed by Laurence Olivier. Baker did so and was offered a contract. From 1968 to 1971, he was given small parts and understudied, one of his bigger roles being the horse Rosinante in Don Quixote.
Baker's stage work led to work on television where he won small parts in major series such as Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, Market in Honey Lane and Softly, Softly.
Baker had his first big film break with the role of Grigori Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra after Olivier had recommended him for the part. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his performance, one for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and another for Best Newcomer. Baker appeared as Moore, an artist whose paintings are imbued with voodoo power, in The Vault of Horror and as Koura, the villainous sorcerer, in Ray Harryhausen's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
Baker also appeared in Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1972 version of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales as the younger husband of the Wife of Bath.

''Doctor Who''

In 1974, Baker took over the role of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee to become the Fourth Doctor in the BBC TV series. He was recommended to producer Barry Letts by the BBC's Head of Serials, Bill Slater, who had directed Baker in a Play of the Month production of Shaw's play The Millionairess. Impressed by Baker upon meeting him, Letts then became convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media because he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.
Baker quickly made the part his own, viewing figures for his first few years returning to a level not seen since the height of 'Dalekmania' a decade earlier. His eccentric style of dress and quirky personality, as well as his distinctive voice, made him an immediately recognisable figure and he quickly caught the viewing public's imagination. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive series, making him the longest-serving actor in the part. Baker himself suggested many aspects of his Doctor's personality, but the distinctive scarf was created by accident. James Acheson, the costume designer assigned to his first story, had provided far more wool than was necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, intending for her to choose a suitable colour. However, due to miscommunication Pope knitted all the wool she was given. It was Baker who suggested that he wear the ridiculously long scarf, which he did once it had been shortened a bit to make it more manageable.
The Doctor played by Baker is often regarded as the most popular of the Doctors. In polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only three times: once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990, and twice to David Tennant in 2006 and 2009. Many of the stories from his era are considered to be classics of the series, including The Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius, The Deadly Assassin and The Robots of Death. However, the violent tone of the stories produced by Letts' successor, Philip Hinchcliffe, saw the series come under heavy criticism from morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse. Concerns over violence during this early period led to a lightening of the tone and an "erratic decline" in both the popularity and quality of the series. Baker has described Hinchcliffe as "amazing" and identified that as his favourite period of his time on the series. He described Hinchcliffe's successor, Graham Williams, as "absolutely devoted" but lacking his predecessor's flair. He has acknowledged that his final producer on the series, John Nathan-Turner, made changes he did not agree with and they "did not see eye-to-eye really about very much"; however, according to Baker, the two became good friends afterwards and forgot their disagreements. Baker additionally criticised season 18, his last on the show and Nathan-Turner's first as producer, for an increase in the regular cast, which resulted in what Baker saw as stories that were excessively reliant on the Doctor to drive the plot forward. Baker ultimately suggested that he may have stayed in the role for one series too many, stating in hindsight that he felt it would have been better for him to have left with Williams and let Nathan-Turner recast the role of the Doctor for season 18.
in Trafalgar Square, 1991
Baker continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries such as The Story of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential and giving interviews about his time on the programme. He reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time and audio for the PC game . In 1996 he appraised his time on the show as the highlight of his life. He is often interviewed as part of documentaries on the extras of Doctor Who DVD releases from his era as the Doctor and has recorded DVD commentaries for many of the stories. In a 2004 interview regarding the series' revival, Baker suggested that he be cast as the Master. In a 2010 interview, Baker said that he had not watched Tennant's performance as the Doctor but thought his Hamlet was excellent.
While Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann have all reprised their roles for audio adventures produced since the 1990s by Big Finish, Baker declined to voice the Doctor until 2009, saying that he had not seen a script he liked. In July 2009, the BBC announced that Baker would return to the role for a series of five audio dramas, co-starring Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, which would begin release in September. The five audios comprise a single linked story under the banner title Hornets' Nest, written by author Paul Magrs. He returned with a sequel to Hornets' Nest called Demon Quest. Baker has also filmed inserts for a video release of the unfinished Shada in 1992, presented the video release The Tom Baker Years, the latter a look back at his time on the series watching short clips from his episodes and also provided narration for several BBC audio releases of old Doctor Who stories.

Big Finish Audio Dramas

In March 2011, it was announced that Baker would be returning as the Fourth Doctor initially for two series of plays for Big Finish Productions, starring alongside former companions Leela and Romana I. The first series of six audios were released starting from January 2012. Big Finish had also arranged for Baker to record a series of stories reuniting him with Elisabeth Sladen's character Sarah Jane Smith, but Sladen died in April 2011 before any stories could be recorded. Baker recently recorded several Big Finish audio stories with Matthew Waterhouse, who played Adric, and Lalla Ward, who played Romana II.
It was reported in April 2020 that Tom had recorded "Return of the Cybermen" for Big Finish, an alternative version of the story "Revenge of the Cybermen" with Sadie Miller, Elizabeth Sladen's daughter, taking over the role of Sarah Jane Smith from her mother. The story is due to be released in January 2021.
Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, "Doctor Who ". Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was the first release in the range read by Baker, released on 5 November 2007, followed by Baker reading Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars. In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Last Word to pay tribute to deceased former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. He described Letts, who originally cast him in the role, as "the big link in changing my entire life".
On 20 November 2013, Baker revealed that he would appear in the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, stating, "I am in the special. I'm not supposed to tell you that, but I tell you that very willingly and specifically; the BBC told me not to tell anybody but I'm telling you straight away." The episode saw Baker in the role of a mysterious curator in the National Gallery who openly discusses his resemblance to the Fourth Doctor with the Eleventh Doctor.
In November 2017, Baker made a return to the role of the Doctor, completing an episode originally begun in 1979 but abandoned due to strike action. The story – Shada, written by Douglas Adams – was filmed in Cambridge. Animation was added to complete the original story. He also filmed one new scene for inclusion in the final episode.

Later film and television work

In 1982, Baker portrayed Sherlock Holmes in a four-part BBC1 miniseries version of The Hound of the Baskervilles; in the US, this production was telecast on A&E. He also made an appearance in Blackadder II, in the episode "Potato", as the sea captain "Redbeard Rum". He played Puddleglum, a "marsh-wiggle", in the 1990 BBC adaptation of C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair.
For the third series of the British game show Cluedo, Baker was cast as Professor Plum, a "man with a degree in suspicion". He was also cast in the 2004 series Strange, as a blind priest who possessed knowledge of the Devil. In addition, he played the part of Donald MacDonald in the BBC series Monarch of the Glen, from 2004 until 2005. Previously, he had appeared as a guest on the quiz show Have I Got News For You and was subsequently described by presenter Angus Deayton as the funniest guest in the series' history. A particular highlight was when Baker gave an anecdotal account of how, while entering a recording studio in Wales, he was accosted by a member of the public who told Baker: "I will never forgive you, nor will my wife, for what you did to our grammar schools." Baker responded with: "What are you talking about, you daft bugger?" to which the stranger replied: "I'm so sorry. For a moment I thought you were Shirley Williams."
Baker later returned to Have I Got News For You as a guest host in 2008. Baker played the role of the Captain in the Challenge version of Fort Boyard, and has also hosted the children's literature series, The Book Tower. He recorded a special called, Tom Baker – In Confidence that was shown in April 2010.
In the late 1990s, it was reported that Baker was a candidate for the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films. Baker has since stated that he was only approached for "a role" in the film, and turned down the offer when told that it would mean spending months away in New Zealand. He appeared as Halvarth, the Elven healer, in Dungeons & Dragons.

''Little Britain''

After his work on Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World, Baker was cast as a similar narrator of Little Britain on BBC Radio 4 and remained in the role when it transferred to television. Baker has suggested that he was chosen for the part in Little Britain due to his popularity with Lucas and Walliams, part of the generation for whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me", he stated in a DVD commentary. Another trademark of Little Britains narration is the deadpan quotation of old rap lyrics, usually in the opening credit sequence. On 17 November 2005, to mark the start of the third series of Little Britain, Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 7 pm to 9:30 pm GMT. The scripts were written by Lucas and Walliams; Baker assumed his Little Britain persona. He used lines such as:

Voice acting

Baker has appeared in various radio productions, including a role as "Britain's most celebrated criminal barrister", Sir Edward Marshall-Hall in John Mortimer Presents the Trials of Marshall Hall, "Josiah Bounderby" in Charles Dickens' Hard Times and a part in the 2001 BBC Radio 4 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps as Sir Walter Bullivant. He guest starred in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the 2002 episode "The Saviour of Cripplegate Square". From 2000 to 2005 Baker voiced the character Max Bear in the Channel 4 Max Bear Productions animated series. He also voiced the role of the villain ZeeBad in the 2005 computer-animated film version of The Magic Roundabout. In 2007 he voiced the character of Robert Baron in the BBC animated series The Secret Show.
Baker narrates the children's computer-animated series The Beeps which is shown on Channel 5's Milkshake! as well as narrating Tales of Aesop on BBC, a television series based on Aesop's Fables with beautiful puppet animation. Most recently, Baker has returned to the role of the Fourth Doctor, first in three series of audio adventures for BBC Audiobooks: Hornet's Nest, Demon Quest and Serpents' Crest; and now in a new series of Doctor Who audio adventures for Big Finish Productions also starring Louise Jameson as "Leela". There were seven releases in 2013 with Mary Tamm as Romana:. Subsequent series also feature Baker alongside John Leeson as K9, Lalla Ward as the second incarnation of Romana and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, all reprising their television roles.
In the third season of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, Baker provided the voice of the Bendu, a powerful Force-sensitive being.

Video games

Baker starred as the Fourth Doctor in the 1997 video game Destiny of the Doctors where he provided the voice. His voice has also been featured in ', ', "Sudeki", Cold Winter, : Resurrection, ', and '.

Narration

Baker is a prolific voiceover artist and his voice was voted as the fourth most recognisable in the UK in 2006 after the Queen, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.
In 1992 and 1993, Baker narrated BBC radio comedy series Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World. In 1994 he provided the narration for Channel 4's Equinox rave documentary Rave New World. In 2002 he had a speaking role in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful Hostile Waters as the Narrator.
Baker provided the voiceover for the Perfect Dark TV adverts. He also voiced both the narrator and the god "Tetsu" in the role-playing game Sudeki, but was uncredited. During the first three months of 2006, his voice was used by BT for spoken delivery of text messages to landline phones. He recorded 11,593 phrases, containing every sound in the English language, for use by the text-to-speech service. The BT text message service returned from 1 December 2006 until 8 January 2007, with two pence from each text going to the charity Shelter. Also, a single "sung" by Baker's text voice, "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks, was released on 18 December 2006 with proceeds going to the charity. The creator of the song was Mark Murphy, designer of the site.
Baker's voice may be heard at London's Natural History Museum narrating commentary to some of the exhibits that demonstrate Darwin's theory of natural selection. He has made three other brief forays into the world of music: he provides the monologue to the track "Witness to a Murder " on the album Six by Mansun; he appears on Technocat's single "Only Human" in 1995, and in 2002 he recorded the monologue to the track "Megamorphosis" on the album Andabrek by Stephen James, although the album was not released until 2009. Baker provides narrative at two British tourist attractions: the Nemesis roller coaster at Alton Towers, Staffordshire; and the London Dungeon, a museum depicting gory and macabre events in the capital, narrating the events leading up to and comprising the Great Fire of London.
Baker voiced the character "Max Bear", a series of animated stories broadcast on Channel 4 from 2000 to 2005. He narrated Australian cartoonist Bruce Petty's 2006 film about world politics, Global Haywire.

Books

Baker's autobiography, Who on Earth is Tom Baker?, was published in 1997, and made available on Kindle devices in September 2013.
Baker has also written a short fairytale-style novel called The Boy Who Kicked Pigs. In 1981 he edited a collection of poems for children: "Never Wear Your Wellies in the House and Other Poems to Make You Laugh".
In 2019 Baker released a Doctor Who novel called 'Scratchman'. The story is based on a script Tom Baker and Ian Marter wrote for a Doctor Who film in the 1970s. The plot involves Tom Baker's version of The Doctor meeting Scratchman who may be the devil.

Theatre

Baker joined the National Theatre in 1968 as an understudy for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead followed by small parts in The National Health by Peter Nichols.
After playing the horse in The Travails of Sancho Panza, Laurence Olivier subsequently cast him as the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice. The play was directed by Jonathan Miller, with Baker appearing alongside Olivier as Shylock. Still under contract at the National, Baker also played a Russian in The Idiot, Sir Frances Acton in A Woman Killed With Kindness, opposite Anthony Hopkins, and Filippo in The Rules of the Game.
After leaving the role of The Doctor in 1981, Baker returned to theatre to play Oscar Wilde in Feasting with Panthers at the Chichester Festival Theatre. The following year, he played Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler, with Susannah York as Hedda, in the West End. Also in 1982, Baker played Dr Frank Bryant in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Educating Rita, alongside Kate Fitzgerald as Rita. He returned to the National Theatre in 1984 to play Mr Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer in the Olivier Theatre and on a later tour. The following year he played both Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty in The Mask of Moriarty by Hugh Leonard at the Gate Theatre in Dublin.
In 1987 Baker played Inspector Goole in a revival production of An Inspector Calls directed by Peter Dews.

Music

In 1998 Tom provided narration on the track Witness to a Murder on the album Six by the English alternative rockband Mansun.


On May 13, 2020, Dutch producer and songwriter Arjen Anthony Lucassen announced that Baker would provide spoken vocals for the character of "The Storyteller" on Ayreon's upcoming new album, Transitus.

Personal life

Baker's first marriage was in 1961, to Anna Wheatcroft, niece of rose grower Harry Wheatcroft; they had met and started dating in acting school. They had two sons, Daniel and Piers, and divorced in 1966. Baker lost contact with his sons until a chance meeting with Piers in a New Zealand pub allowed them to renew their relationship. In December 1980, he married Lalla Ward, who had co-starred in Doctor Who as his character's companion Romana. In April 1982, the marriage dissolved and the pair divorced.
Baker married for a third time in 1986, to Sue Jerrard, who had been an assistant editor on Doctor Who. They moved to the Bell House, a converted school in Boughton Malherbe, Kent, where they kept several cats before moving to France in January 2003. They sold the property to Vic Reeves shortly after Baker had worked with him on the BBC revival of Randall and Hopkirk. In November 2006, Baker bought a house in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, before later moving to Rye, East Sussex.
Baker is cynical of religion and describes himself as irreligious, or occasionally as Buddhist, but not anti-religious. Politically, Baker has expressed disdain for both the Conservatives and the Labour Party, saying in 1998, "When the Conservatives were in I cannot tell you how much I hated them. But I realise how shallow I am because I now hate the Labour Party as much."

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Radio

Audio plays

Discography

In popular culture