The show was never so popular and loved as it was during The Tom Baker years, mainly thanks to his first three years which were another true Golden Age of Doctor Who. Leela. Everybody loved K-9, Doctor Who's wonderful talking dog, to the extent that The Daily Star launched a Save K-9 campaign when it was announced that the metal mutt was going to be dropped from the show. The Daily Star then claimed credit when the BBC apparently 'relented' and launched the only ever official televised Doctor Who spin-off show, K-9 & Company. It was absolute bollocks. They may as well have revived The Littlest Hobo and just stuck him in that. |
The Tom Baker Years 1975 - 1981 |
The mighty Tom Baker reign lasted for seven years, the longest serving Doctor Who ever, and arguably the most loved and best-remembered by the general public. The ratings reached an all-time high (16 million at one point, although helpfully, ITV were on strike at the time.) The UNIT era was gradually phased out, and The Doctor once more became what he was originally intended to be, a maverick traveller in time and space. Nothing could go wrong during the Tom Baker years. The long scarf, the jelly babies, a robot dog, companions dressed as Nympho savages, it was perfect and deserved a fucking medal. Honestly, it did. |
Tom's Dolly Birds |
Sarah-Jane Smith is regularly voted the best companion ever, but she was a bit too wholesome and motherly for me. Enter Leela. Now, this was a great idea for a companion, a savage killer dressed in rags, they should have done this right from the start, never mind all those middle-class schoolteachers, and Scotsmen in kilts, Leela really was one of the best companions ever. Thank our lucky stars that they didn't cast Bonnie Bloody Langford in the role. Oh, and let's not forget K-9 too, the Doctor's talking robot dog. He may have been made of metal but, by crikey, I would rather stick my knob in that than Bonnie Langford any day. |
Monsters And Villains |
Perhaps one of the many reasons that The Tom Baker era was so successful was that nearly every story was self-contained and featured a new and original adversary. You didn't need a degree in Doctor Who to understand what was going on, you could easily pick up the story even if you missed an episode. So it was that we ended up with terrific monsters such as Morbius - the giant Brain in a jar, The Krynoid - big huge plants walking around and being shot at by Boycie out of Only Fools And Horses. And not forgetting The Hand of Eldrad - a really big Hand. During Tom Baker's tenure, we meet Davros, the creator of the Daleks, for the first time. His first story was great, showing Davros as a crippled, brilliant genius, very subtlely played by Michael Wisher. At the story's climax, Davros was, quite fittingly, killed by his own creation who he had to designed to destroy anything that was not alike. It would have been great if they'd just left it at that. But no. He was continually ressurrected and wheeled out throughout the 80's, to the detriment of the poor old Daleks who then became just henchman for an increasingly maniacal and silly Davros. |
Tom Trivia |
One of the original choices to play the Fourth Doctor was Fulton Mackay, better known for his role as The Lighthouse Keeper in Fraggle Rock. Apparently, he was also in Porridge too. Tom Baker was working on a building site when he got the call through to say he'd landed the role of Doctor Who. His workmates celebrated by holding him up in the air and then making him a nice cup of tea. Mary Whitehouse got her soggy knickers in a twist throughout the Tom Baker era, complaining that the show was too violent and scary for children. As a result of her soggy-knickered meddling, the show was moved to a slightly later timeslot and one of the best producers that Doctor Who ever had was 'moved on' to other projects. Daft Cow. Tom Baker co-wrote a movie script called Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, and had asked Vincent Price to play the villain. Sadly though, he didn't have any funding for this project, so he asked Doctor Who fans all over the world to send in £5 each in order to get the movie made. Cue hundreds of little schoolkids saving up their pocket money and sending it in to Tom Baker at the BBC. Cue the BBC getting the arse on about this and ordering Tom Baker to send all the money back. |
Tom Baker - The Good Things |
Tom Baker - The Rubbish Things |
After Mary Whitehouses's complaints, the show was ordered to become less scary and more light-hearted, resulting in some of the later years turning into The Tom Baker Comedy Show. Douglas Adams, one of the greatest writers in the world, wrote Shada, which ended up as Doctor Who's great unfinished story, as strikes at the BBC halted it's production. It was eventually re-made as a Webcast about 20 years later with Paul McGann. |
It's The End, But.... |
It had become an annual event for Tom Baker to hand in his resignation at the end of each year. Not because he actually wanted to leave, but because he wanted to make sure that the producers still wanted him, as he had been in the role for longer than anyone else. Eventually, after seven years, his resignation was accepted, as a new incoming producer felt it was time for a new Doctor. Poor old Tom Baker now admits that he "was mad to give it up," as he went off to pursue a career in advert voice-overs. In tribute to the end of an era, The Human League released an instrumental track called simply Tom Baker. It was rubbish. |