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Doctor Who.
When most people think of 'Science Fiction', they probably think
of shows like 'Star Trek'; but the world's longest running sci-fi
television show is a very English programme about a man who
made boldly going where no man has gone before as easy as walking
into a Police Call Box. He's known to millions around the world
as Doctor Who, but you can just call him the Doctor. Or, in
this case, Colin Baker.
Since it started in 1963, 'Doctor Who' has been a huge hit worldwide. The central character - an alien who travels through time and space in a ship called the TARDIS - has been played by several actors: from William Hartnell in the '60s to Christopher Eccleston in the 2005 season. As a whole new generation of fans discovers the Doctor, three of the greats from the past are coming to Australia to tell us how it was done in their day. Colin Baker, the sixth doctor, is coming with Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Number seven) and Katy Manning (Jo Grant, assistant to third Doctor Jon Pertwee). The three are appearing on stage with Australian writer and comedian Tim Ferguson to reminisce about their respective tenures on the show that has spanned over four decades.
Baker was the sixth Doctor and very nearly the last, as the BBC toyed with the idea of retiring the character in 1986. But for a sudden change of heart, he might not have played the Doctor at all. "I always wanted to be an actor, and my father, when I was eighteen, said, 'No, you're not doing that, you'll be a lawyer', and so I did what I was told, and then five years later I said, 'hang on a minute, you only get one crack at this strange little thing called life, so I think I'll do what I want to do with it', threw the law books into the bushes and legged it off to drama school."
This led to a career in the theatre, followed by a successful transition into television: indeed, before 'Doctor Who' he had already become immensely popular in the BBC series 'The Brothers'. So what made Baker the right man for the job?
"A lot of it was to do with the fact that I'd played a very small part in an episode with Peter Davison [Doctor Five], which is how I'd got to know the producer: we had a run through of the thing, and he came up to me afterwards and said, 'Hello, I'm the producer, John Turner', and I said hello, and he said, 'Are you under the impression that the name of this program is the Colin Baker Show?' 'No', and he said, 'Well, you're playing this guard, and you're kind of hogging the camera a bit.' And then some weeks later, Peter said he wanted to leave, and he said, 'I know who'd make a good Doctor: that bloke who was eating the scenery a few weeks ago.'"
Baker's Doctor can be identified by his curly blonde hair, the cat badge he wore for good luck and his very colourful outfit. "Oh, it was horrible. It was a product of the eighties." I can almost hear his eyes roll. "That costume sums it up; an explosion in a rainbow factory." He admires the new Doctor's costume, and indeed, everything about the latest series. "I've turned into a Doctor Who fan," he enthuses.
He's not the only one, apparently. "Well, they've started watching the new one," he says of his children, "and they've said, 'Is that what you were in?' 'Yeah.' 'It's really good.' So they've plucked mine off the shelves for the first time ever, and they're going, 'Wow. This is brilliant. Why didn't you tell us?' as if I hadn't been saying so for twenty years!"
Aside from his turn as the Time Lord, Colin Baker has had a stellar stage career as both an actor and a director, and is an accomplished writer (he co-wrote 'Scrooge: A Ghost of a Chance', "the best-selling kids' musical last year.") But despite all his success, he is incredibly modest and down-to-earth. "The work comes along and I accept it. I'm just a jobbing actor."
He's certainly keeping busy. He's just completed a stage tour of 'Dracula' as vampire hunter Van Helsing. "Pushing stakes into young women's chests," he sighs. "It's a tough job."
Henry Nicholls
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'Dr Who: Inside The Tardis' premieres Sat 23 July at the Festival Theatre.
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