Olivier was instrumental in Baker landing his first major film role, as the monk Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971. His performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Baker hit hard times in 1973, and worked as a labourer on a London building site. In desperation, he wrote to BBC Head of Serials Bill Slater, enquiring about work opportunities. It happened that Slater was due to meet with Doctor Who producer Barry Letts about casting Jon Pertwee’s successor. After Letts viewed the actor’s performance in 1973’s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and several meetings, Tom Baker was unveiled as the new Doctor in early 1974.
Tom Baker holds the record as the longest-serving Doctor, appearing in seven seasons and 172 episodes, his unpredictable performance scoring a hit with audiences around the world. He left the role in 1981, claiming there was nothing left to achieve in the part. He would return to the Doctor in 2009 to record brand new audio adventures for the BBC and Big Finish Productions.
Tom Baker remains much loved by audiences to this day, his subsequent roles in The Chronicles of Narnia, The Life and Loves of a She Devil, Monarch of the Glen, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) and as the distinctive voice of Little Britain maintaining his status as a national treasure.
The Fourth Doctor holds the record for the most televised stories set on or visiting alien worlds – 28. The other Doctors have a long way to go to beat him: the Tenth Doctor can rustle up 12 stories, while the First comes third with 11.
Full Name: Peter Moffett
Born: 13 April 1951, Streatham, London
First Screen Appearance: Warship (TV series, 1974)
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Logopolis Part 4 (1981)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Caves of Androzani Part 4 (1984)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: Time Crash (2007)
In 1981, at the age of 29, Peter Davison was the youngest actor to be cast as the Doctor – a record he held until the casting of Matt Smith in 2009.
Born Peter Moffett and later adopting the stage name Davison, he attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, and on graduating worked as a stage manager at Nottingham Playhouse. His first major television work was on the ITV children’s drama The Tomorrow People – where he met his future wife Sandra Dickinson. A role in the drama Love for Lydia followed, but it was the rebellious Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small that made Davison a household name. He played Tristan on and off for 12 years.
In the early 1980s, sitcoms Holding the Fort and Sink or Swim strengthened Davison’s reputation as one of Britain’s leading television actors, making him Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner’s top choice to take over from Tom Baker.
Initially reluctant, believing he was too young, Davison eventually agreed to take on the part, affording him his first true leading man role. His Doctor was a youthful, vulnerable figure that, like his predecessors, scored a hit with audiences, and took Doctor Who to its 20th-anniversary season. Davison decided to leave after three seasons – at the time of his casting, a chance meeting with Patrick Troughton had seen the former Doctor advising him to do no more than three years.
Following Doctor Who, Davison has remained a popular face on British TV, adding lead roles in A Very Peculiar Practice, Campion, At Home with the Braithwaites and The Last Detective. In 2009 he became the only past Doctor to appear in Doctor Who since its 2005 return, joining David Tennant in the TARDIS for the Children in Need special Time Crash. Since 1999, Davison has continued to play the Doctor in Big Finish Production’s range of original audio dramas.
Full Name: Richard Gibbon Hurndall
Born: 3 November 1910, Darlington
Died: 13 April 1984, London
First Screen Appearance: Androcles and the Lion (TV, 1946)
Doctor Who appearance: The Five Doctors (1983)
After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) Richard Hurndall started treading the boards first in repertory and later with the Royal Shakespeare Company where his roles included Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice and Orlando in As You Like It. Later he shifted to radio, becoming a member of the BBC Radio Drama repertory company in 1952, going on to play Sherlock Holmes seven years later in a five-part adaptation of The Sign of Four.
Even though Hurndall had made his television debut in 1946, it wasn’t until the 1960s that he regularly started appearing on the small screen. The next two decades saw him guesting on a number of cult TV shows including Steptoe and Son, Ripping Yarns, The Avengers, Callan, The Persuaders and Jason King.
It was a 1981 appearance in Blake’s 7 that gave Hurndall a unique place in the Doctor Who hall of fame. At the time, series producer John Nathan-Turner was planning The Five Doctors, the 90-minute 20th-anniversary special. There was only one snag. William Hartnell had passed away in 1975. Who could play the First Doctor? Watching Hurndall’s performance as Nebrox in Assassin, an episode from Blake’s 7’s fourth season, the producer saw in him someone who could mimic Hartnell’s idiosyncratic performance. And so Hurndall became the first actor to be cast in a previous Doctor’s role. At 73, he was 18 years older than William Hartnell had been when he originally played the First Doctor.
Sadly, Hurndall died of a heart attack just five months after his interpretation of the First Doctor was broadcast.
Full Name: Colin Baker
Born: 8 June 1943, London
First Screen Appearance: The Adventures of Don Quick (TV, 1970)
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Caves of Androzani Part 4 (1984)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 14 (1986)
Final guest Doctor Who appearance: Dimensions in Time Part 2 (1993) Following training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Colin Baker made his television debut at the beginning of the 1970s, winning early roles in The Adventures of Don Quick, Happy Ever After and a noted supporting appearance in a BBC adaptation of The Road to Freedom. During this period, Baker shared a flat with David Troughton, the son of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, and was best man at his wedding.
Two years later, Baker starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in the acclaimed War and Peace, playing Anatole Kuragin. It was his casting in 1974 as Paul Merroney in the popular BBC drama The Brothers that gave Baker long-lasting TV notoriety. His villainous turn as the ruthless businessman made him a star, with the character voted the most hated man in Britain.
Baker’s reputation for playing villains led to the space pirate Bayban the Butcher in a 1980 episode of Blake’s 7. In 1983 he became the only actor to appear as a different character in Doctor Who on television prior to being cast as the Doctor. The arch Commander Maxil in Arc of Infinity led in turn to his casting as the Sixth Doctor when Peter Davison left the role. Baker’s sharp wit kept guests entertained at a wedding attended by members of the Doctor Who production team, including producer John Nathan-Turner, who knew he’d found his Doctor.