Early life

Baker was born in Scotland Road, Liverpool, Lancashire. His parents were working class; his mother, Mary Jane (née Fleming), a cleaner, was a devout Catholic, and his father, John Stewart Baker, was a seaman. Baker attended Cheswardine Boarding School. At 15 he became a novice monk with the Roman Catholic Brothers of Ploermel in Jersey and later in Shropshire, but left the monastery six years later after losing his faith. As he wrote in his autobiography 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. At the same time, he took up acting, first as a hobby but he turned professional towards the end of the 1960s.

Career

Early work

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Baker was part of the National Theatre Company, then headed by Laurence Olivier, and had his first big film break with the role of Grigori Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) 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 (1973) and as Koura, the villainous sorcerer, in Ray Harryhausen's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973).

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 (particularly his trademark long scarf and fondness for jelly babies), 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 seasons, 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; 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 Tom Baker (1974-81) 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 (then the incumbent Doctor), and twice to incumbent David Tennant in 2006 and 2009. Many of the stories of 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. Baker was also the first actor to play the Doctor to be seen in the United States. However, the violent tone of the stories produced by Letts' successor, Philip Hinchcliffe, saw the series come under heavy criticism at home 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 Hinchcliffe's flair. He has acknowledged that his final producer on the series, John Nathan-Turner, made changes he didn't agree with and they "did not see eye-to-eye really about very much". He said they became good friends afterwards and forgot their disagreements. Baker did suggest he may have stayed in the role for one series too many.

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 Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors. 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 2006 interview with The Sun newspaper, he claims that he has not watched any episodes of the new series because he "just can't be bothered". 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 (and sometimes the BBC), Baker had declined to voice the Doctor until 2009, claiming that he hadn't 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 well-known author Paul Magrs. He returns 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 (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.

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 (Louise Jameson) and Romana I (Mary Tamm). 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 (for which special permission was obtained from the producers of The Sarah Jane Adventures TV series), but Sladen died in April 2011 before any stories could be recorded.

Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, "Doctor Who (Classic Novels)". 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 (released 4 February 2008), Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (released on 7 April 2008) and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars (released 14 August 2008). In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Last Word to pay tribute to the 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".

He returned to the show in the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, in 2013, playing a character who calls himself The Curator. On 20 November 2013, Baker revealed that he would appear, 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 straightaway." The episode saw Baker in the role of a mysterious curator in the National Gallery.

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". Much later, 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. 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."

According to the Daily Mirror, Baker's appearance made him a cult figure once again, and helped revive his career. He 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 (2000).

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 to 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 Britain's 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: "Hello, telly viewers. You're watching the BBC One! In half an hour, Jenny Dickens's classic serial Bleak House. But first let's see what the poor people are up to in the first of two visits this evening to the EastEnders."

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 (1996), "Josiah Bounderby" in Charles Dickens' Hard Times (1998) 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 (a pastiche series written by Bert Coules) in the 2002 episode "The Saviour of Cripplegate Square". From 2000 to 2005 Tom voiced the character Max Bear in the Channel 4 (UK) Max Bear Productions animated series. More recently, he 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: (The Auntie Matter, The Sands of Life, War Against the Laan, The Justice of Jalxar, Phantoms of the Deep, The Dalek Contract and The Final Phase).

Video games

Baker starred as the Fourth Doctor in the 1997 video game Destiny of the Doctors. His voice has also been featured in Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (2000), Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (2003), "Sudeki" (2004), Cold Winter (2005), MediEvil: Resurrection, Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, and Little Britain: The Video Game (2007).

Narration

Baker is a prolific voiceover artist and his voice was voted as the fourth most recognisable in the UK 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, Baker 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 (2000) 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 (Part Two)" 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 (UK Terrestrial) 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? (ISBN 0-00-638854-X), 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 (ISBN 0-571-19771-X). In 1981 he edited a collection of poems for children: "Never Wear Your Wellies in the House and Other Poems to Make You Laugh" (ISBN 0-09-927340-3).

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 (directed by Michael Blakemore).

After playing the horse in the The Travails of Sancho Panza (directed by Joan Plowright), 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.

Personal life

Baker's first marriage in 1961 was to Anna Wheatcroft, niece of rose grower Harry Wheatcroft. They had two sons, Daniel and Piers, but divorced in 1966. Baker lost contact with his sons until a chance meeting with Piers in a pub in New Zealand allowed them to renew their relationship. In December 1980, he married Lalla Ward, who had co-starred in Doctor Who (playing his companion Romana) with him for two years. However, the marriage lasted only 16 months.

In 1986, Baker married for a third time, this time 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 (2000-2001) of Randall and Hopkirk. In November 2006, Baker returned to live in England, initially buying a house in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, before later moving to East Sussex.

Baker is sceptical of religion and describes himself as irreligious, or occasionally as Buddhist, but not anti-religious. He states: "People are quite happy believing the wrong things. I wasn't unhappy believing all that shit. Now I'm not unhappy thinking about it because I can laugh at it." 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

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	The Winter's Tale
1971	Nicholas and Alexandra	Rasputin
1972	The Canterbury Tales	Jenkin
1973	Cari Genitori	Karl
1973	The Vault of Horror	Moore
1973	Luther	Pope Leo X	Doesn't appear in some versions of the film
1973	Frankenstein: The True Story	Sea captain
1973	The Golden Voyage of Sinbad	Koura
1974	The Mutations	Lynch
1980	The Curse of King Tut's Tomb	Hasan
1984	The Passionate Pilgrim	Sir Tom	Short film
1984	The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood	Sir Guy de Gisbourne
1998	Backtime	Sarge
2000	Dungeons & Dragons	Halvarth
2005	The Magic Roundabout	Zeebad	Voice
2010	The Genie in the Bottle	Narrator	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Dixon of Dock Green	The man	Episode: "The Attack"
1968	Market in Honey Lane	Doorman	Episode: "The Matchmakers"
1968	George and the Dragon	Porter	Episode: "The 10:15 Train"
1968	Z-Cars	Harry Russell	Episode: "Hudson's Way"
1968	Dixon of Dock Green	Foreman	Episode: "Number 13"
1969	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Corporal Schabe	Episode: "The Victims: Frontier"
1970	Softly, Softly	Site foreman	Episode: "Like Any Other Friday"
1972	Play of the Month	Dr. Ahmed el Kabir	Episode: "The Millionairess"
1973	Arthur of the Britons	Brandreth / Gavron	Episode: "Go Warily"
1974-1981	Doctor Who	The Doctor	172 episodes
1975	Jim'll Fix It	The Doctor	1 episode
1976	Piccadilly Circus	Mark Ambient
1977	Nouvelles de Henry James	Mark Ambient
1978	Late Night Story	Host	4 episodes
1979	The Book Tower	Presenter	22 episodes
1982	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Sherlock Holmes
1983	Jemima Shore Investigates	Dr. Norman Ziegler	Episode: "Dr. Ziegler's Casebook"
1983	Doctor Who	The Doctor	Episode: "The Five Doctors" Archive footage only
1984	Remington Steele	Anatole Blaylock	Episode: "Hounded Steele"
1985	Jackanory	Storyteller	Episode: "The Iron Man"
1986	The Life and Loves of a She-Devil	Father Ferguson	Episode 4
1986	Blackadder II	Captain Redbeard Rum	Episode: "Potato"
1986	The Kenny Everett Television Show	Patient/John Thompson/Blu-Tac/Tom	Season 1, Episode 2
1990	The Silver Chair	Puddleglum
1990	Tales of Aesop	Narrator
1990	Hyperland	Software agent
1990	Boom	Co-presenter
1991	Selling Hitler	Manfred Fischer	4 episodes
1992	Cluedo	Professor Plum	6 episodes
1992	Screen Two	Sir Lionel Sweeting	Episode: "The Law Lord"
1992-1995	Medics	Professor Geoffrey Hoyt	34 episodes
1993	Doctor Who	The Doctor	Episode: "Dimensions in Time"
1994	The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show	Actor in supermarket	Cameo
1998	Have I Got News for You	Himself
2000	This Is Your Life	Himself
2000	The Canterbury Tales	Simpkin	Voice only. Episode: "The Journey Back"
2000	Max Bear	Max Bear	Voice only
2000-2001	Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)	Professor Wyvern	10 episodes
2001	Fun at the Funeral Parlour	Quimby	Episode: "The Jaws of Doom"
2003	Swiss Toni	Derek Asquith	Episode: "Cars Don't Make You Fat"
2003	2DTV	The Doctor	Voice only. Series 4, Episode 1
2003	Strange	Father Bernard	Episode: "Asmoth"
2003	Fort Boyard	Captain Baker	20 episodes
2003-2006	Little Britain	Narrator	36 episodes
2004	The Little Reindeer	Santa Claus	Voice
2004-2005	Monarch of the Glen	Donald MacDonald	12 episodes
2006	The Secret Show	Robert Baron	Voice only. Episode: "The Secret Room"
2007	Agatha Christie's Marple	Frederick Treves	Episode: "Towards Zero"
2007-2008	The Beeps	Narrator	45 episodes
2008	Little Britain USA	Narrator	6 episodes
2008	Have I Got News for You	Himself
2010	Tom Baker: In Confidence	Himself	Interviewed by Professor Laurie Taylor
2013	Doctor Who	National Gallery Curator/ The Doctor	Episode: "The Day of the Doctor"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Destiny of the Doctors	The Doctor	Voice and likeness
2000	Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future	Narrator	Voice
2001	Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising	Narrator	Voice
2003	Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior	Narrator	Voice
2004	Sudeki	Narrator	Voice
2005	Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition	Narrator	Voice
2005	MediEvil: Resurrection	Death	Voice
2006	Cold Winter	John Gray	Voice
2006	Little Britain: The Game	Narrator	Voice
2007	Little Britain: The Video Game	Narrator	Voice
2015	Lego Dimensions	The Doctor	Voice; archive sound

Radio

Year	Title	Role
1994	The Russia House	Barley Blair
1994	Lost Empires	Nick Ollanton
1998	Hard Times	Josiah Bounderby
1999	Nicholas Nickleby	Vincent Crummles
2009	Hornets' Nest	The Doctor
2010	Demon Quest	The Doctor
2011	Serpent Crest	The Doctor
2015	Sky Adverts	Himself

Audio Plays

Year	Title	Role
2011	The Fourth Doctor Boxset	The Doctor
2012-16	The Fourth Doctor Adventures	The Doctor
2013	The Light at the End	The Doctor

Bibliography

Year	Title	Notes
1997	Who on Earth is Tom Baker?	ISBN 0-00-638854-X
1999	The Boy Who Kicked Pigs	ISBN 0-571-19771-X

In popular culture

• English synthpop band the Human League recorded a tribute track to the actor entitled "Tom Baker". In 1981 it was released as the B-side to their "Boys and Girls" single. The instrumental track was re-released on some CD versions of their Travelogue album.
• A cartoon Tom Baker, as one of the "esteemed representatives of television", appeared as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in The Simpsons episodes "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", "Treehouse of Horror X", and "Mayored to the Mob".
• His distinctive voice has become a gift for impressionists such as Jon Culshaw, who regularly impersonates Baker in the comedy series Dead Ringers: in one episode, he makes a prank call to Baker in character as the Doctor, which prompts the memorable reaction from the real Baker: "No, no, there must be a mistake, I'm the Doctor." Similarly, when Culshaw called another Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, in character, he got the response: "Tom? Is that you? Have you been down the pub?" Other typical "in character" send-ups for Culshaw would include asking a garage engineer to convert his TARDIS to unleaded and complaining of the 400-year journey time from Euston to Glasgow by train.
• A cartoon version of him appears in The Beast with a Billion Backs, one of the Futurama movies. His cartoon also appears in the Futurama episodes "Mobius Dick" and "All the Presidents' Heads".
• Baker is also referred to in pages 101-104 of the Kevin Sampson fiction novel Awaydays. In this story he is attending the seventh International Doctor Who Convention in Halifax in December 1979, where the chief protagonists of the novel (a group of Tranmere Rovers hooligans) accidentally gatecrash. They then befriend him and try to persuade him to tour the country as Doctor Who setting fire to his farts. This scene wasn't included in the film version of the novel. In the DVD of the film the producer wanted to include extras with scenes of Baker in Doctor Who in it from the time but the BBC weren't forthcoming because of the violent nature of the film.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]