Sixth Doctor

The Sixth Doctor is the name given to the sixth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Colin Baker.

Personality

After the vulnerable and human Fifth Doctor, the Sixth was a swing back to unpredictability, with a volatile and loud personality, matched by his choice of dress. The Sixth Doctor's clothes continued producer John Nathan-Turner's idea of an easily identifiable "uniform" for the regular characters. To set the Sixth Doctor apart from his predecessor, Nathan-Turner called for a "totally tasteless" costume. The crazy-quilt coat of many colours was the result.

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Like the clashing colours of his costume, the Sixth Doctor was a bundle of contradictions; arrogant, vain, tactless and melodramatic, but beneath that exhibited the same deep moral centre of his predecessors which expressed outrage at injustice directed against innocents — albeit expressed louder than most. For example, he showed compassion towards a dying mutant in Revelation of the Daleks and later was outraged at the immorality of Davros's actions in the same story.

Related Topics:
Revelation of the Daleks - Davros

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He was also not averse to using violence, on one occasion shooting Cybermen with a laser rifle (Attack of the Cybermen), on another causing a guard to fall into an acid bath (Vengeance on Varos), and on another killing the cannibalistic chef Shockeye with cyanide (The Two Doctors). In general, however, he used his wit and charm to defeat his foes. The occasions when he used lethal force against his adversaries were criticised, but arguably those actions were either in self-defence or accidental.

Related Topics:
Cybermen - Attack of the Cybermen - Acid - Vengeance on Varos - Cannibal - Cyanide - The Two Doctors

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The events surrounding the production of Doctor Who in the mid-1980s meant that the Sixth Doctor's tenure was cut short, and for a long time Colin Baker bore the brunt of the blame as the "unlikeable" Doctor. However, the Sixth Doctor's return in the Big Finish Productions audio plays, voiced by Baker, have gone some way to changing this impression, with the Sixth Doctor appearing to be a somewhat calmer, wittier and altogether happier character. In a 2001 poll in Doctor Who Magazine, Baker was voted the "greatest Doctor" of the audio plays.

Related Topics:
Big Finish Productions - 2001 - Doctor Who Magazine

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