Tom Baker

Thomas Stewart Baker (born January 20, 1934) is a British actor, mainly associated with playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, whom he played from 1974 to 1981.

Post Doctor Who career

Baker has played character parts on television (including Captain Redbeard Rum in the second series Blackadder episode "Potato" and Puddleglum in the BBC's production of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair) and radio (including John Mortimer Presents the Trials of Marshall Hall in which Baker plays Britain's most celebrated criminal barrister, Sir Edward Marshall Hall.)

Related Topics:
Blackadder - Puddleglum - BBC - The Chronicles of Narnia - The Silver Chair

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He has also hosted the children's literature show The Book Tower. He became mostly known, however, for doing advertising voiceovers. Baker's distinctive voice has become a gift for impressionists, and he is regularly impersonated in the popular comedy series Dead Ringers.

Related Topics:
The Book Tower - Dead Ringers

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In the 1990s, he played Professor Geoffrey Hoyt in Medics and had a recurring role in the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer revival of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). (Reeves later bought Baker's school house when he moved to France.) He also had a part in the 2001 BBC Radio 4 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps as Sir Walter Bullivant and narrated the BBC radio comedy series Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World and later Little Britain. He continues to narrate the television series of the same name.

Related Topics:
1990s - Medics - Vic Reeves - Bob Mortimer - Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 2001 - BBC Radio 4 - The Thirty-Nine Steps - Little Britain

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Also in the early 2000s, it was reported that Baker was a candidate for the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films.

Related Topics:
Gandalf - Lord of the Rings

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In 2002 he also had a speaking role in the critically-acclaimed but commercial flop Hostile Waters as the Narrator.

Related Topics:
2002 - Hostile Waters

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In 2004, Baker completed filming a season of Monarch of the Glen, a BBC drama series. He plays Donald McDonald, an eccentric former race car champion who, having been away since early childhood, returns home after hearing of the death of his brother Hector (who was played by Richard Briers until his departure at the end of the previous season). Most recently, he voiced the role of the villain ZeeBadDee in the computer-animated film version of The Magic Roundabout.

Related Topics:
2004 - Monarch of the Glen - Richard Briers - The Magic Roundabout

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He continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries like The Story of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential and giving interviews about his time on the programme. Although he reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, he has, to date, declined to follow his successors and reprise the role for any of the audio dramas based upon the series.

Related Topics:
Doctor Who Confidential - 1993 - Dimensions in Time

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