Colin Baker was born in 1943 in the Royal Waterloo Lying-In Hospital in London during an air raid. He spent his earliest years in London with his mother, while his father served in the armed forces. He narrowly avoided an early death during the wartime blitz when a piece of flying shrapnel just missed him, embedding itself in the side of his cot. After the war, Baker's father took a job as managing director of an asbestos company in Manchester. The family moved north to live in Rochdale, although Baker attended school in Manchester. It was during his early schooling that - through the mother of one of his fellow pupils, who was a casting director at Granada TV - he had his first experience of acting. It was 1954 and the series was called _"My Wife's Sister" Video, alongside a number of other actors known for their work on "Doctor Who".
He is one of three "Doctor Who" actors who portrayed the Doctor on television to appear in an episode of "Casualty" . (So far, he has appeared twice - once on September 15, 1989 and once on January 3, 1998.) The others are Sylvester McCoy and Christopher Eccleston.
He was the first actor to play the Doctor in "Doctor Who" who had previously had a role in the series (as Commander Maxil in "Doctor Who" {Arc of Infinity: Part One (#20.1)} ). This did not happen again until Peter Capaldi won the role of the 12th Doctor. Baker was considered for several roles in "Doctor Who" before he was cast as Commander Maxil. He was shortlisted for Cotton in "Doctor Who" {The Mutants: Episode One (#9.15)} , which went to Rick James. He was considered for the role of Jellicoe in Tom Baker s opener "Doctor Who" {Robot: Part One (#12.1)} , which went to Alec Linstead. He was also considered for Commander Scott in "Doctor Who" {Earthshock: Part One } , which went to James Warwick. Before being cast as Commander Maxil, he was first considered for "The Castellan".
He is the Founder Patron for the "Go For Its" Theatre School in Teddington, Middlesex, England.
He studied to become a lawyer before deciding to take up a career in acting.
He was the roommate of David Troughton , the first son of the Second Doctor Patrick Troughton , and later became the best man at his wedding.
After the death of his son Jack in 1983, he became active in increasing the profile of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). He has raised funds for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths.
Baker was the only actor ever to have been fired from playing the Doctor in "Doctor Who" due to dwindling ratings. In an unprecedented event in the history of the series, the decision to remove the actor was made by a BBC executive, BBC One Controller Michael Grade , who had just brought the series back after an 18-month hiatus. Series producer John Nathan-Turner , who had originally cast Baker, wanted the actor to continue in the role but was overruled. The BBCs Head of Drama, Jonathan Powell , asked Baker to return the following year to record a regeneration scene. As a compromise, Baker asked for one more season, at the end of which he would regenerate. Powell told him to go home and they would think about it. Baker never heard back, so Sylvester McCoy put on a blond wig and performed Bakers regeneration scene after he took the role of the Doctor. Baker has since stated that he has always felt aggrieved that Grade never told him personally why he had to go.
He is the ex-son-in-law of David Goddard.
He is of Irish ancestry on his mothers side.
His beginning as the Sixth Doctor in "Doctor Who" came at a troubled time for the production of the series, not least the deteriorating relationship between producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Eric Saward and the arrival of BBC One controller Michael Grade and the promotion to Head of Series and Serials of Jonathan Powell , both of whom disliked the series and science fiction in general. He has also admitted to never liking the deliberately tasteless costume he wore (a garish, multi-coloured patchwork coat, a large spotted cravat and striped yellow trousers) but it was chosen by Nathan-Turner. The series former script editor, Terrance Dicks , later said Baker "never got a chance with that silly costume, which I thought was a great shame".
Despite being generally seen as one of the least popular television Doctors, in recent years his popularity among the "Doctor Who" fanbase has experienced a resurgence thanks to his performances in the audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions. In a Doctor Who Magazine poll, he was voted the best actor to play the Doctor in this format. He was also elected as the Honorary President of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society in 2011, succeeding the late Nicholas Courtney.
He was the second actor called Baker to play the Doctor after Tom Baker , who was no relation.
He participated in the 12th series of "Im a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" in 2012, finishing 8th out of 12 celebrities.
He had been a keen viewer of "Doctor Who" since the first episode and claimed it was his dream role. Unlike his predecessor Peter Davison , he accepted the offer to play the role without any hesitation. He is also the only actor to admit that he had every intention to overtake Tom Baker s seven-year stint in the role (a record which still stands to this day).
"The Fast Show" character Colin Hunt is modeled after Colin Baker.
He is the father of Lucy Baker , Bindy Baker , Lally Baker and Rosie Baker.
He related the character of the Doctor to a quote from Rudyard Kipling "I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me". This made him decide to wear a different cat badge on his costume in each story arc. He subsequently received a lot more cat badges from fans in the mail. When he played the Doctor on stage in 1989 these gifts gave him the opportunity to wear a different badge in every single performance.
He was considered for the role of Caine in Lifeforce .
As incumbent Time Lord in the mid-1980s, his duties included opening Blackpool Pleasure Beachs Space Invader ride on Tuesday 21st August 1984, and officiating at British Telecoms Speaking Clock switch-over (from Pat Simmons to [link+nm0167857]) on Tuesday 2nd April 1985.
In that respect I took a deep breath and threw myself into it.
I never turn down scripts without good reason. If I did, I would,probably never work.
[in 2017] The planet is not a nice place to be at the moment and people,want to escape into a fantasy world. When times are good, the,popularity of fantasy-type programmes drops. .
