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The Sixth Doctor - short end of the stick?

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« on: January 13, 2011, 09:27:28 am »

This is one of my biggest hobby-horses in the whole of the Whoniverse. Colin Baker is a wonderful actor and a brilliant foil to Peter Davison's Doctor. He was dealt a dreadful hand at a time when it seemed that nobody (including some of those working on it) liked the show at all. At this time, Michael Grade had started mentioning cancelling it, the budget was severely cut, John Nathan-Turner had started looking at his career away from the show. His relationship with Eric Saward had collapsed and the script editor was having terrible trouble finding anyone who wanted to write for the show.

CB was taking over from a hugely popular and much loved character actor, Peter Davison, whose Doctor was affable and appealing. The Twin Dilemma provided a controversial (i.e. no one liked it) opener to his tenure and really set the tone in a negative way. Vengeance on Varos gave us a glimpse of promise but it wasn't until Robert Holmes got his hands on the "Two Doctors" that we really saw just how good CB could have been. Then, in the midst of what was one of the worst production decisions in the history of the show, CB almost single handedly rescued "The Trial of a Timelord" producing some brilliant performances (Terror of the Vervoids is a story that stands up with any classic Who and would have graced the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era.

If you need any further convincing then go on to the Big Finish website and purchase 'Jubilee' written by Rob Shearman. This story was the basis of the brilliant 9th Doctor episode, 'Dalek' and is a triumph for CB. Indeed, the Big Finish series provide some of CB's finest hours as the Doctor and show just what a versatile and charismatic actor Colin Baker can be given good material. Outside of the role he has always been very happy to engage with the fans and has handled himself with good humour and shows genuine respect for the show. I had the privilege of meeting him a few years ago, shared a glass of wine with him and found him friendly, entertaining and actually very appreciative of what 'Who' had done for him. That approach contrasts very favourably with some of the others who have played the Doctor.

His tenure was very much like the girl with the curl "When he was good he was very very good and when he was bad he was horrid." The real tragedy of Baker's tenure is the tendency of some to focus on the horrid and neglect some of the finest moments seen in the Classic series. A very good OP from TFD and I'm grateful for a chance to pay tribute to Colin Baker's contribution to the show.
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