10 Facts about Colin Baker!

10 Facts about Colin Baker

1. Colin Baker was originally born in London, but moved north to Rochdale with his family early in his life.

2. He originally studied to become a solicitor but at age of 23, he decided to become an Actor and enrolled at LAMDA, where he studied alongside David Suchet

3. Colin made his first appearance in ‘Doctor Who’ in Peter Davison’s Story ‘Arc of Infinity’ in 1983 as Commander Maxil who was one of the few characters actually to shoot the Doctor.

4. Colin Baker is NOT related in any way to Tom Baker, who played the 4th Doctor for 7 years from 1974 to 1981.

5. Baker then made his first full story debut the following week in The Twin Dilemma. It was the second time that a new leading actor's debut story was shown before the end of the season. This first happened when William Hartnell (The 1st Doctor) regenerated into Patrick Troughton (The 2nd Doctor) in 1966.

6. Colin's era was interrupted by a long 18 month hiatus which was announced in February 1985, mid-way through transmission of his first full season. Controller of BBC One at the time was Michael Grade who criticised ‘Doctor Who’, saying that, the programme had become overly violent.

7. After the 18-month hiatus, the programme returned for its 23rd season in the autumn of 1986. Season 23 featured a 14 episode long serial called ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. This serial was a reference to the fact that ‘Doctor Who’ itself was "on trial" at this time.

8. In 1986, Baker told an interviewer, "Tom Baker did it for seven years. ... There's a part of me which likes to have a tilt at records. I would like to think that maybe I'd still be doing it in eight years' time." However, later that year Baker was fired from the part as the BBC wanted to refresh the show.

9. Despite Baker's time in the role being punctuated with many personal and professional problems like the death of his son Jack shortly after Colin accepted the role and the 18 month Hiatus, Colin remains enthusiastic about his time as the Doctor and is a regular at conventions and fan events.

10. On Sunday 4th September 2011 at Riverside Studios In London, Colin accepted the presidency of 'The Doctor Who Appreciation Society' following Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney in the role. Colin was elected following an online poll of the Society's members where he won more votes than all the other candidates combined.