ACTOR
Tom Baker
- Known for
- Doctor Who (1963), Little Britain (2003), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), The Vault of Horror (1973)
31 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Tom Baker is an actor best known for Doctor Who, Little Britain and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
All facts (31)
- #001
Tom Baker is the longest-serving actor to play the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963), appearing in a total of 172 episodes across seven seasons from 1974 to 1981. Second place goes to his predecessor Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor for five seasons from 1970 to 1974.
- #002
In his youth, Tom Baker spent six years as a novice monk, living in a monastery on the island of Jersey.
- #003
Tom Baker did not begin acting until he was in his thirties.
- #004
Laurence Olivier recommended him for the role of Grigori Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), having worked with him at the National Theatre.
- #005
Known for his rich, resonant voice, Tom Baker did a great deal of voice work throughout his career after Doctor Who (1963), including many television commercials in the United Kingdom.
- #006
In 2006, he was voted the world's fourth most eccentric star by around 6,000 readers of the BBC's Homes and Antiques magazine.
- #007
A 2005 survey of British adults found that Baker's voice was the fourth most recognisable, after those of Queen Elizabeth II, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.
- #008
He was working as a bricklayer and was between houses when he was cast as the Fourth Doctor.
- #009
During his Doctor Who years, he continued to spend much of his free time drinking heavily in London's pubs and bars, and his drinking companions included the artist Francis Bacon, the journalist Jeffrey Barnard and Anthony Hopkins. He finally gave up this lifestyle in the 1980s when he moved to Kent with his future wife Sue Jerrard.
- #010
During his two years of National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, he served as curator of a small museum at his base that no one visited, and then as an orderly at a military hospital in Germany.
- #011
After his hair turned white, he claimed that the public confused him with his Doctor Who predecessor Jon Pertwee.
- #012
The Doctor's incarnation appeared several times as a silent guest character in both The Simpsons (1989) and Futurama (1999). Matt Groening is said to be a Doctor Who (1963) fan. Baker himself, however, never guest-starred in either programme.
- #013
Baker was a largely unknown, unemployed actor and had written to the BBC looking for work shortly before he was cast in his most famous role as the star of Doctor Who (1963). His appointment as Jon Pertwee's successor came after series producer Barry Letts had already considered more famous actors for the role, including Jim Dale, Richard Hearne, Michael Bentine, Graham Crowden, Fulton Mackay and Bernard Cribbins, all of whom were passed over for various reasons. Letts was impressed by his performance as the villain Koura in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973).
- #014
After leaving Doctor Who (1963), Elisabeth Sladen became withdrawn and despondent. When her successor Louise Jameson felt she was being treated badly during her first season, she confronted him about it. After the conversation, their working relationship began to improve.
- #015
A headstone bearing his name and year of birth already exists (with the year of death left blank). It stood in the cemetery next to the converted school building where he lived before he moved.
- #016
He has two children with Anna Wheatcroft: Daniel and Piers.
- #017
For more than 20 years since Jon Pertwee's death on 20 May 1996 at the age of 76, Tom Baker has been both the oldest and the earliest surviving Doctor from Doctor Who (1963). He has also outlived three actors who were his regular companions on the series: Ian Marter, Elisabeth Sladen and Mary Tamm.
- #018
Tom Baker married his Doctor Who (1963) co-star Lalla Ward, who played the Doctor's companion Romana, when both were leaving the programme. They divorced 16 months later. She later married Richard Dawkins, one of the world's leading advocates of atheism. Baker was once an apprentice Catholic monk but has since rejected religion and has spoken disparagingly about the religious teachings he received in his youth.
- #019
Tom Baker and his wife Sue Jerrard Baker returned to England in 2006 after living in south-west France for four years.
- #020
Tom Baker was considered for the cameo role of Doctor Armstrong in Lifeforce (1985). The role ultimately went to Patrick Stewart.
- #021
Tom Baker is not related to Colin Baker, the sixth actor to play the Doctor.
- #022
Tom Baker is the son of John Stewart Baker and Mary Jane (Fleming). Baker's paternal grandparents were Thomas Victor Baker, the son of a farmer, and Sarah Grieve, who was of Scottish origin and the daughter of Robert Grieve and Agnes Stewart. His maternal grandfather, William Henry Fleming, was born in Liverpool to Irish parents, Bridget and John Fleming. His maternal grandmother, Christina Usher, was also born in Liverpool, to James Usher of Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, and Rose Ann Colligan, who was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and was of Irish origin.
- #023
Tom Baker trained at the Rose Bruford Drama School in Sidcup, Kent, alongside Freddie Jones. Later attendees included the actors Ray Fearon, Gary Oldman and Stephen Armourae.
- #024
According to numerous accounts from directors and other actors, Tom Baker gained a reputation on the set of Doctor Who (1963) as someone difficult to work with. Lalla Ward said he was notoriously "scathing" when he disliked anything about a script, and that writers dared not attend script readings that he himself was part of. She said he could be "absolutely lethal" towards directors, but that she never heard him say anything bad about other actors.
- #025
Tom Baker has performed on stage at the National Theatre, the Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- #026
In 2016 Tom Baker gave his final interview to Doctor Who Magazine.
- #027
Among all the actors who have played the iconic role of the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963), Tom Baker is the only one who has also played the equally iconic role of Sherlock Holmes.
- #028
Following William Russell's death in 2024, Tom Baker became the oldest living regular cast member of Doctor Who (1963).
- #029
Towards the end of his time on Doctor Who (1963), Tom Baker grew restless and eager to move on to other work, and he disliked the changes new producer John Nathan-Turner made to the series.
- #030
The uncle of Tom Baker's first wife was the famous English rose grower Harry Wheatcroft.
- #031
Tom Baker was appointed MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2025 King's New Year Honours for services to television. He is a writer and actor living in Maidstone, Kent, England.
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