31 Facts About Colin Baker

Colin Baker was born on 8 June 1943 and is an English actor who played Paul Merroney in the BBC drama series The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1984 to 1986.

Colin Baker moved north to Rochdale with his family when he was three years old.

Colin Baker was educated at St Bede's College, Manchester, where he passed A' Levels in French, Latin and Greek.

Particularly strong in Latin and Greek, Colin Baker achieved 2 A grades.

Colin Baker studied law at a London college and subsequently trained to become a solicitor.

At the age of 23, Colin Baker enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Colin Baker made his first appearance in Doctor Who as Commander Maxil in the Peter Davison-era story Arc of Infinity.

Colin Baker then became the second of three actors to be cast as the Doctor by producer John Nathan-Turner.

Colin Baker then made his full story debut the following week in The Twin Dilemma.

Colin Baker's era was interrupted by an 18-month hiatus which was announced in February 1985, midway through transmission of Season 22, his first full season.

Colin Baker was removed from the part after starring in only eleven stories and just short of three years in the series, including the hiatus, making his tenure as the Doctor the shortest at that point.

Colin Baker offered to do the entirety of the following season and regenerate at its conclusion, but the BBC never responded to his letter.

On 4 September 2011 at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, Colin Baker accepted the presidency of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, which had previously been held by Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney.

Colin Baker was elected following an online poll of the society's members where he won more votes than all the other candidates combined.

In 1992, Colin Baker became the first Doctor to write a published Doctor Who story, The Deal, as part of Doctor Who Magazines Brief Encounters series.

Colin Baker wrote a second Brief Encounter the following year.

In 1994 Colin Baker wrote a comic strip, The Age of Chaos featuring the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher, and in 2001 contributed a story entitled "The Wings of A Butterfly" to a charity short story anthology based on Doctor Who, "Missing Pieces".

Colin Baker has reprised the role on television only twice after his official run ended, in the 1993 Children in Need charity special Dimensions in Time alongside Pertwee, Tom Colin Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy, and in the 2022 special "The Power of the Doctor" alongside David Bradley, Davison, Paul McGann, McCoy and Jodie Whittaker.

In 1997, Colin Baker provided audio dialogue for the BBC video game Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors.

Colin Baker reprised the role of Commander Maxil in the Gallifrey audio series story "Appropriation" in 2006; in 2022, he played alternate versions of the Fifth Doctor in the Doctor Who Unbound series and the Curator in The Eighth Doctor Adventures.

In recent years, Colin Baker has appeared on a number of DVD releases of his episodes, featuring in either "making-of" documentaries or commentaries.

In November 2013, Colin Baker co-starred in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five Doctors Reboot.

Since leaving Doctor Who Colin Baker has spent much of his time on the stage with appearances throughout the country in plays as diverse as Peter Nichols' Privates on Parade, Ira Levin's Deathtrap, Ray Cooney's Run for Your Wife and Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden.

In 1991, Colin Baker played a Doctor-like character in the BBV video series The Stranger.

In 2003, Colin Baker appeared on Top Gear, participating on a one-lap run on the Top Gear track in a Honda Civic hatchback.

Colin Baker competed against a Klingon, a Cyberman, a Dalek, Darth Vader and Ming the Merciless.

Colin Baker came in 4th position, with the Cyberman coming 1st.

Away from his Doctor Who work for Big Finish Productions, Colin Baker appeared in the audio dramas Sapphire and Steel: The Mystery of the Missing Hour and the 3 part Earthsearch Mindwarp.

Since 1995 Colin Baker has written a regular weekly column for local newspaper Bucks Free Press.

Colin Baker participated in the 12th series of I'm a Celebrity.

Colin Baker is a critic of fox hunting and was among more than 20 high-profile people who signed a letter to members of parliament in 2015 to oppose Conservative prime minister David Cameron's plan to amend the Hunting Act 2004.