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Revisiting Tom Baker’s era of ‘Doctor Who’

Closing thoughts

Doctor Who Tom Baker
Credit: BBC

My overall verdict is, simply because of his magnificent and unrivalled opening three seasons, Tom Baker has been my favourite Doctor so far. Despite that, there are as many misses as hits in Tom’s final four seasons and there are periods, particularly in Season Fifteen, when you have to sit through an awful lot of mediocrity or worse before finding a gem. The lack of money sloshing around from the mid-70s onwards cheapened the show, and the shoddy production values inevitably contributed to the synonymous journalistic stock phrase of “wobbly sets”. By the end of the era, the show looked higher budget again, even though it didn’t have more money spent on it. But an older, more sombre Tom only occasionally revealed the sparkle that viewers had taken to their hearts. It was definitely time to move on, allowing the show to go off in a new direction. There is no shame in this. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone, even Time Lords. Tom Baker can always look back on his time on the show and know, through the iconic character he created, why he took ‘Doctor Who’ to whole new levels of international popularity. Good? He was brilliant…

Next up, we visit the Peter Davison era of 1982-84. See our recap of the Jon Pertwee era.

Greg Jameson
Greg Jameson
Book editor, with an interest in cult TV.

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