SIXTH DOCTOR
COLIN BAKER —1984-1986
The era of the Sixth Doctor was definitely not without controversy. First of all, Colin Baker was well-known from having played a villain on the British soap Brothers. Second, he previously appeared in Doctor Who (in "Arc of Infinity") as the Captain of the Guard, whose job it was to execute the Doctor! Third, there was a conscious effort to get back to the irrascibillity and unpredictability of the Hartnell Doctor in order to make a very distinct difference between Davison's and Colin's portrayals. Plus, he was simply given a horrible costume. And the quality of scripts was not always high. All these things conspired to make the Sixth Doctor one of the least favourites in the eyes of the fans.
Colin debuted at the end of Season 22, with the 6th story of the year being Peter Davison's swan song, and the 7th story, "The Twin Dilemma", Colin's debut. This regeneration did not go so well, and the Doctor was extremely unstable, subject to frightful fits of cowardice, rage, bravado, condescension, and general unpleasantness. He even at one point tried to strangle Peri. Not the best way to introduce your audience to a new Doctor. Its like he was set up for failure.
During his first proper season, he saw a return of both the Cybermen and the Daleks. And in spite of the brevity of the Sixth Doctor's tenure, his era still introduced us to two major recurring villains—Sil, a despicable, sniveling slug (literally!) who serves as the business negotiator for the Gallitron Mining Corporation, and the Rani, the sexy, brilliant, bitchy, haughty exiled Time Lord scientist, who has nothing but contempt for both the Doctor and the Master.
After Colin's first season, the show was taken off the air—forced into an 18-month hiatus. When the show returned, it had been pretty drastically altered: half the number of episodes per year. However, the budget was untouched, so while the season would be half as long, they basically had twice as much money per episode to spend.
They decided to make a real event out of the shortened season: Have an overarching storyline run through all 14 episodes. A set of scripts was written where the Doctor was once again placed on trial by the Time Lords, only this time, the sentence, if found guilty, would be execution. Presented as evidence are 3 seperate adventures, one each from the Doctor's past, present and future, with 2 final episodes tying up the courtroom drama.
The production was rife with problems. To start with, producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Eric Saward disagreed sharply on many of the aspects of the season and the individual scripts. Plus, Robert Holmes—who many consider to be the best story writer in Doctor Who's long history—was to write both the opening and closing stories for the season. He did not like the trial setting and didn't enjoy scripting it into his story. He sadly died before completing the second story, leaving behind notes and a draft of the final episode, which was completed very quickly by Pip and Jane Baker (with many alterations to and deviations from Holmes' notes).
Following the completion of this season, Colin Baker was fired. He was asked to return the following year to film the regeneration scene at the beginning of the first episode, but he rightly declined. The image below of the Sixth Doctor regenerating is actually Sylvester McCoy, at the beginning of the next season, in the Sixth Doctor's costume and a blonde wig.
When Big Finish Productions was formed and won a lisence from the BBC to produce original Doctor Who audio dramas, they approached Colin about reprising his role as the Sixth Doctor, promising him that his character would be given the kind of scripts that he should have been given on television. The result is that the Sixth Doctor has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance and a resurgence in popularity. And indeed, the Sixth Doctor has been at the centre of some of the most exciting, most innovative, and most enjoyable audios that Big Finish has to offer. Additonally, his much maligned companions, Peri and Mel, have also been written for exceptionally well, with care and intelligence.
| Season | Story Title | # of Episodes | Companions | Avg Ratings | Main threat |
| 21 | "The Twin Dilemma" | 4 | Peri | 7.1 million | |
| 22 | "Attack of the Cybermen" | 2* | Peri | 8.1 million | the Cybermen, Lytton |
| 22 | "Vengeance on Varos" | 2* | Peri | 7.1 million | Sil |
| 22 | "The Mark of the Rani" | 2* | Peri | 6.8 million | the Rani, the Master |
| 22 | "The Two Doctors" | 3* | Peri, Jamie | 6.5 million | the Androgum, the Sontarans |
| 22 | "Timelash" | 2* | Peri | 7.1 million | |
| 22 | "Revelation of the Daleks" | 2* | Peri | 7.5 million | the Daleks |
| 23 | "Trial of a Timelord": | 14 | 4.9 million | ||
| Pts 1 - 4: "The Mysterious Planet" |
4 | Peri | Sabalom Glitz, Drathro | ||
| Pts 5 - 8: "Mindwarp" | 4 | Peri |
Sil | ||
| Pts 9 - 12: "Terror of the Vervoids" | 4 | Mel |
the Vervoids | ||
| Pts 13 - 14: "The Ultimate Foe" | 2 | Mel | the Master, the Vale | ||
Recommended Viewing
Listed below are some of the standout stories from the Sixth Doctor era, hand selected by members of the Atlanta Gallifreyans. The titles are listed in order of most votes.
"The Two Doctors"
Starring Colin Baker (the Doctor) and Nicola Bryant (Peri) with Patrick Troughton (the Doctor) and Frazer Hines (Jamie)
The Doctor and Jamie are sent by the Time Lords to visit a scientific Think Tank in deep space they helped establish to protest about the dangerous time travel experiments being carried out there. It turns out to be a trap and the Doctor is caught. Later the (other) Doctor and Peri arrive to investigate the disappearance of the Doctor and Jamie, and are re-united with Jamie. Their investigations lead them to Earth where the Sontarans are backing a megalomanic scientist's dangerous experiments into time travel and genetic engineering.
Comments:
"I like the setting particularly and to me this is the best Doctor pairing. Sure, the cannabilism is grotesque, but there's lots of wonderful bits of humor and pathos." ~Susan F.
"good villians, an explanation of TARDIS workings, and one of the few stories where the Colin Baker Doctor is really clever." ~Roger
"This is another one that I'm very happy "got made"! Not only is it cool to see the 2nd Doctor and Jamie return to the show after all the intervening years, and it's neat to see the Sontarans again, but there are some great guest characters. Shockeye, Chessene, Dastari, Oscar, and Anita are all incredibly well portrayed and really add weight to the episode. It's a joy to watch Patrick Troughton (one of my favorite actors) bounce dialogue back & forth with first Laurence Payne (Dastari) and later John Stratton (Shockeye) as the both of them really have a grip on their respective characters. My only want is that Troughton could have had some more dialogue interplay with Jacqueline Pearce, whom I adore, but we can't have everything, can we? ;)? ~James
"I too thought CBaker and Troughton worked really well together, as did Frazer Hines and Nicola Bryant. And the setting is gorgeous. Yeah, this one too is top notch." ~Alan
****
"Trial of a Timelord: The Mysterious Planet"
Starring Colin Baker (the Doctor) and Nicola Bryant (Peri)
The Doctor and Peri arrive on the Earth in the distant future, only to find that civilisation is gone and only a small number of stone age tribes remain. However the Doctor soon discovers another race living underground and under the control of a manic robot who appears to be guarding a dark secret.
Comments:
"The best script Colin got and it was his best performance as the Doctor as well. Plus this story features two of Robert Holmes' best supporting characters. Holmes' scripts always feature really colourful, witty support characters, and Glitz and Dibber are my two favourites." ~Alan
****
"Mark of the Rani"
Starring Colin Baker (the Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Anthony Ainley (the Master), Kate O'Mara (the Rani)
The Doctor visits the home of Robert Stephenson at the start of the industrial revolution, and discovers that he has called together a meeting of all the great minds of his time. The Doctor is alarmed to discover that the Master, and an evil female Time Lord known as the Rani are present and behind a series of vicious luddite attacks. But what is their real motive in being on Earth at this period in it's history?
Comments:
"It introduced a fascinating new Time Lord character." ~Adam
****
"Revelation of the Daleks"
Starring Colin Baker (the Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Terry Molloy (Davros)
The Doctor and Peri arrive on Necros to attend the funeral of an old friend of the Doctor who has recently died. However, Tranquil Repose is not all it seems and an attempt is made on the Doctor's life. Soon the Doctor comes face to face with the Great Healer, only to discover it is none other than Davros, the creator of the Daleks, intent on rebuilding the Dalek race decimated by the Movellans.
Comments:
"I enjoy it. It's just fun for me to watch. I taped it off PBS in the eighties and rewatched it many times. " ~Susan F.
"Poor Colin Baker really didn't have a fair shot, did he? Another obvious choice, this one. Although the Doctor and Peri get sidelined for half the story, it still gets top marks in my book. How can you go wrong with the divine Eleanor Bron as a baddie? Everything about this story sparkles, and there's lots of lovely moments throughout. Shame about the Doctor's "I'll take you to B-" got frozen at the end!" ~Chad
****
"Vengence on Varos"
Starring Colin Baker (the Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri)
The Doctor and Peri arrive on Necros to attend the funeral of an old friend of the Doctor who has recently died. However, Tranquil Repose is not all it seems and an attempt is made on the Doctor's life. Soon the Doctor comes face to face with the Great Healer, only to discover it is none other than Davros, the creator of the Daleks, intent on rebuilding the Dalek race decimated by the Movellans.
To add your comments to the titles above, or to recommend an additional title, please email me. Thanks!
