On his own website at the end of this year, Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor (and now also the Curator, which probably makes him number Two Hundred and Five as well, or somesuch) discussed his part in the Doctor Who 50th and what it was like coming back to the role after so many years.
Turns out it was more than a little nerve-wracking.
In order to keep his role a secret, Baker was driven up from his home to Cardiff in the wee hours of the morning, just to be certain no one spotted him in a nearby hotel. After waiting several hours for production to start, the actor was beginning to feel wary:
I felt anxious as I walked about the dead BBC film sets and mulled over my mysterious little scene. Alone among dead sets and sad props and in cold weather my anxiety grew. I suddenly found the scene remote. I couldn’t get a handle on it and I began to regret accepting the job. Too late, I was on site and soon to be on set. The time was now about 5.20 so there was plenty of time to become seriously miserable before the call for make-up. And I walked up and down in the semi darkness, nobody to talk to, nowhere to find a cup of hot Bovril: you get the picture.
After a while the time passed as I knew it would, but it dragged its feet. Finally people began to arrive and I was called to costume and make-up and finally to the set. In the old days I knew everybody, or nearly everybody, the technicians and make-up people and all the other actors: I was at home in those long gone times. My gloom was lifted by the arrival of Matt Smith who welcomed me so enthusiastically that I began to think life was worthwhile.
He goes on about the rest of the experience and how the year unfolded for him as a result of his return. It’s really very sweet, and full of wonderful wishes for the New Year. Check it out on Tom Baker’s site!
