The Doctors Who's Who (14 page)

Baker played Wyvern against Reeves (Hopkirk) and Mortimer (Randall), with Emilia Fox (Jeannie). The show ran for two seasons (2000 and 2001) and had many small tie-ins to the original 1960s TV show of the same name (including, in episode one, Spooner Drive, in praise of former scriptwriter Dennis Spooner, who also penned some early episodes of
Doctor Who
and
The Avengers
).

Baker had noticeably aged since audiences had last seen him on screen, but he was wonderfully over-the-top and cherished his friendship with the comic duo immensely.

Comedy was the watchword for him around this time, and he soon became the regular narrator for Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ TV series,
Little Britain
.

With his own quirky sense of humour, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Baker got on well with characters such as Reeves and Mortimer, Lucas and Walliams, and indeed the whole of the
Blackadder
cast too. There’s something of the alternative comedian in Baker. Even
Private Eye
’s Ian Hislop was a little surprised by his comments when he appeared on the BBC’s
Have I Got News For You
, again something he took to quite naturally.

Another quality acting role came along shortly after
Blackadder
, in the acclaimed TV drama
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
, but that’s where the serious stuff seemed to dry up for Baker.

He returned to a semi-regular role in
Monarch of the Glen
for several series, even managing to once again grace the cover of the
Radio Times
, but having assumed the dubious mantle of the oldest living Doctor Who, he decided to slow down a little.

And what about big movie roles? Baker was offered a part in Peter Jackson’s
Lord of the Rings
trilogy, but not the role of Gandalf, as some people suggest. However, when he learned that he would have to spend time away in New Zealand, he turned down the opportunity, something the jobbing actor on a building site would never have dreamt of doing years before.

‘… I’ll give you a tip. The tip is well meant so don’t get all upset. It’s just between you and me. It’s a tip that spells power, like the tip of a wand, if you know what I mean.’

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs
Tom Baker

As well as his autobiography, Baker wrote a macabre children’s novel entitled
The Boy Who Kicked Pigs
(Faber and Faber, 1999). Filled with dark humour, the story is about Robert Caligari, an evil 13-year-old who kicks pigs because of an unfortunate experience with a bacon sandwich. The slim tome is illustrated by David Roberts, and in size and style of illustration is reminiscent of Eric Morecambe’s children’s classic,
The Reluctant Vampire.

Nowadays, threatening retirement, Baker is still known as the voice of
Little Britain
and regarded as a British institution. If he was perhaps a little ‘precious’ while playing the Doctor, then he
must be forgiven, for he
was
the man children would instantly trust, and follow without question – the Pied Piper of children’s TV. He was – and still is to many – the quintessential Doctor Who and a man who encapsulates the individualism and eccentricity that only the very best British character actors can muster. Louise Jameson summed up the Tom Baker she knew in the series as opposed to the one she knows today:

Things weren’t too brilliant between us to begin with. He was unsympathetic to writers and actors, but he lived, ate and slept the programme. He took it very seriously. He felt a great responsibility towards the children who watched the show and never smoked around them or anything like that.

The tension – the pressure to deliver – is highlighted clearly. She went on to discuss Baker’s overall presence:

You know when he’s in the room even when he’s not showing off, and that voice of his is beautiful. He’s mellowed over the years, and I’m grateful for the friendship we share nowadays. We go out and have lunch, or take a walk in the countryside. He’s a great friend and a great actor and, if anyone thought he was awkward, I ask them to meet up with him today.

For Baker there was redemption. He has apologised to actors, and even the odd director over the years, for his behaviour while on set as the Doctor. He explained that he felt under terrible pressure to always do the right thing, and he makes many comparisons with Ebenezer Scrooge and the Dickens classic
A Christmas Carol
, noting that it is a great story of redemption. Looking back at
Doctor Who
he says that ‘it was all such fun’; but it was serious fun.

Baker visited many sick children in hospital. He recalls one particular visit where children had been maimed by drunk drivers and other road accidents. He saw crushed limbs and kids at death’s door (he had been asked to go there as Doctor Who). I think it is very clear where Baker’s responsibilities lay during his time in the TARDIS and the reason why he was such a perfectionist. Like Pertwee before him, he was asked to approach children in extreme physical and mental anguish, and pretend for them as they coped with the terrible pain of reality.

He responded beautifully to his responsibilities. The role gave such emotional fulfilment to Tom Baker, just like his predecessors.

‘Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset…’

A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens

CHAPTER SIX

PETER DAVISON

‘I was Peter Davison’s wife in
Molly
[1995]. And Peter is great fun. Not quite serious enough!’

Louise Jameson

PETER DAVISON WAS
born Peter Moffett on Friday, 13 April 1951 in Streatham, London, son of Sheila and Claude, an electrical engineer from British Guyana.

Any time the youngster got into trouble his mother would always blame the fact that he was born on Friday 13th, but there were no behaviour problems with the young Peter, who appears to have been as sincere as many of the character roles he has since taken on.

Davison moved from Streatham with his parents and sisters (Barbara, Pamela and Shirley) to Knaphill in Surrey where he was educated at Maphill School and, later, Winston Churchill Secondary Modern School. It is noted that he failed to excel in anything until he wrote a speech on philosophy – which he knew little about – and won a Rotary Club public-speaking contest normally won by grammar school children.
Peter’s headteacher then recommended that he should go on to stage school.

Throughout his youth Davison adored music, even making up a song about his retiring headteacher at secondary school. He would later get a band together, which he enjoyed, but they failed to make the big time; he did, however, make it onto
Top of the Pops
. While at drama school Davison made a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in the audience, head-banging to a Dave Clarke number.

Davison didn’t just go to drama school and concentrate on an acting career; he had to support himself along the way, taking a string of jobs that included roles such as a mortuary assistant and clerk for the Inland Revenue. In a very endearing moment during his
This is Your Life
programme (discussed later), his former colleagues from the Inland Revenue came on stage to congratulate him on his successful acting career, reminding him that they bought him a pen when he left the office so he could sign autographs when he was famous. He was keen to point out that he still owned the pen, delighted to see his former colleagues.

Davison started his drama career as a member of the amateur dramatics society The Byfleet Players, and managed to secure a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama. In 1972, he acquired his first job at the Nottingham Playhouse. His work wasn’t all acting, which was just as well as he suffered from first-night nerves and forgot his lines. He soon found his feet though, and went on to spend a year with the Edinburgh Young Lyceum Company, working up to a series of Shakespearean productions including
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hamlet
and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
. It was in the latter that he met American actress Sandra Dickinson. The two were lovers in the play and soon real-life imitated
Shakespearean romance, but there was much work to do before the two were married.

Davison first changed his name from Moffett so he wasn’t confused with Peter Moffatt, the actor and director with whom he would later work, and moved back to England after his flirtation with Shakespearean theatre.

In 1975 he appeared in an episode of the Thames TV children’s SF series
The Tomorrow People
, entitled ‘A Man for Emily’ – the spoilt Emily character being played by Sandra Dickinson, no less.

When one looks back at this role today, one cannot be anything other than deeply shocked. With big white curly wigs and screechy Southern American accents, the episode can best be described as horrific. The couple were married on 26 December 1978.

Davison and Dickinson would play opposite each other again – albeit briefly – in Douglas Adams’s
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
(1981), with Peter playing a heavily made-up Dish of the Day that tries to sell bits of itself to his clients (Dickinson and others) at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. When John Nathan-Turner called Davison to ask him if he would become the new Doctor Who after Tom Baker announced his departure, Dickinson was very supportive of her husband, even to the point of requesting that she be one of his companions. Clearly their relationship was a strong one to begin with.

Davison and Dickinson composed the theme song to the children’s programme
Button Moon
(eight series, 1980–88) and had a daughter, Georgia Moffett, who was born in 1984 and would grow up to be the Doctor’s daughter (not just Peter Davison’s, but Doctor Who himself, during David Tennant’s stint as the Time Lord). But it was not all plain sailing for
Moffett, as her parents split when she was eight and then divorced in 1994. Moffett would have a child at 16 and did not appear to have another serious relationship until she fell in love with, and married, David Tennant after appearing in ‘The Doctor’s Daughter’.

Davison’s first major TV role was as Tom Holland in the 13-episode London Weekend Television
Love for Lydia
(written by H. E. Bates), starring Jeremy Irons. Davison featured in 7 of the 13 episodes amid a young cast, which also included Mel Martin (Lydia) and Christopher Blake. This was followed by the highly successful
All Creatures Great and Small
(1978–90), a programme that focused on the lives and work of a group of vets in North Yorkshire, based on the books by James Herriot (played by Christopher Timothy in the series). The programme also made a household name of Robert Hardy who played the pompous Siegfried Farnon; his younger and much-maligned brother Tristan was played by Davison.

Davison brought his natural sensitivity to the role, which made him endearing, but it is difficult to see a future Doctor Who in him at that time.

All Creatures Great and Small
was the turning point in Davison’s career, not only in giving him a regular job, but also allowing him to develop a character in a popular BBC show. This was enhanced when Timothy had a car accident and was restricted from doing location work for a while. Davison’s character was given these scenes instead, which added to his experience as an actor.
All Creatures Great and Small
is considered a classic British TV series, but perhaps Davison’s next role was slightly less memorable.

The trials and tribulations of brotherly love in
Sink or Swim
(1980–82) was part of Davison’s flirtation with sitcom.
Sink or Swim
was a very popular situation comedy in its day but is
almost forgotten today. Davison played the lead role, Brian Webber, a man desperately trying to make his way in the world while living in a flat above a petrol station. His opinionated girlfriend (Sara Corper) is a vegetarian who is concerned about ecology, which causes some frustrations for Webber but then his northern brother Steve (Robert Glenister) turns up and adds greater problems. Suddenly Davison’s character is the sensible older brother to a troublesome but endearing younger sibling.

The title music to the programme was The Hollies’ ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’, which summed up the programme well.
Sink or Swim
lasted three years, with the latter two years overlapping Davison’s time as Doctor Who, which caused some shooting problems. The programme was written by Alex Shearer, who later went on to write
The Two of Us
starring Nicholas Lyndhurst.

The 1980s had many easy-viewing situation comedies, including another one starring Davison, this time for the ITV regions,
Holding the Fort
(1980–82). The programme was written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (
The New Statesman, Birds of a Feather
). Three series were broadcast (20 episodes) over three years.

The basic situation for this comedy was role reversal. Davison was a passive house-husband looking after the baby, while his wife (Patricia Hodge) was a captain in the Woman’s Royal Army Corps. Matthew Kelly completed the regular cast and was there to encourage Davison’s character’s love of football, drinking and pacifism, leading to utter chaos. It was mild stuff, but that was 1980s sitcom. Gone were the gritty situation comedies of the 1970s, such as the brilliant
Steptoe and Son
and
Porridge
. Even cop dramas grew more sedate: after
Callum
and
The Sweeney
came
The Professionals
and
The Bill
, lightweight in comparison. And dare I suggest that football players had a little less blood and muck on their shins in the 1980s than the previous decade, which has led to the overprotected (and overpaid) cry babies on the field of play in the new millennium? Artistically, the 1980s were a passive response to the high-cholesterol 1970s.