Fourth Doctor

Fourth Doctor
Main aliases:	See: Aliases of the Doctor
Place of origin:	Gallifrey
Appearances:	Full List of Appearances
Main actor:	[[actor::Tom Baker|Tom Baker]]

Incarnations of the Doctor
Widely accepted
Others / unplaced incarnations
More ambiguous

The Fourth Doctor was the fourth incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor.

Biography

Independence

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The fourth incarnation after regeneration. (DW: Robot)

The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith in Bessie. (DW: Robot)

Having regenerated for a third time, the Doctor seemed to be in a hurry to leave Earth, but was eventually persuaded to stay and help Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart deal with Think Tank and their K1 robot. Afterwards, he took Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan to travel with him in the TARDIS. (DW: Robot)

Although he was crazy he saved the earth as always.

In the midst of another adventure, a Time Lord appeared to the Doctor and offered him a mission, to intervene in the creation of the Daleks. He was either to prevent it, or to induce the Daleks to develop into less dangerous creatures. (DW: Genesis of the Daleks)

This set into motion a series of events that would eventually lead to open war between Daleks and Time Lords and the destruction of Gallifrey itself.

Upon his return to Earth and the defeat of the Zygons, Harry decided to remain behind on Earth. (DW: Terror of the Zygons)

The Doctor had began, even more so with this regeneration, to break his ties with Earth. However, despite intending to resign from UNIT, (DW: Pyramids of Mars) the Doctor never formally left his position as their unpaid scientific adviser. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem)

Return to Gallifrey

After many adventures together, the Doctor received a telepathic summons from Gallifrey and returned Sarah to Earth, (DW: The Hand of Fear) though, mistakenly, not to her home in South Croydon, but to Aberdeen. (DW: School Reunion)

On Gallifrey, the Doctor defeated the Master and renewed his acquaintance with his former teacher Borusa. He also re-experienced, to his disgust, the decadence of Time Lord civilisation. (DW: The Deadly Assassin)

The Doctor travelled for an unknown period of time alone following his departure from Gallifrey.

New friends

The Doctor and Leela. (DW: Image of the Fendahl)

Visiting a nameless jungle world, he made the acquaintance of Leela of the Sevateem. (DW:The Face of Evil) The Doctor was seen to travel alone and returning to a planet he had visited centuries before. Unfortunately, during his previous visit, he had accidentally imprinted a human colony ship's powerful computer, Xoanon, with his own mind, leaving it with multiple personalities.

On his second visit to the colony planet, the Doctor was remembered as an evil god by the descendants of the colonists, some of whom, descendants of the colonist's "survey team", had become a warrior tribe called the Sevateem. After the Doctor cured the computer, one of the Sevateem, Leela, joined him on his travels. (DW:The Face of Evil) The Doctor brought the intelligent but uneducated Leela to many locations in human history, teaching her about science and her own species's past. In Victorian London, the pair encountered the magician Li Hsien Chang and his master, the self-styled Weng-Chiang (DW:The Talons of Weng-Chiang), the latter of whom was actually the criminal Magnus Greel. Later, the Doctor and Leela visited the Bi-Al Foundation medical centre, where they acquired version Mark I of the robot dog K9. (DW:The Invisible Enemy)

Lord President of Gallifrey

Returning once more to Gallifrey and, posing as vainglorious and power-mad, the Doctor sought and attained the office for Lord President as part of a scheme to save his home world from an invasion force of two separate enemies, the Vardans and the Sontarans. Leela decided to remain on Gallifrey with K9 and Andred, a Gallifreyan in the Chancellory Guard. However, the Doctor left the Capitol with K9, Mark II, in a crate. (DW: The Invasion of Time)

The Doctor and K9 Mark II spent an indeterminate period of time together. However, in the next episode, DW: The Ribos Operation, he appeared to be activating K9 Mark II, giving the implication that no significant time had elapsed since leaving Gallifrey, though he could have possibly been repairing him.

Quest for the Key to Time

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Summoned by the White Guardian. (DW: The Ribos Operation)

The White Guardian summoned the Doctor to initiate a quest to locate and assemble the segments of the Key to Time. For this purpose, the White Guardian introduced him to a new companion, Romana. (DW: The Ribos Operation)

While the Doctor and Romana searched for the Key, they were twice interrupted by outside sources emitting chronometric radiation that disrupted the tracer's ability to work, consisting of a chronometric pulse caused by a breach in the higher dimensions (PDA: Tomb of Valdemar) and a network of spatial teleportation paths created by a malfuctioning time cabinet intersecting with Earth's ley lines. (MA: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang)

The Doctor and Romana finally located, assembled and disassembled the Key, and to escape the wrath of the White Guardian's opposite, the Black Guardian, the Doctor installed a randomiser in the TARDIS console. (DW: The Armageddon Factor) Afterwards, Romana regenerated (DW: Destiny of the Daleks) and the two, along with K9, continued to travel together.

The Doctor, Romana and K9 Mark II spent an indeterminate period of time together, potentially quite long given the Doctor and Romana's longevity as Time Lords.

E-Space

The Doctor spent some time trapped in a pocket universe called E-Space, (DW: Full Circle) during which he obtained a new companion, Adric.

File:The Doctor and K-9's Head.jpg

The Doctor defending K-9's head (DW: Full Circle)

(DW: Full Circle) The Doctor eventually found a way to leave E-Space, however Romana and K9 chose to stay behind. (DW: Warriors' Gate)

Romana's departure left the Doctor increasingly morose and gave him a dark mood, (DW: The Keeper of Traken) a state of mind that remained for the remainder of this incarnation.

Regeneration

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The fourth incarnation regenerates. (DW: Logopolis)

The Doctor entered into battle against the Master, who had reconstituted himself. During the battle, he picked up two companions, Tegan Jovanka and Nyssa of Traken. While struggling with his enemy, the Doctor fell off the Pharos Project radio telescope down to the ground, hundreds of feet below. The mysterious entity known as the Watcher, which had been tracking him through time and space, then merged with him and he regenerated. (DW: Logopolis)

For a list of Fourth Doctor stories in the order in which he experienced them, see Fourth Doctor - Timeline.

Unrecorded adventures

• Presumably by himself, the Doctor visited Leela's home planet, encountered the supercomputer Xoanon and inadvertently installed in him a copy of his own personality. (DW: The Face of Evil)
• After his regeneration the Doctor was delirious and placed in a UNIT sickbay. He escaped to the TARDIS, which he is seen to activate. It appears, however, that he never actually dematerialised.
• There are conflicting accounts surrounding several of the Doctor's activities during the Shada crisis. (DW: Shada) This conflicting account arises out of Borusa's interference with the Doctor's timeline (DW: The Five Doctors). Whether these events actually occured following the events of the Doctor's abduction or whether these events occured to a later incarnation, remain unknown. (WC: Shada)

There are at least three occasions in which extensive gaps may exist in the "historical record" of the fourth incarnation's life:

• Between his first defeat of the Master on Gallifrey (DW: The Deadly Assassin) and Leela joining. (DW: The Face of Evil)
• Between the defeat of the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey (DW: The Invasion of Time) and his encounter with the White Guardian. (DW: The Ribos Operation)

Though the implication is that there was not a significant amount of time between these two stories.

• Between the defeat of Soldeed (DW: The Horns of Nimon) and the TARDIS arriving at Brighton Beach. (DW: The Leisure Hive)

The events at St Cedds College (DW: Shada) along with the Doctor's abduction to the Death Zone on Gallifrey (DW: The Five Doctors) may have occurred during this period.

Companions

As with previous incarnations, the Doctor travelled with a number of companions. These included Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan, Leela, K9 Mark I and later K9 Mark II, Romana, who was sent to assist the Doctor by the White Guardian, Adric, Nyssa of Traken, and Tegan Jovanka. Others who had aided him in his adventures included Borusa, the Brigadier, John Benton and Rodan.

Sarah Jane Smith

The Doctor, in his new incarnation, had less interest in Earth, yet he seemed to have a closer relationship with Sarah Jane, leading him to call her his "best friend". After many adventures, the Doctor's companionship with Sarah Jane ended when he received a telepathic summons to Gallifrey, as humans were not then allowed on the planet. The Doctor did not forget Sarah, as he sent her K9 Mark III as a companion and keepsake, which she unpacked and activated shortly before Christmas, 1981. She reunited with a later incarnation and aided him against the Krillitanes which allowed her to finally move on with her life like she wasn't able to before. Sarah Jane also indicated that she had had feelings for the Doctor after reuniting with his tenth incarnation. Sarah Jane later went on to protect the Earth herself and aided the Doctor a few more times with threats. (SJA: Invasion of the Bane et al, DW: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End)

Leela

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The Doctor and Leela. (DW: The Invisible Enemy)

At the point that he met Leela, the Doctor was content to travel alone. Leela barged into the TARDIS, and continued to accompany the Doctor on his journeys. (DW: The Face of Evil) The Doctor's relationship with Leela was much like a teacher to student, as he made attempts at "civilizing" her. (DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)

Leela trusted the Doctor enough that, when the Doctor, appearing to have gone power-mad, returned to Gallifrey and applied successfully for the position of Lord President of the High Council of Time Lords, she still trusted him.

Leela eventually, however, left him, accompanied by K9, when she fell in love with Andred of the Chancellory Guard. (DW: The Invasion of Time)

K9

The Fourth Doctor was extremely fond of K9. The two often assisted each other in order to overcome obstacles. (DW: The Androids of Tara) They were also extremely competitive, frequently challenging each others intelligence. This was made physical during their regular games of chess. (DW: The Sun Makers) When K9 was taken ill with laryngitis, it was the Doctor who treated him (DW: Destiny of the Daleks) as he did with his other numerous faults. (DW: Meglos)

Romana=

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Romana I. (DW: The Armageddon Factor)

The Doctor first met Romana I inside the TARDIS, when she was sent by the White Guardian to assist him. As a new recruit from the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey, Romana was inexperienced, though believed herself just as capable as the Doctor, who would rather have worked alone. (DW: The Ribos Operation)

Romana was initially haughty and somewhat arrogant, looking down on the Doctor, whom she considered to be her academic inferior given she obtained a triple first at the Academy, while the Doctor passed with only 51 percent on his second try, and responding to his initial resentment at her presence with icy put-downs. (DW: The Ribos Operation) However, she soon gained an appreciation for the Doctor's experience and sense of adventure, and began to respect him as a teacher. (DW: The Androids of Tara)

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Romana with the Fourth Doctor and K9. (DW: The Leisure Hive)

Romana, in her new regeneration, enjoyed a more intimate relationship with the Doctor than her predecessor. In many ways, she was the companion most alike her Doctor. Besides being of the same race and having comparable intelligence, she occasionally mimicked his sense of style, (DW: Destiny of the Daleks) wielding her own sonic screwdriver, and could occasionally get the better of him in moments of banter and more practical situations. She eventually left the Doctor to voyage through the Gateway with them and help the Tharils. The Doctor gave her K9, who was restored beyond the Gateway, though he could never return to the normal universe. (DW: Warriors' Gate)

Adric

Adric and the Doctor (DW: Logopolis)

The Doctor and Adric first met when he stumble across and found refuge in the TARDIS, which had been drawn into E-Space via a wormhole-like phenomenon known as a Charged Vacuum Emboitment. Adric stowed away when the Doctor, Romana and K9 Mark II left Alzarius and so accompanying them on the rest of their adventures in E-Space. (DW: State of Decay) He remained with the Doctor when Romana and K9 Mark II left the Doctor and the TARDIS found its way back into the normal universe universe. (DW: Warriors' Gate)

Adric also desperately sought validation from the Doctor as well as those around him, and was often hurt and resentful if he felt he was being sidelined or unable to contribute.

Adric was present when the fourth incarnation fell from the Pharos Project radio telescope and regenerated into his fifth incarnation. (DW: Logopolis)

Nyssa

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The Doctor, Nyssa and Adric. (DW: Logopolis)

Nyssa first met the Doctor in his fourth incarnation when he was traveling with Adric in Traken. (DW: The Keeper of Traken)

Not long after, the Watcher transported Nyssa to the planet Logopolis in the Doctor's TARDIS. When she again met the Doctor, he had been mortally wounded in his successful battle to stop the Master. She witnessed his regeneration, without ever having travelled with his incarnation in the TARDIS. (DW: Logopolis)

Tegan

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Tegan and the Doctor (DW: Logopolis)

Tegan first met the the Doctor when she stowed away on the TARDIS.

Later, the TARDIS crew discovered that they had an accidental passenger. However, returning her to her rightful time and place became a secondary concern, once the Doctor became aware that the Master was attempting to create instability in the universe by manipulating Logopolis. Tegan became further embroiled in the Doctor's cause once she discovered that the Master had in fact killed her aunt.

Nevertheless, when she became stranded on a crumbling Logopolis with the Doctor, she became one of the few companions to travel in the Master's TARDIS. The trio journeyed to Earth's Pharos Project, which could stop the rampant entropy the Master had unleashed upon the universe. Once there, she witnessed the Doctor's fatal fall from the Project's radio telescope, and his subsequent regeneration. (DW: Logopolis)

Age

• While on Earth, the Doctor stated his age to be 749 years. (DW: The Seeds of Doom)
• After aging four years from crossing a split in time, the Doctor said: "I shall still think of myself as 743 ... or was it 730, I never can remember..." (DWM: The Time Witch)

See separate article.

Psychological profile

Personality

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The Doctor eats a jelly baby. (DW: The Sun Makers)

The Doctor's fourth incarnation was most definitely not human-like in nature, and he stood apart from others, even most of his own people. (DW: The Deadly Assassin, The Invasion of Time)

The Doctor was known to be aggresive such as when the Krynoid pods came to Earth (DW: The Seeds of Doom)

When Sarah upbraided him over his callousness at the sight of Laurence Scarman killed by the animated corpse of his own brother, the Doctor reminded her of the larger issue of stopping Sutekh. (DW: Pyramids of Mars) His mind was often leaps ahead of anyone, including himself. He delighted in keeping both friends and foes alike off guard with oddball humour and curious pranks, as in his second incarnation. Although generally peace-loving and kind-hearted, as per most of his other incarnations, the Doctor could also react with sudden violence when necessary. He was also not against taking a life in extreme circumstances (DW: The Brain of Morbius, The Ribos Operation), but in their first adventure, scolded Leela multiple times for unnecessary killing. (DW: The Face of Evil)

He told the mutating Sorenson that the results of his experiments were his own fault and took no action to help him and proceeded to throw him into the pool of Anti-matter. He did however rescue Sorenson when the process was reversed. (DW: Planet of Evil)

He could judge character keenly, almost instantly whether knowing who to trust or seeing through Unstoffe's false guilelessness. (DW: The Ribos Operation) Out of all of the Doctor's incarnations, this incarnation had perhaps the most consistently anti-authoritarian attitude, having little tolerance for religious dogma (DW: The Brain of Morbius, Underworld, The Stones of Blood, The Power of Kroll) or nationalism. (DW: Robot, The Armageddon Factor). The Doctor often played the fool to lull his opponents, such as Count Scarlioni, into underestimating him, though it did not work in Count Scarlioni's specific case. (DW: City of Death)

Despite his charm and offbeat humour, the fourth incarnation was arguably more aloof and sombre than his previous incarnations. He could become intensely brooding, serious and even callous, and would keenly scrutinise his surroundings even when playing the fool. He could also be furious with those he saw as stupid, frivolous, misguided or evil. When taking charge, he could be considered authoritative to the point of egocentricity, but as it is, he was usually the only one capable of solving the situations he found himself in. He generally maintained his distance from the Time Lords, even after they had lifted his exile, and resented that they were then capable of re-entering his life when they deemed it necessary. Not only did he seem more inclined toward a solitary existence, (DW: The Deadly Assassin) he also emphasised his distance from humanity, although he stated on more than one occasion that he found mankind to be his favourite species.

Unlike his third incarnation, this incarnation did not have a close working relationship with UNIT or the Brigadier, reacting with anger when UNIT recalled him to Earth. (DW: Terror of the Zygons) Except for this and a handful of other occasions, the Doctor kept his distance from UNIT, even at the expense of abandoning his predecessor's beloved roadster, Bessie. Later incarnations had never re-established the same rapport that existed between the Doctor and UNIT before his fourth incarnation, although his ninth incarnation and tenth incarnation assisted UNIT a few times, mostly after being called in to help.

As the youngest-appearing incarnation at the time, the Doctor found himself drawing closer to some of his companions than he might have previously, in particular, with Sarah Jane Smith, whom it was later implied, though never stated, may have fallen in love with him. (DW: School Reunion) If any of his other female companions felt the same way, the Doctor, through intent or quirk of personality, did not appear to notice. He tended not to display such feelings himself, not even when accompanied by the often scantily clad Leela, although during one adventure he acknowledged the fact that Romana was attractive. (DW: The Pirate Planet) He was more likely to make remarks such as telling Countess Scarlioni, "You're a beautiful woman ... probably". (DW: City of Death)

Habits and Quirks

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The Doctor and Romana (DW: City of Death)

Souvenirs from many different worlds littered the fourth incarnation's pockets. (DW: Robot, Genesis of the Daleks) He would sometimes relax by playing with a yo-yo and liked to drink ginger beer. (DW: The Android Invasion)

He would often have jelly babies with him, and offer them as a greeting. While past and future incarnations also showed occasional fondness for the sweet, it was never as frequent as this incarnation's love for them. In his later life he developed a great fondness for tinkering about in his TARDIS. He relied upon his sonic screwdriver at least as much as in his previous incarnation.

He was also not adverse to winding up his companions on occasion, such as once fooling Leela into standing and playing with a yo-yo for an extended period of time, with her believing it was an experiment. (DW: The Robots of Death) On another occasion, he caused Romana to nearly panic when he pretended to become possessed by the Black Guardian. (DW: The Armageddon Factor)

He was also quite fond of puns.

Appearance

In stark contrast to the elegant and refined, but somewhat flamboyant, figure of his third incarnation, the fourth incarnation was an unkempt, awkward-looking figure, dressed in battered clothing and a riduculously long, multi-coloured scarf, which had originally been knitted for him by Madame Nostradamus. (DW: The Ark in Space) His dark curly hair was often partially hidden by a large floppy hat. Professor Marius remarked that the Doctor looked like a "space vagrant". (DW: The Invisible Enemy) The fourth incarnation was also notable for being the first incarnation to wear clothing with question mark motifs.

His costume changed throughout his life. His initial costume consisted of a red-brown blazer with elbow patches, baggy grey tweed trousers, a dark brown cardigan with diamond shapes adorning the front, a white dress shirt and a long green neck-tie. (DW: Robot - Revenge of the Cybermen) It changed slightly with a different scarf and hat (DW: Terror of the Zygons) and again with the original scarf, albiet a different waistcoat, shirt and cravat (DW: Planet of Evil). Eventually, the basic shape stabilised with a frock coat and some form of a cravat or tie with the above mentioned articles of clothing. (DW: The Android Invasion) He wore several frock coats of different colours, including a dark brown one, seen in DW: Pyramids of Mars, a light grey one, seen in DW: The Brain of Morbius, and a light brown one.

Throughout seasons 13 - 16, his costume alternated with different shirts, cravats, frock coats, waistcoats and other various pieces of clothing until he settled on one outfit consisting of an open-neck shirt, an unbottoned waistcoat, a tan frock coat, knee-high leather boots, trousers and of course the famous scarf. (DW: The Power of Kroll) He wore this costume for the remainder of season 16 and throughout season 17, alternating between ankle-high leather shoes and the boots (DW: City of Death, et al.) For season 18, however, his costume changed dramatically, adopting a red and maroon colour scheme. This consisted of a full-length maroon coat, waistcoat, trousers, buccaneer-style leather boots, a maroon Fedora hat, a white open-neck dress shirt with question marks adorning the collars (a trait that would continue through to his fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations) and a new scarf. (DW: The Leisure Hive) This scarf was longer than his previous scarves, as when it was looped around his neck, the loop reached the floor, and so did the ends. It adopted a maroon, red and purple color scheme to match the rest of his clothes. He would continue to wear this until the end of his life. (DW: Logopolis) His costume regenerated slightly when he did, as seen by the Fifth Doctor's ankle-high golf shoes and pulled-up socks instead of the leather boots (DW: Castrovalva).

Like several of his later incarnations, his pockets were dimensionally transcendental. The array of items he carried included:

• A seemingly endless supply of Jelly babies.
• A galactic passport. (DW: Robot)
• A cricket ball. (DW: The Ark in Space, The Hand of Fear)
• A yo-yo, which, with a sheepish grin, he would explain was useful for taking gravity readings. (DW: The Ark in Space)
• A selection of books, including his 500 Year Diary, (DW: The Sontaran Experiment) Oolon Caluphid's Origins of the Universe and a Tibetan language handbook. (DW: The Creature from the Pit)

Apparently his ability to understand Tibetan was lost when he regenerated from his previous incarnation, but then, as he stated he could only speak a little Tibetan.

• A magnifying glass, gemstones, handcuffs, and an etheric beam locator which also detects ion-charged emissions. (DW: Genesis of the Daleks)
• A picklock. (DW: Pyramids of Mars).
• A football rattle.
• A magician's cane. (DW: The Hand of Fear)
• A clockwork egg-timer. (DW: The Face of Evil)
• A breathing tube, a barrister's wig, and an instant camera. (DW: City of Death).
• On one occasion, he even dropped a cup containing a hot beverage into his pocket. (DW: The Power of Kroll)

Behind the scenes

Casting

Actors considered for the role of the fourth incarnation included Michael Bentine, Bernard Cribbins, Graham Crowden, Fulton Mackay and Jim Dale. Tom Baker was cast based on his role as the villain Koura in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

Appearance

Painting of Aristide Bruant by Lautrec, which inspired the Doctor's famous look.

According to the creators of the show and Baker, the character's look was originally based on paintings and posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec of his friend, Aristide Bruant, a singer and nightclub owner whose trademark was a black cloak and long red scarf.

When John-Nathan Turner became the show's producer in Baker's last year, the fourth incarnation was the first to sport an item of clothing adorned with red question marks as a motif, in this case above the points on his shirt collars. His coat and scarf were changed to a burgundy color scheme.

Fan Speculation

Since the fourth incarnation was the youngest at the time and, as such, closer in age to his companions, the Tom Baker era was the first in which concern was expressed of possible "hanky panky in the TARDIS", a term often used in the tabloid press to suggest the impression of off-screen dalliances between the various Doctors and their young, female companions.

Perhaps to address this, according to the Information Text commentary on the 2007 DVD release of The Stones of Blood, Baker tried to emphasize the asexuality of the character, or at least his version of the character, given that William Hartnell's Doctor actually entered into a brief romance with another character in The Aztecs, while Jon Pertwee's Doctor exhibited romantic tension, not to be confused with sexual tension, with companions Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith, the latter carrying over into Baker's era.

Despite this, Baker was not above tossing in occasional visual jokes that suggested sexual tension. For example, in The Stones of Blood the Doctor and Romana have to huddle close in order to be within the confines of a transporter beam and enter what would, in normal circumstances, be seen as a romantic clinch, but neither character appears to recognise this.

In popular culture

The fourth incarnation's distinctive appearance and manner have made him a target for affectionate parody. The character has appeared several times on The Simpsons and twice on Robot Chicken. Even once in "Hugo 2 : Whodunnit?", a computer game, the player's character can save Tom Baker's Doctor from a Dalek and in return he gives you his infamous sonic screwdriver.

The fourth incarnation on The Simpsons.

He is frequently impersonated by impressionist Jon Culshaw on the radio and television series Dead Ringers. Even Barney Miller had an episode featuring an eccentric man claiming to be a time-traveller, and wearing a long striped scarf. Archival footage of the fourth incarnation's first title sequence was also used in the Family Guy episode "Blue Harvest" to represent and parody Star Wars's hyperspace.

Tom Baker, as the narrator of the series Little Britain, has referenced Doctor Who. He also appears in Doctor Who and the Daleks in The Seven Keys to Doomsday, a stage play that opened two weeks before Baker began his tenure as the Doctor. In the play, Trevor Martin plays an alternative version of the fourth incarnation.

In the book Return of the Bunny Suicides, there is a scene in which a bunny sits on top of the TARDIS with a noose around its neck as the fourth incarnation runs into it, being chased by a Dalek.

Peter Jackson wore a similar costume to the fourth incarnation's costume when he played Derek in his film Bad Taste.

Reprising the role

Unlike his predecessor Jon Pertwee, and his successors Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, Tom Baker was notoriously hesitant to reprise the role of the Doctor. Originally intended as a major player in the 20th-anniversary special, DW: The Five Doctors, Baker pulled out before production began, forcing the production to make use of unbroadcast footage from DW: Shada and a Madame Tussauds wax mannequin to keep the "five Doctors" concept afloat.

In 1993, Baker agreed to reprise the role for the opening scenes of the charity special DW: Dimensions in Time, but the fourth incarnation did not otherwise interact with any of the other incarnations or companions in the piece. Baker had also considered playing the Doctor again for a 30th anniversary special, The Dark Dimension, which was cancelled before filming began. Around this time, he also introduced a VHS reconstruction of Shada, though not apparently in character as the Doctor.

Despite his hesitancy to play the role again, Baker made frequent appearances on DVD releases of his stories, recording audio commentaries for many and conducting on-camera interviews for others.

In the 2000s, Baker made a tentative step towards reprising the role by agreeing to record audio books for BBC Audio, reading the texts from several Target novelisations from his era. Finally, in 2009, Baker agreed to return to the role of the Doctor in a dramatic context, performing the five-part BBCR: Hornets' Nest story arc, again for BBC Audio, in which he was paired up with Richard Franklin, reprising the Pertwee-era companion Mike Yates.

In March 2010, Baker announced on his official website that he was in discussions with Big Finish Productions to record Doctor Who audio dramas for the company.. Big Finish confirmed this on 3rd June 2010. A few days later it was also confirmed that Baker would be doing additional stories for BBC Audio, BBCR: Demon Quest, to be released towards the end of 2010.

External Links

• Fourth Doctor's theme music