Trials and Tribulations (documentary)
Trials and Tribulations was a documentary released as a special feature on the DVD release of The Ultimate Foe. It covered the behind-the-scenes issues during tenure of the Sixth Doctor, from Colin Baker's casting to his departure.
Sixth Doctor era
Baker's casting
According to Colin Baker, after appearing as Maxil in three of Arc of Infinity's four episodes, he and his wife were invited to the wedding of an assistant floor manager a few weeks later. Eric Saward, John Nathan-Turner and Gary Downie also attended.
Nathan-Turner would later tell Baker that he'd based his decision to cast him as the Sixth Doctor on the characteristics he'd shown during that party. Indeed, Nathan-Turner admitted that he would often advise actors playing the Doctor that "the clue to how you play it, is how you are at a party - it's just all your characteristics, one notch up."
Both Eric Saward and Ian Levine would later admit that they doubted the wisdom of casting Baker based on how he acted at a party.
Costume
Pat Godfrey was asked to design a costume that was "totally tasteless", in line with how Nathan-Turner imagined this Doctor. Eric Saward offered the idea, in his interview, that Nathan-Turner wanted to see his own style of dress reflected in this Doctor - a nod to his penchant for Hawaiian shirts. Godfrey struggled to meet the brief, with many of her designs being rejected by Nathan-Turner. Saward puts this down to her years of experience leading her to instinctively make the costume less tasteless, with more complementary colours. Eventually, according to Baker, Godfrey would create a design so tasteless that she did not expect Nathan-Turner to acccept it but, to her surprise, he did.
Additional topics covered
to be added
People interviewed
- Colin Baker
- Nicola Bryant
- John Nathan-Turner
- Eric Saward
- Philip Martin
- Pip & Jane Baker
- David Reid
- Jonathan Powell
- Ian Levine
- Gary Leigh
Home video releases
to be added
