Colin Baker (born 8th June 1943) played the sixth incarnation of the Doctor from 1984 to 1986, beginning with the concluding scene of "The Caves of Androzani" and ending with "The Ultimate Foe." He later reprised the role for the 1993 Children in Need special, "Dimensions in Time," and has also voiced the Doctor for numerous Doctor Who audio stories for Big Finish Productions. As the Doctor, he had a mass of curly fair hair and a lurid patchwork coat, and was assisted by companions Peri and Mel.
Before being selected to replace Peter Davison as the Doctor, Baker was an established television actor, his most notable role having been that of Paul Merroney in The Brothers. Baker also guest starred as "Bayban the Butcher" in an episode of Blake's 7.
Prior to being cast as the Doctor, Baker had guest starred in the programme (as Commander Maxil in the Davison serial Arc of Infinity), the only Doctor actor to have done so prior to taking the role. At one point in the serial Maxil shoots the Peter Davison Doctor; Baker often jokes that he got the part of the Doctor by killing the incumbent.
Baker's era was interrupted by a long hiatus, officially because the show was moved back from the spring to the autumn schedule, and he was ultimately dismissed from the part at the insistence of BBC management, who wanted to refresh the show. The Controller of BBC One at the time, Michael Grade, criticised Doctor Who, saying that the programme had become overly violent and its storylines farcical. As of 2010, he is the only actor to play the Doctor who has been fired by the BBC.
Since leaving Doctor Who he has continued to act, mainly on the stage, where he played the Doctor again in Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure. He returned to television as the Doctor in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. He has also played a Doctor-like character in the BBV Productions video series The Stranger and reprised the role of the Doctor in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, also playing an alternate version of the Doctor in BFG: Disassembled. The audio plays are generally well received by fans, who have suggested that it was bad writing that his Doctor's era suffered from, and not a lack of ability on Baker's part. In a poll conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, fans voted Baker the "greatest" of the Doctors in the audio plays.
Later television work during the 1990s included guest appearances in the BBC's medical drama Casualty, Channel 4's adaptation of A Dance to the Music of Time and as himself as the resident celebrity in 'Dictionary Corner' on the daytime quiz show Countdown, also on Channel 4. He appeared in the first episode of Jonathan Creek (1997). He also appeared in an episode of the George Lucas TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, making him one of three classic series Doctors (after Tom Baker and Peter Davison) to appear in an American TV series after leaving the role. He also appeared in an episode of the BBCs long running medical drama series Casualty as a patient named David Vincent (named after Roy Thinnes character in The Invaders Tv series) who was a UFO nut and an episode of Al Murray's pub landlord sitcom 'Time Gentlemen Please' made by Sky TV.
In 1994, Colin Baker also gained the distinction of being the only Doctor to have written a Doctor Who story, penning The Age of Chaos, a graphic novel published by Marvel UK featuring the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher.
Since the death of his son in 1983 he has been active in raising the profile of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome research, and is the current chairman of the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths.
Colin Baker is of no relation to Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who.
Since 1995, Baker has written a column for the Bucks Free Press. In 2010, Hirst Books published an omnibus of 100 of these columns in the book Look Who's Talking and announced a second collection, including Baker's Doctor Who fiction entitled Gallimuffray. Baker both wrote and read The Wings of a Butterfly for Short Trips: Volume 1.