Doctor Who: Don’t Skip Six
By James Aggas
Celebrating Colin Baker’s birthday, we look back at a very underrated Doctor on Doctor Who.
When looking back at Colin Baker’s era in Doctor Who, it was clearly not an easy time for the show. Michael Grade, the controller of the BBC at the time, really hated the series, and managed to put it on an eighteen-month long hiatus between Colin’s first and second (which was also, sadly, his last) seasons.
Production wise, the makers of the series were trying hard to keep both the show and the Doctor himself interesting. Initially, the Sixth Doctor was made to be as unlikeable as possible, with the plan to reveal more and more layers to him that would endear him to the audience.
The trouble with this was that the makers were too successful at the first part – in Six’s introduction story ‘The Twin Dilemma,’ Six is cowardly, selfish, and at one point, even tries to strangle his companion! As far as first impressions go, it wasn’t exactly the best.
What didn’t help was the fact that it wasn’t at the beginning of a season, as most “new Doctor” stories are, but at the end of it. So instead of the audience disliking this new Doctor for a week before seeing him grow bit by bit over a few months, audiences were left with that horrible first impression in the long gap between seasons.
Essentially, due to various circumstances (including a costume that was literally designed to be as tasteless as possible), Colin’s Doctor was somewhat doomed from the start. And that’s a shame, because in context, while his era was very hit-and-miss story wise, his performance was absolutely brilliant.
Yes, on television, the Sixth Doctor could be pompous and arrogant at times, but Colin Baker was usually able to portray these traits as surprisingly endearing. Even better is that — as I noted in my reviews of his second season, ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ — his Doctor did grow to be more likeable and caring over time. And Colin Baker was quite fantastic when given a great script, as evidenced in the clip below.
It’s a massive shame that his run was cut so short on television, but the expanded universe has continued exploring his development in books, comics, and of course, audios. And seriously, thank god for Big Finish, as they have really contributed greatly to Colin’s Doctor. Across his audio stories, we’ve heard his Doctor grow kinder and more heroic, making it a great contrast to the Seventh Doctor’s darker, more manipulative character traits.
Even better is how much Colin Baker shines on audio. Everything that was already great about his Doctor on television is further enhanced in these stories, and he brings so much love and warmth to the part, you begin to wonder how much more fondly his era on television would’ve been remembered if he had been allowed to play the Doctor the way that he wanted to from the start.
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If you’re checking out the Classic Series for the first time, you might be tempted to skip Colin’s Doctor altogether. And I can say that if there’s one story in the whole of Doctor Who that you should skip, it’s ‘The Twin Dilemma.’ But I don’t think you should skip him entirely.
Some recommendations that I can make for the Sixth Doctor include ‘Vengeance on Varos,’ which introduces the great villain Sil; ‘Revelation of the Daleks,’ which features a great mix of memorable characters, black comedy, and horror; and ‘The Trial of a Time Lord,’ which, despite it being so varied in quality, developed Colin’s Doctor rather nicely.
As for his audio adventures, my recommendations include ‘The Holy Terror,’ ‘The One Doctor,’ ‘Jubilee,’ ‘Davros,’ ‘Arrangements for War,’ ‘Peri and the Piscon Paradox,’ ‘The Last Adventure’…actually, just follow this link to The Collected Sixth Doctor and check out all of his audio stories for yourself. I promise, you won’t regret it.
Next: Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman Give an Update on Clara Oswald