Big Finish, Bigger Scarf – The Fourth Doctor Audios, Part 2

Once upon a time in the 1970s, Tom Baker had picked up the Doctor Who baton from Jon Pertwee and made it well and truly his own – an impressive feat given Pertwee’s longevity and popularity in the role. He himself would acknowledge from time to time the crucial help he had in this from Elisabeth Sladen, who as Pertwee’s final companion had a season’s worth of experience on the show when he himself came onboard, and the camaraderie the two enjoyed with Ian Marter was a big help too. Two and a half seasons in and it was all change; with Baker able to handle the action scenes just fine, Harry Sullivan as a character was written out as a regular in Terror of the Zygons (though Marter got to come back for a visit in The Android Invasion). Then Sladen had exited in The Hand of Fear, and Baker aired the opinion that perhaps it was worth toying with just not bothering with a regular companion and having him make brand new friends every adventure. This experiment lasted for exactly one serial…