Why Tom Baker Was the Perfect Doctor Who: Memories of a 1970s Childhood

Everyone in the UK has their doctor and Tom Baker was mine. When he took on the role of Doctor Who, I was nine years old. I already loved the show but his appearance as the doctor took my appreciation to another level – one that would last for many years and still has its moments. My parents did not have a colour TV (they were not badly off by any means, but having been brought up in the war, they made do with things until they fell apart). My brother and I would ultimately pour enough water down the back of the television set for it not to be noticed but nevertheless be render it defunct – but that’s another story. I was allowed to go and watch the show at the house next door – an elderly childless widower (Mr Taylor) in his late eighties, who enjoyed the company and who had – miracle of miracles – a very large colour TV. His house was like a time capsule – he had bought it in the 1920s and it hadn’t really changed. No gas fire – coal. Lamps used to light the rooms – dark, thick…