back to article You want WHO?! Reg readers vote Tom Baker for Doctor 13. Of course

To be cast as Doctor Who once might be regarded as fortunate, but to be Doctor twice would be AWESOME! According to Reg voters, at least, who've picked Jelly Baby-toting Tom Baker as their choice for BBC's next Time Lord. Baker beat ex-BBC petrolhead Jeremy Clarkson by 547 votes to 544 as Reg readers' choice to play the 13th …

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  2. Tom 7

    I'll bet those tentacles have never been torn off

    in a class 2 supernova.

    1. Oliver Mayes

      Re: I'll bet those tentacles have never been torn off

      Ahhhh, You have a WOMANS TARDIS!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Even for monkey shaggers

    I love Tom Baker - and never more than in this (audio NSFW):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU1pI9iiIr4

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Even for monkey shaggers

      Thanks. That brightened up my day. And the best bit, it just rolled off his tongue without even a hint of corpsing, he actually sounded a bit bored while mercilessly mocking Symphony. Brilliant stuff.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Even for monkey shaggers

        "I adore distilled whippet shit", amazing.

        I enjoyed both his autobiography with its accounts of drinking in Soho with Jeffrey Bernard at al, and his short, blackly comic novella 'The Boy Who Kicked Pigs'.

        He was also priceless when an impressionist from BBC's Dead Ringers as the Fourth Doctor rang him up:

        "I never really knew what to do about the daleks you see, because I always rather fancied Davros"

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ7uHzZYREo

    2. Pomgolian
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: Even for monkey shaggers

      See icon ---->

  4. WonkoTheSane
    Thumb Up

    Tom already has the job!

    He's been doing audio adventures for Big Finish since Jan 2012.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Don't forget that voice

    When *that* voice sounded out at the end of the 50th Anniversary episode - it was like going back to being a small child during the 70s all over again.

    Bloody amazing guy - mad as a hatter - and a national treasure.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jeremy Clarkson would have been the most offensive thing in Doctor Who since the Amazing Techni-Vomit Nightmare Coat that Colin Baker had to wear.

    Thank God he didn't win- if they had him playing the Doctor, you'd be rooting for the Daleks to shoot the f*****. (^_^)

    1. Kiwi
      Coffee/keyboard

      Jeremy Clarkson would have been the most offensive thing in Doctor Who since the Amazing Techni-Vomit Nightmare Coat that Colin Baker had to wear.

      Perhcance you've never seen the Capaldi episodes?

      ---> Pro-tip, turn head away from keyboard before watching Cap do Who.

  7. sorry, what?
    Devil

    That video completely missed the point...

    At no point did The Doctor/Tom Baker say "Jelly baby?".

  8. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Plus he had the fittest assistants - not of course that had anything to do with watching the shows :-)

    1. davidp231

      Ace was pretty good too.

      1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge

        Peri had her good points too...

        1. ukgnome

          Peri had two good points

      2. JimboSmith Silver badge

        Once upon a time I was working somewhere and we were doing a project that required a female voice over artist. I was away when they were picking the voice but I came back to the office on the day of recording. When I heard what had been recorded I said I recognise that voice, did you have Ace from Doctor Who in the building? No idea if she was ace in Doctor Who but she was very good in the session. So exasperated I said okay was it Sophie Aldred and I nearly died when I found out she'd been in the building and I hadn't got to say hello. We didn't need any retakes either which was annoying in the extreme as she'd been perfect.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yep. Louise Jameson was my absolute favourite. By that I mean she had the best parts. I mean part. In the series. The best character. Yep I think I got away with that.

      1. TRT Silver badge

        I've always been partial to a bit of Martha Jones myself.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Have an upvote in agreement! The first serial I ever saw of it was The Talons of Weng-Chiang and that was all it took, I was hooked for life on Doctor Who! I don't know what El Reg means by "in that era" there is not a weekend that goes by where I don't have the Kodi playing any (of all) the fourth Doctor serials I've managed to collect over the years, and all from DVD and loving digitized to m4v format. Lots of Doctor Who collectibles, but my favorite are the two dozen or so paperback story books. Great stuff there. The dodgiest gear is my USB 2.0 TARDIS Hub. I think the wall wart puts out too much voltage (probably to make up for lack of real amps) and devices "materialize" and "dematerialize" at random. Still, it's a nice piece. Don your scarfs, lads and ladies!

  9. Metal Marv

    This is my favourite.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMQ7X3wauRQ

  10. Bob Wheeler

    Sean Pertwee

    I'd have gone for the son of a great Doctor - maybe I'm just showing my age.

    1. Little Mouse

      Re: Sean Pertwee

      Or another Sean - Bean?

      Although watching him get killed at the end of every episode might get a bit tiresome.

      1. Frumious Bandersnatch

        Re: Sean Pertwee

        Funnily enough, I came across this recently:

        http://www.slashfilm.com/which-actor-dies-the-most-on-screen/

        So John Hurt (who already played the Doctor, natch) has more on-screen deaths, but fewer deaths per appearance.

        Of course, what with John Hurt having shuffled off his mortal coil IRL recently, ...

    2. Kane
      Thumb Up

      Re: Sean Pertwee

      Agreed, his current turn as Alfred Pennyworth in Gotham is marvellous.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Sean Pertwee

        Hehe, it turns out that Sean Bean does have the highest death / film ratio, at 0.32 deaths per movie, narrowly beating John Hurt at 0.31. I think I might have seen a Ridley Scott film in which Sean Bean doesn't die, but instead is sacked and has to play golf, which may or may not be preferable to falling from a cliff, falling from a radio telescope, being shot with arrows, ripped apart by horses, left hanging from chains by his arm, left handing from a chain around his neck or beheaded. How he made it through the Napoleonic wars intact is anybody's guess.

        John Hurt, who sadly died last week for real, is recorded as having that largest number of on-screen deaths in total, at 43, including the worst death-by-indigestion ever committed to celluloid (excluding Monty Python's Mr Creosote, obviously. At least the Nostromo wasn't covered in vomit.)

  11. Planty Bronze badge

    Colin Baker

    I always get Tom Baker and Colin Baker mixed up.

    Which one is the come dine with me guy?

  12. Steven Guenther

    female doctor

    Try a female doctor - Hayley Atwell. Rupert Grint as her companion.

    She could explain the far fetched and he would say "Bloody Hell".

    Maybe those would be the only words he says.

    1. TheProf
      Unhappy

      Re: female doctor

      Dear Lord, please, not Hayley Atwell!

      I watched her in 2 series of Agent Carter. She used exactly the same expression on her face in every scene. Threatened by evil Nazis or in a romantic clinch the same semi-bored expression.

      Which is odd really as she is smiling in most of the images Google found of her. Except the Agent Carter ones, naturally.

      1. Kiwi
        WTF?

        Re: female doctor

        Dear Lord, please, not Hayley Atwell!

        OP mentions Grinch in the message and you complain about Atwell?

  13. Pedigree-Pete
    Happy

    floppy brimmed rebellious scarf....

    Of course it's rebellious, it's the only scarf with a floppy brim! PP

    Mines the long one hanging with the brimmed hat and colourful long scarf.

  14. Vince Lewis 1

    How about worst Assitant Poll

    Personally I put Clara Oswald at 0.7 Langfords

    We finally forced our way through the last (Season 9 New season) of Doctor Who, in the hope to See Clara's final and painful death.

    But no, she was saved again. What (or who?) did she do to deserve 3 over acted and elongated death scenes.

    1. Roj Blake Silver badge

      Re: How about worst Assitant Poll

      Adric and Vislor Turlough both have scores in the kilolangford range.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: How about worst Assitant Poll

        "Adric and Vislor Turlough both have scores in the kilolangford range."

        Rather surprisingly, they both come over quite well in the audio adventures, as does Bonnie Langford. Likewise Peri, who might have been nice eye candy, but the character, I felt (and wouldn't I just, Fnarr Fnarr) was a bit useless. I think the better characters in the audio adventures is partly down to the unlimited visual effects budget and maybe also the actors being more mature and experienced. Oh, and excellent writers too! In most cases, it's is the original actors they get in where possible. Peter Purves does a pretty good job of William Hartnels Doctor.

  15. Flakk

    Ever since David Tennant left the show, I've been keen to see Tom Baker return to the role, but only as a means to circumvent the limitation on regenerations.

    The revelation of parallel universes makes it theoretically possible for our universe's Doctor to switch places with the Doctor from a different universe. Enter a grizzled Fourth Doctor, thousands of years old. Fans get to squee over Baker being the Doctor again. Baker would only have to do a short story arc (2-3 episodes) before punching out, making room for the new Fifth Doctor.

  16. Matthew 17

    YOU HAVE A WOMAN'S BOTTOM!

    That's the role TB needs to resurrect

    1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: YOU HAVE A WOMAN'S BOTTOM!

      "He was only a third rate sailor but a first rate second course"

  17. Jedit Silver badge
    Holmes

    "Baker – the actor, not the Who – garnished the 50th anniversary episode"

    I must don my pedant hat here: at the end of Day of the Doctor, Baker's museum curator suggests that the Doctor may want to "revisit a few old familiar faces". It's an obvious hint that the curator is in fact a future incarnation of the Doctor.

    Which means Baker would have been cast as the Doctor three times, not two. How lucky would that be, measured in standard Reg gigashamrocks?

  18. Bob Rocket

    Do something useful BBC

    I wouldn't mind listening to Tom Baker reading The Eyes Have It by Philip K Dick.

    http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31516/31516-h/31516-h.htm

  19. Roj Blake Silver badge

    Paul Darrow...

    ...would make an excellent Doctor.

    1. illiad

      Re: Paul Darrow...

      he like, 75???

      1. eldakka

        Re: Paul Darrow...

        Completely unlike the first 3?

  20. caffeine addict

    Is just me or this article have random missing all over the?

  21. AIBailey

    Hang on...

    ...considering that recent series added John Hurt's doctor into the time line (somewhere between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston, I think, wouldn't that make Peter Capaldi doctor 13, and therefore the new doctor number 14?

    1. Mark York 3 Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Hang on...

      Wellllllllllllll! Technically yes

      http://nerdapproved.com/misc-weirdness/how-the-doctors-are-numbered-according-to-the-bbc/

      & don't wander off!

  22. Bucky 2

    Lost golden ages can't be recaptured

    It just doesn't happen.

    I'm into Baker reprising his role from time to time, but unlike a Time Lord, I think it's better to look forward than back.

  23. meanioni

    Clarkson? How about Chris Evans, followed by Matt LeBlanc.....

    Joking aside, Sue Perkins as a female doctor would be fine and dandy. Geeky, funny, quite intense. Yup could work.

    1. Duffy Moon

      "Joking aside, Sue Perkins as a female doctor would be fine and dandy. Geeky, funny, quite intense."

      I'm confused. You say that you're not joking, but then you describe Sue Perkins as "funny".

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh god, Leela.

    It all came back.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Oh god, Leela.

      "It all came..."

      FTFY

  25. WonkoTheSane

    David Bradley should be the next Doctor

    After "An Adventure in Space and Time", Bradley could bring the show full circle as the FIRST Doctor.

    With him, the BBC could re-shoot lost episodes...

  26. Tannin

    Adder Bean

    I don't ujnderstand why no-one has voted for Rowan Atkinson.

  27. Kiwi
    Boffin

    Correction

    Peter Capaldi cannot be bowing out of the role of Dr.

    He never was a Dr. No way no fucking how! Matt Smith was a stretch, but that other fella? No, sorry. Those episodes never happened, it was all a weird dream sequence!

    Would take someone of Baker's quality to undo that damage!

    (BTW, those of us in the 35-45 age range largely grew up with Baker as our doctor, especially given his 7 year tenure and much better SFX, whereas re-runs of much of the older doctors showed some pretty shoddy SFX efforts, even for the Beeb! :) )

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Correction

      "whereas re-runs of much of the older doctors showed some pretty shoddy SFX efforts, even for the Beeb!"

      Don't forget, it was always a childrens show, hence very low budget. Very, very low. It's quite amazing what they managed considering the constraints.

      1. Kiwi
        Facepalm

        Re: Correction

        Don't forget, it was always a childrens show, hence very low budget. Very, very low. It's quite amazing what they managed considering the constraints.

        I was of the understanding it was aimed at families but perhaps a PGR sort of level (not PGR13 but "Kids may freak out at the embarrassing SFX so parents be close by to comfort them1".

        They could've at least used different coloured wood/plastic or used some paint or something in some episodes. I remember one where the 2nd Dr was being chased by some giant maggots, and you could see the sticks/rods they were using under the floor to move the "maggots" along. At least use a material that had the same colour as the floor rather than white, which showed up so clearly it detracted from the story line!

        [Disclaimer : Have the lot now and am slowly working through Hartnell, then will go through the rest as time permits]

        1When I was about 10 we had some re-runs of earlier Dr Who, 2nd and 3rd doctors. IIRC there was an ep with some oversized wind-up tin soldiers. One of my freinds, about the same age, wigged out. I remember him hiding behind the couch, pillows over his head, screaming for his mother and making all sorts of threats about telling our parents if we didn't turn off the show we were enjoying. No idea what hit him so hard, though it could've been a Cooperism (in that maybe he didn't like Dr Who and wanted us to quit watching it and do something else)

  28. The Mighty Spang

    Johnny

    I've said it a million times before, but it would be great to have David Thewlis, channelling his Johnny character from Mike Leigh's 'Naked'

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIeK4zLhUmY

  29. Anonymous Coward
  30. lorisarvendu

    New Blood - Keep moving on

    Personally I've always been pleased with the Beeb's choice of Doctors (and I've been watching since 1968). Instead of going with the usual fan and tabloid suggestions they mostly pick someone unexpected (and sometimes relatively unknown) but with excellent acting chops. Eccleston, Tennant, Smith and even Capaldi were never on any of the suggested lists at the time (everyone said "Who??" * when Smith was announced), but you can't argue that all of them have contributed to the success of 21st Century Who.

    I do find it funny that fans are often quick to shout "stunt casting!" when assistants with previous careers are announced (Billie Piper and Cat Tate spring to mind), and yet everyone seems to want John Cleese, Eric Idle, or Idris Elba.

    * See what I did there? Ha!

  31. Come to the Dark Side

    Charles Dance would've been a good choice (not sure how that would fit with The Master though).

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