The Sixth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Colin Baker. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Baker portrays the sixth such incarnation: conceived by producer John Nathan-Turner and Baker to be an arrogant and abrasive character. The Sixth is flamboyantly dressed in brightly coloured, mismatched clothes with a patronising personality intentionally written and portrayed to set him apart from all his previous incarnations.
Preceded in regeneration by the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), he is followed by the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy). The Sixth Doctor appeared in two seasons, although his first regular appearance would be in The Twin Dilemma (1984), the final story of season 21. The Sixth appeared with only two companions on-screen, most notably the American college student Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant), who had travelled with his previous incarnation, before being briefly joined by Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford), a computer technician from his future.
Prior to its hiatus, season 23 was well into preproduction, with episodes under active development before BBC1 executive Michael Grade forcibly paused all production on Doctor Who. Once it was allowed to return, the planned production for season 23 was dropped in favour of the 14-episode story arc The Trial of a Time Lord. Unsatisfied with Baker's performance, Grade demanded Nathan-Turner terminate him from the role if Doctor Who was to be renewed for further seasons, despite Baker having signed up for four years. Baker, displeased by the treatment he received from the production during his tenure, refused to return to film his regeneration at the beginning of Time and the Rani (1987), offering instead to return for one last season where he would regenerate at the end, but receiving no further response after his counter-offer.
The Sixth Doctor's time on television received frequent criticism for its violence, darker tone compared to prior seasons of the show, and antagonistic relationship between the Doctor and companion Peri. Since the end of the Sixth Doctor's run, novels and audio plays have featured the character in further adventures, most prominently in those commissioned by Big Finish Productions, and they've also been visually referenced several times in the revived 2000s production of the show. Baker would eventually return to play the role in the show 36 years after he had been fired to film a cameo as the Sixth Doctor in "The Power of the Doctor" (2022), where he appeared among multiple other past incarnations as figments within the consciousness of the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker).
Biography
The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) was first seen briefly at the end of The Caves of Androzani (1984), where the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), having resisted regeneration throughout the latter half of the story, finally succumbs to his injuries and transforms into his latest incarnation.
Due to the circumstances of his prior iteration's death, the Sixth Doctor suffers from post-regeneration trauma in his debut The Twin Dilemma (1984), where he acts out erratically, seen in his strangulation of companion Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant), who he accuses of being an "alien spy". The Doctor and Peri go on to uncover and stop a conspiracy by a member of an alien species known as the Gastropods to hypnotise a pair of super-intelligent adolescents, who they had planned to use to advance their nefarious goals; at the end of the story, the Doctor reassures Peri that, through the course of their debut adventure, he had since fully recovered from his earlier bout of madness, confidently insisting "I am the Doctor – whether you like it…or not!"
He went on to encounter many old foes including the Master (Anthony Ainley), Davros (Terry Molloy) and the Daleks, Cybermen, and the Sontarans, and shared an adventure with his own second incarnation (Patrick Troughton) in The Two Doctors (1985). The Sixth would face new enemies too, such as a renegade female Time Lord scientist, the Rani (Kate O'Mara), and Sil (Nabil Shaban), a repulsively greedy slug creature.
The Sixth Doctor would be subject to a trial arranged by the High Council of the Time Lords, beginning in The Mysterious Planet (1986). Under the prosecution of the Valeyard (Michael Jayston), the Doctor was accused of violating the Time Lord decree of non-inference, although more charges were added throughout The Trial of a Time Lord storyline. An adventure the Sixth and Peri had on the devastated planet Ravolox, which they discovered to actually be Earth, moved across space by unknown forces that resulted in devastating consequences, was shown as evidence. A separate adventure in Mindwarp (1986) was shown as further evidence, when the TARDIS landed on Thoros Beta and they reunited with the villainous Sil. What actually occurred here is left intentionally unclear, but initial accounts suggested that Peri was killed after being cruelly used as a test subject in brain transplant experiments, which the Doctor was stopped from preventing after having been pulled out of time by the Time Lords to face trial. Although as later revealed, the Valeyard had been tampering with evidence shown during the trial, specifically the recordings of the Doctor's travels; in reality, Peri had survived the events of the story, and went on to marry an alien warrior king met during the same period. As the trial continued, the Valeyard would also be unmasked as an alternate, evil incarnation of the Doctor, who was an amalgamation of his darkest traits extracted between the Doctor's twelfth and final incarnations. The trial tangled the Doctor's timeline slightly, as he left in the company of future companion Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford), a fitness enthusiast from Pease Pottage, whom he technically had not met yet.
Other appearances
The Sixth Doctor starred in A Fix with Sontarans (1985), a segment of the children's television programme Jim'll Fix It, featuring the return of former companion Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and attacking Sontarans. His image has appeared among other incarnations in several revival series episodes, often in montages, beginning with "The Next Doctor" (2008). He was briefly portrayed via a stunt double for "The Name of the Doctor" (2013) and appears in "The Day of the Doctor" (2013) using archived footage. The Sixth returned in "The Power of the Doctor" (2022), marking 36 years since he last appeared on television, as a "vestige of [the Doctor's] consciousness", alongside previous Doctors, now all visibly aged as part of the "Guardians of the Edge” who are figments within the mind of the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker).
For the third episode of the spin-off series Tales of the TARDIS in 2023, the Sixth Doctor reunited with a returning Peri, now a warrior queen. Sixth appears as an older, bearded version, now sporting a pink three-piece suit with rainbow-coloured socks and a dog pin in place of his usual cat pin. The pair recount the events of Vengeance on Varos (1985) before setting off for further adventures.
Comics
The Sixth Doctor has featured in a number of comic stories published in Doctor Who Magazine, which ran concurrently with the television series during the 1980s. These comic stories featured the Sixth and Peri in new adventures, but would also introduce a new companion for him named Frobisher, a "self-styled, street-smart detective" and shapeshifting alien who often took the form of a penguin.
Novels
Multiple scrapped episodes that were a part of the original plan for season 23 of Doctor Who prior to the show's 18-month hiatus went on to be developed into novels (and later audio play recreations) as part of the Target Missing Episodes line beginning in 1994, which included The Nightmare Fair by Graham Williams, The Ultimate Evil by Wally K. Daly, The Sixth featured more prominently in the Virgin Missing Adventures series of books, appearing in novels such as State of Change by Christopher Bulis, Time of Your Life and Killing Ground, both by Lyons, Similarly, the Sixth also headlined novels from the Past Doctor Adventures line, such as Business Unusual by Gary Russell, which acted as the companion introduction for Mel, unseen in the Doctor's original television tenure, Players by Terrance Dicks, which served as a sequel to The War Games (1969) and featured a returning Second Doctor, and Spiral Scratch, one of many interpretations behind the circumstances surrounding the Sixth Doctor's regeneration. He would cameo in the Eighth Doctor Adventures line, where he, among several other past incarnations, met the Eighth Doctor in The Eight Doctors.
Video games
The Sixth Doctor featured as the main protagonist in 1985's Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror where he works to stop the Master from "setting himself up as the Devil at the beginning of time" so he can be immortal. The Sixth appeared alongside the first seven incarnations of the Doctor in 1998's Destiny of the Doctors, where he and the others have been captured by the Master (played by a returning Ainley) and must be rescued by the player character. The Sixth was also featured in 2015's Lego Dimensions as one of the incarnations of the Doctor the player could unlock and play as.
Audio dramas
Alongside the Fifth and Seventh Doctors, the Sixth Doctor was the first to mainline a release by Big Finish Productions in 1999's audio play The Sirens of Time, the first entry in Big Finish's Monthly Adventures line of audio-exclusive stories featuring the returning cast of Doctor Who reprising their roles. The Sixth Doctor's involvement was seen as an opportunity to further develop underexplored aspects of the character and make-up for missed opportunities left unfulfilled from his television tenure. This included the introduction of the first audio-exclusive companion Evelyn Smythe (Maggie Stables) in 2000's The Marian Conspiracy, who would serve as a more assertive presence that was able to challenge the Sixth's abrasive personality, a reunion with Peri after having departed the Doctor at the end of The Trial of a Time Lord in 2014's The Widow's Assassin,
The noncanonical Doctor Who Unbound range would also explore aspects of the Sixth Doctor previously not possible within the series continuity, including the 2003 story He Jests at Scars..., a reality where the Valeyard succeeded in killing the Sixth following the events of The Trial of a Time Lord.
Including Smythe, additional companions the Sixth would make within Big Finish included "Edwardian adventuress" Charley Pollard (performed by India Fisher; a former companion of the Eighth Doctor, rescued by the Sixth as part of a temporal paradox), supermarket check-out girl Flip Jackson (Lisa Greenwood), and WREN code-breaker Constance Clarke (Miranda Raison). Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) would occasionally assist the Sixth in various Big Finish stories, such as 2000's The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, another opportunity left unfulfilled during the television series. Prior to that, the two had only met during a brief interaction in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. Frobisher (Robert Jezek), a companion of the Sixth Doctor's originating from his comic appearances, would also return and appear with the Sixth in multiple audio adventures. Whereas the Fifth was portrayed as "lost and frightened" shortly after his regeneration, the Sixth would be "egotistical, brash, arrogant, and moody". The plan was, however, to have him slowly recover and become more recognisable as the heroic Doctor that audiences were familiar with. Baker agreed with the idea, comparing it to Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, whom he was excited to have the Sixth Doctor emulate. He would describe it as "quite exciting to have a character who was a little inaccessible, a little enigmatic. I don’t know if you have this experience in your life, but I have it in mine, the people who are my best friends are the ones I didn’t like much at first. Some of them I loathed at first."
One element of the Sixth's fragile mental state was in his initial confrontation, and strangulation, of companion Peri Brown early into his debut story, The Twin Dilemma (1984), something which Baker and Nicola Bryant approved of portraying, both agreeing it was "brave" to include. Throughout the remainder of the story, the Sixth continued to display symptoms reminiscent of bipolar disorder, placing him "at the mercy of violent mood swings that yaw him from cringing fear to homicidal paranoia" coupled with lapses in memory. Though the Fifth Doctor recovered by the end of his introductory story, the Sixth Doctor retained a temperamental personality by the conclusion of his. By the beginning of his second story, Attack of the Cybermen (1985), he had grown less violent towards his companion, but remained "impatient and insensitive" and still "suffering gaps in his memory". acknowledged at the end of The Mark of the Rani (1985) when the Sixth, questioned on what Peri and he do in the TARDIS, says they "argue mainly".
Costume
Baker wished to dress his Doctor in black velvet, to reflect his character's darker personality. Nathan-Turner, however, opted for a deliberately "totally tasteless" costume with clashing colours. Designer Pat Godfrey made several attempts which were considered not tasteless enough before Nathan-Turner finally accepted the last one as sufficiently garish. Baker later described the outfit as "an explosion in a rainbow factory". In-universe, the coat was tailored on the planet Kolpasha, which the Doctor asserts is the "fashion capital of the universe".
The costume saw minimal redesign for The Trial of a Time Lord, with the coat remaining the same. A new red and pink plaid waistcoat was introduced, which included buttons in the design of teddy bears, and a new polka-dotted scarlet bow tie. A future version of the Sixth Doctor seen in Terror of the Vervoids (1986) wore a new silk waistcoat with green, blue, and pink diagonal stripes with a canary yellow bow tie.
thumb|The Sixth Doctor would wear a [[cat pin on his left lapel which he would rub for good luck]]
Baker added a cat pin to the ensemble, worn on the left lapel of his coat, which the Sixth Doctor would occasionally rub for good luck. Baker cited the Rudyard Kipling short story "The Cat that Walked by Himself" as inspiration for it, specifically stating the repeated line in it "I am the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to me" as reminding him strongly of the Doctor.
A royal blue version of the original costume has been used in spin-off media, first seen in the webcast Real Time, which was done due to the limited availability of colours in the type of animation used, which prevented use of the original multi-coloured coat. Previously, the Sixth Doctor wore a blue-and-gold cloak in Revelation of the Daleks (1985), due to blue being the "official mourning colour on Necros".
Hiatus
BBC1 controller Michael Grade, shortly after taking his position in 1984, announced a programme needed to be cancelled to save on production costs, to be used to produce a new drama for the broadcaster. Grade would ultimately decide that Doctor Who, a show he openly admitted he was not a fan of, would be cancelled to make up for this. Aided by the uproar generated from the increasingly violent nature of its stories, as well as claims that its writing was deteriorating in quality,
The unexpected hiatus greatly impacted the planned character arc the Sixth Doctor was undergoing, with episodes for the then-upcoming season 23 having to be scrapped completely. In the eighteen-month period between when Doctor Who left and, after fan campaigning, returned to the airwaves, script editor Eric Saward and regular scriptwriter Robert Holmes would come together and devise the idea for The Trial of a Time Lord.
Taking inspiration from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, The Trial of a Time Lord would feature an interconnecting sub-plot throughout where the Sixth Doctor "would confront his past, his present, and his future" meant to act as a piece of metafictional commentary in relation to the show which "itself was on trial". Late into production, Holmes would grow ill, ultimately dying before he could finish writing the second part to the season finale, The Ultimate Foe (1986), only finishing an initial outline for it beforehand. Originally, Saward, Holmes, and Nathan-Turner would settle on a cliffhanger ending involving the Sixth Doctor and Valeyard locked in battle and falling through a "time vent" with "their final fate unknown", a reference to the end of "The Final Problem" where Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty plummet from Reichenbach Falls. Saward, displeased, would abruptly resign and threaten legal action if Doctor Who reused elements from his now withdrawn script, forcing late replacement writers Pip and Jane Baker to "come up with some kind of ending" that could satisfactorily conclude the season. Baker, disgruntled with the treatment he was receiving, declined an offer to return and star in a story that he would regenerate at the end of, which would begin the following season. Reflecting years later, Baker commented "[this] was in November and that would take place the following March/April...I wasn't going to commit myself to two weeks work the next March/April...and I'll be honest, I was hacked off. I saw no reason to be nice to them...I thought I had more to offer." An offer to instead return for the entirety of a final season that he would regenerate at the end of was made by Baker, but he "never heard back". The immediate reaction towards the Sixth's "aggressive, hostile, and violent" characterisation in his debut story The Twin Dilemma (1984), further exacerbated when compared to the Fifth Doctor's noble sacrifice in the preceding season episode The Caves of Androzani (1984),
Michael Grade, at the time the controller of BBC1, would attempt to cancel Doctor Who following transmission of Baker's first season, calling the show "rubbish" and heavily criticising the supposedly violent nature of Baker's era, which he felt was a poor use of viewers' licence fee. In response to these threats, the Sixth Doctor is portrayed as "[confronting] a violent universe head-on" and being "relentlessly male, embracing violence and bullying his way into situations".
Years following his portrayal of the character on television, Baker would return to play the Sixth Doctor once again beginning in 1999 with his involvement in a series of Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions. This has frequently been cited as contributing to a revitalisation of the incarnation among the fanbase, with popularly received stories, such as 2003's Jubilee, Baker would credit Big Finish for properly utilising him in the role of the Sixth Doctor in a way he felt the television series never truly did, saying in an interview promoting The Last Adventure that "[Big Finish] have given my Doctor the opportunity to live beyond those few episodes on television which were recorded during a time when the programme was under siege from various quarters...the Sixth Doctor has lived and breathed anew and developed in a way that I am extremely happy with."
See also
- History of Doctor Who – Sixth Doctor
Notes
References
;Bibliography
External links
- The Sixth Doctor on the BBC's Doctor Who website
- Sixth Doctor Gallery
- Sixth Doctor's first season theme music QuickTime file
- Trial of a Time Lord theme music QuickTime file
- Sixth Doctor first title sequence
- Sixth Doctor second title sequence