Colin Baker on Big Finish and who should play the next Doctor Who

"Working with new people is one of the best bits about doing Doctor Who," says Colin Baker.

Nearly forty years since he first played the Sixth Doctor on television, and over twenty since returning to the part for a series of Big Finish audio dramas, it's this, says Baker, that keeps things engaging for him. "Acting is principally about people interacting with each other: you would be a stone if you weren't changed slightly, or quite a lot, by what the other person says and does in your company."

"Any other person that the Doctor has to interact with brings their own story and therefore brings out something different in the Doctor," he continues. Recently released box set The Eleven ("A very interesting couple of stories by Lizzie Hopley, Nigel Fairs and Chris Chapman") is a good example: it pits the Doctor against the Eleven, a Time Lord whose regeneration went wrong, leaving him with multiple competing identities.

He's "at war with himself most of the time and with everybody else the rest of the time" explains Baker, going on to praise the "brilliant [performance] by Mark Bonnar, who's a Scottish actor who is very good, very good indeed" that brought the Eleven to life. Working with Bonnar (Line of Duty, Catastrophe) was a big part of the appeal of this boxset for Baker – not, though, that the pair actually had a chance to meet while making this particular story.

Tony Whitmore

The Eleven was produced remotely, the cast unable to travel to Big Finish's London studios because of the ongoing pandemic, and the same is true of a number of Baker's other upcoming Doctor Who releases. How has he found it, working that way?

"For me, it works extremely well," he admits, "sitting in my leafy solitude in the middle of Buckinghamshire, miles away from anywhere and safe from the ravages of viruses in the world outside."

"My little studio, which I've now perfected, is every bit as effective as going up to a studio in London," Baker continues. "The internet here used to be problematical, but it's now very good. So, I can sit here and do exactly the same as I would be doing if I was in a studio in London, in a sound booth. The only difference is that we come out and sit and have a cup of tea together sometimes!"

It doesn't impact his performance either, Baker explains. "I know a lot of the other actors find the interaction with actors essential – that bit, of course I miss, but that bit isn't the bit that makes the drama work. The bit that makes the drama work is the bit between me and the microphone, and the other actors and their microphones."

"Sitting in my leafy solitude in Buckinghamshire, miles away from anywhere, works well for me."

"In one sense, it concentrates the mind wonderfully, because all you're going on is what you're hearing," he continues. "You know what should be happening because it's written in the script: 'He is hit over the head with a hammer'. Even if it were in the studio, we wouldn't be hit on the head with a hammer!"

Describing his own approach to acting, Baker points to Paul Scofield and Laurence Olivier – preferring their acting philosophy to "people who live the part in their private lives, actors who will leave the set in character and stay in character till they come back the next day".

"I'm the actor who's in the part, but driving the car, if you like," Baker continues, pointing to "the famous story of Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier, where Dustin starts a scene by violently running on the spot for a few minutes until Olivier says, 'excuse me why are you doing that?'"

"Hoffman said, 'Well, I'm breathless in this scene' – and there's a pause of precisely the right length before Olivier says, 'Have you considered acting?' I'm with Olivier – it's easier to play breathless if you're in control of your breathing. You can pretend you're breathless! If you're actually breathless, you're not controlling your acting. That's my mindset."

Sue Cowley

"Others feel differently," continues Baker, before joking "good luck to them – and leave me alone!"

Elsewhere, the world of Doctor Who is anticipating a big change: it won't be long until Jodie Whittaker embarks on her final series as the Doctor, soon to regenerate into the fourteenth (ish) actor to play the Time Lord. Has Baker been following her performance?

"I haven't kept up as much as I would like to, actually," Baker replies. "I've watched the first four or five, and then for various reasons, I started recording them. I've got them all on my Sky doo-dah, whatever you call it – so I haven't watched them all yet."

"I love something that Jodie has brought, that I've never seen in a Doctor before..."

"But I've seen enough to know that I thoroughly approve," he enthuses. "I love something that she has brought, that I've never seen in a Doctor before, which is joy: the joy of being the Doctor. I suppose joy isn't a particularly manly attribute. Usually, smugness is more what men go for, rather than joy!"

"Those initial episodes, where she was finding out who she was and making a sonic screwdriver? All those moments, I actually loved it. I'm looking forward to having the chance to sit and watch all the other stories! I love the way it was going. And I'm sure she will have a thumping good exit, I'm looking forward to seeing that as well."

Has that changed the way Baker thinks about the Doctor, that element of joy that Whittaker brings to the part? Has it influenced his own performance at all?

"Probably not," he admits, "because I've seen an awful lot of all the Doctors – I mean, they all produce different things and different attitudes, dictated mainly by the scripts, of course, but I think we all know who and what the Doctor is by now. It's just that they manifest his identity in different ways, because of the actor playing the part of the character they've chosen to adopt."

ITV

"There are facts, which I don't necessarily always take on board, you know? Like, there's twelve regenerations, oh no there isn't, there's a few more. In fact, there's 300,000 regenerations, or you could regenerate into a centipede!" laughs Baker. "The accepted canon is challenged all the time, and sometimes I approve, and sometimes I don't necessarily. But that's as a fan, not as an actor who's played the Doctor."

Before Whittaker was cast, Baker was quite vocal about feeling it was time for a woman to play the Doctor. How does he feel about it now – does he have any opinions on who should be the next actor to play the role?

"I suspect that the trend is going to take us down the BAME route – and quite right, too!" says Baker. "There's a whole sector of the acting community that's been ill-served for decades. It'll certainly, I suspect, not be a white middle-aged man; I would like to think it will be another female Doctor, because I enjoyed watching [Jodie Whittaker]."

"Although, I'd love it if she carried on! How long has she been doing it now, three years? Three years is considered the optimum, isn't it? Only Tom [Baker] bucked that one, with his mammoth seven. I think he thinks he's still doing it as well."

"The accepted canon is challenged all the time. Sometimes I approve, and sometimes I don't."

Of course, as we've established, Colin Baker is still playing the Doctor too. Famously, Baker "had a long-term plan which was frustrated by Michael Grade's decision that it was time for a new Doctor" – his tenure in the role was cut short after just two series, unable to prove his belief "that the interesting characters in a drama are the ones that you're wrong about."

"A lot of people were wrong about the Sixth Doctor, who he was and what he stood for, based on the moments after regeneration when I attacked my companion – which, of course is not what the Doctor should be doing!" he adds quickly, a caveat he's given more than once before. "Obviously, there's a development that has to take place for the audience to acknowledge that this is, in fact, a Doctor."

"Big Finish gave me the chance to continue the Sixth Doctor's arc so that we can see [that in full]" Baker continues. "I'd like to think that the story arc of the Sixth Doctor has brought him now to [that] place" – allowing audiences to, finally, appreciate what Baker had always hoped to do with the character.

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Not that there's an end in sight though, with Baker keen to reassure people "there's still lots to fill in" between his television debut and his Big Finish regeneration (like, for example, the upcoming Mind of the Hodiac, adapted from a script Russell T Davies first wrote in 1985).

"Are they aware that the Doctor is a time traveller, maybe?" Baker jokes, sounding pleased that he still gets the chance to revisit and explore a character he first brought to life in 1984. Jodie Whittaker may have brought joy to the Doctor on screen, but it’s clear enough that Colin Baker still gets a lot of joy from the role too.

The Eleven, and other Doctor Who audio dramas starring Colin Baker, are available to purchase now at the Big Finish website.

Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK. In the US, the show airs on BBC America, with series 1-12 available on HBO Max. Series 13 is due to premiere later this year. For more information on Doctor Who: Time Fracture, head this way – tickets are also available via retailers including LOVEtheatre, London Theatre Direct, Fever and Ticketmaster.