Doctor Who fans all have a favorite Time Lord (or Lady) and dread the moment they will have to say bye to their pick. The series requires the Doctor to regenerate time and again, and there have been some truly famous handovers over the years. From the First Doctor to the Twelfth Doctor, there are lots of regenerations to pick, but the Sixth-to-Seventh is always a topic of conversation.
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As fans will know, Doctor Who had an unprecedented regeneration for the Sixth Doctor. A bungled decision to fire Colin Baker did not end well as the actor refused to film the Sixth Doctor’s epic regeneration. Now, the star says he regrets the choice, but it has little to do with his reputation as an actor.
As it turns out, the star says he feels most sorry for the fans.
Recently, Baker admitted he was more than a bit miffed about his abrupt firing. His anger paired with a lousy shooting schedule led Baker to pass on filming the regeneration scene, and he regrets fans never got to see it done properly.
“This was in November and [filming his regeneration] 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,” the actor said.
“I forgot about [the fans]–sorry. I was being brutally selfish at the time and I just felt annoyed. Because I loved that part… and I thought I had more to offer.”
As reported by the Radio Times, Baker’s comments were given recently long after his firing. For those who are not aware of the Doctor Who lore here, Baker was asked to leave given the Sixth Doctor’s unsavory status with audiences. Not only did the creative team have trouble with the character, but the head of BBC One, Michael Grade, didn’t care for him. When the show was looking to get renewed for a 24th season, Grade only agreed to an offer so long as Baker was removed from Doctor Who.
As you can guess, the show’s executives decided to get rid of Baker and introduce a new Doctor played by Sylvester McCoy. Baker was upset by the ultimatum and felt slighted when asked to return for one more episode where he would regenerate into the Seventh Doctor. Refusing to film the scene, Doctor Who had to have Slvester pose as Baker using a hilarious wig to finish the regeneration, and well – you can see why the Sixth Doctor feels sorry about the whole ordeal all these years later.
Do you wish Baker had been able to shoot his pivotal regeneration? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
