Doctor, Doctor

August 8, 2014 4:24 PM

In the early 2000s four people in the UK answered their phones to hear the unmistakable voice of Doctor Who, specifically the Fourth Doctor, asking for their help with an urgent problem. Only one thing linked these four individuals: they were all actors who had played Doctor Who. Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor); Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor); Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor); and gloriously, Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor.

The prank-calling was by the BBC Radio 4 impressionist-comedy show Dead Ringers, which is apparently returning later this year. The voice of the Doctor was Jon Culshaw. When the radio series became a TV series he ventured out into the world in scarf and hat for a number of memorable encounters, perhaps none greater than this potentially explosive encounter with a Sontaran battle-cruiser.

posted by Hogshead (11 comments total)

I remember there was a thing where Tom Baker had pre-recorded various words and phrases where you could ring up + hear them spoken in his (automated) voice. Early 2000s, probably? Was expecting this FPP to be about that, but pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

[Three is "My Doctor", rules be damned, but I have such a soft spot for Six + Seven]

"No, I'm cheesy" /puntndennis
posted by comealongpole at 5:28 PM on August 8, 2014

Also; these are funnier than I was expecting!
posted by comealongpole at 5:31 PM on August 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

Obi Wan needs passage to Aldershot.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:59 PM on August 8, 2014 [4 favorites]

Oh God you're not kidding about the Tom Baker one - that could've been the FPP alone and it would've been a great FPP. (He really gamely plays along, doesn't he?)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:05 PM on August 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

"I'm not short of the shillings." Perfect.
posted by ob1quixote at 6:44 PM on August 8, 2014

He really gamely plays along, doesn't he?

They all play along. Baker takes it over.
posted by scalefree at 6:48 PM on August 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

My fave is when John Culshaw meets Tom Baker in a pub for a different show, both white haired and in big coats and each wearing a scarf.

"We have the best voice in the world, don't we?"
posted by droplet at 7:21 PM on August 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

Wha... Romana-Lalla-Ward married Tom Baker, then divorced him and married Richard Dawkins? How have I never come across this fact before? I think someone has been tinkering with the history of the late 20th century. Or perhaps I've been in the pub, for millenia.
posted by XMLicious at 10:33 PM on August 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wha... Romana-Lalla-Ward married Tom Baker, then divorced him and married Richard Dawkins? How have I never come across this fact before?

And what's more, she and Dawkins were introduced by Douglas Adams.
posted by The Tensor at 12:20 AM on August 9, 2014 [5 favorites]

I knew what this was immediately as I was a big fan back when it was on the radio. The Tom Baker one got the most massive round of applause when Baker spoke up about who he was.

He would also ring various businesses as The Doctor, and ask for help. They were funny but you felt a bit sorry for the person at the other end of the phone who didn't realise.
posted by marienbad at 12:21 AM on August 9, 2014

I remember there was a thing where Tom Baker had pre-recorded various words and phrases where you could ring up + hear them spoken in his (automated) voice. Early 2000s, probably?

That was BT's SMS to speech system from 2006. I too was reminded of it by this post and took a trip down memory lane with Common People by Tom Baker.
posted by MUD at 3:41 AM on August 9, 2014