Doctor Who: A Baker’s Dozen (or a Dozen Bakers?)

Ever noticed there are a bunch of “Bakers” who have been important to Doctor Who over the years? I have, and it got me to wondering how many there were, or specifically if we could come up with a dozen of them. “A Dozen Bakers”, as it were.

(Daily Doctor Who #325)

The most obvious amongst the Doctor Who Baker’s is the 4th Doctor himself, Tom Baker, who played the title role for seven seasons from 1975-1981.

But let us not forget Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor, who had the part for two and bit seasons from 1984 to 1986.

Both actors have also returned multliple times for Big Finish audio.

But there’s more than just Doctors. There are also writers.

Like Bob Baker, co-writer (with Dave Martin) of the stories that introduced Omega (The Three Doctors), the Black Guardian (The Armageddon Factor) and most notably, K9 (The Invisible Enemy).

Without Dave Martin, he also wrote The Nightmare of Eden.

And then there are two more writers, married team Pip & Jane Baker, co-writers (with each other) of the two Rani stories–Mark of the Rani and Time and the Rani.

Also, they wrote parts of Trial of a Time Lord–including the thankless last episode, concluding a story that they had to take over without knowing what had previously been intended.

So that makes six “Bakers”–which are all the ones I can think of. Who else? Turning to the internet, I learn about the following people:

George Baker was an actor who played Login in the Fourth Doctor story, Full Circle.

Mark Blackwell Baker was an actress who played a robot in The Robots of Death, also with the Fourth Doctor. I have no idea which one, though.

John Baker appeared in three episodes over three different stories: he was a Time Lord in Colony in Space, an uncredited audience member in Planet of the Spiders, and “Ralph” in The Visitation.

A different John Baker (it seems) was a film cameraman in a bunch of Doctor Who stories, ranging from the Second to the Sixth Doctor.

Matt Baker is a real life Blue Peter presenter who played himself in Aliens of London, with the Ninth Doctor, where he was seen teaching people how to make a cake in the form of the ship that had crashed into the Thames.

Charlie Baker played “Fat One” in A Good Man Goes to War, with the 11th Doctor. He was the guy who became a Headless Monk in the course of the story.

Charlotte Baker was the Second Assistant Editor on the two finale of the Thirteenth Doctor’s second season: Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children.

So that makes twelve Bakers. A dozen Bakers.

But what if I want a Baker’s Dozen of Bakers? In other words, thirteen Bakers?

Who is worthy of being our thirteenth Baker?

Well, there are a bunch of uncredited Bakers who were involved in the show, which according to IMDb includes:

• Brian Baker, an uncredited Aztek Warrior in The Azteks

• Donald Baker, who was uncredited in the cast of two episodes of Day of the Daleks, once as a Stills Cameraman and once as a Guard.

• John Adam Baker, who played an uncredited crewman in Resurrection of the Daleks

• Les Baker, an uncredited script supervisor for one episode of The Two Doctors (the middle one)

• Susan Baker, who went uncredited as “Navarinos” in Delta and the Bannermen.

• James Baker, an uncredited sound mixer from New York on The Angels Take Manhattan.

• Jon Baker, an uncredited armourer on Bad Wolf, The Parting of the Ways, The Voyage of the Damned, The Wedding of River Song and The Making of the Gunslinger (a prequel for A Town Called Mercy).

There are also some fictional bakers:

• Baker was the name of freedom fighter on earth in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. He was played by Richard McNeff and ended up being killed by the Daleks.

• Pete Baker was a scientist on the moon in The Moonbase, played by Derek Calder, who fell victim to the Cybermen’s virus.

• Major Baker, played by Norman Jones, was a UNIT officer who fell victim to another virus, this one released by the Silurians in Doctor Who and the Silurians.

• Howard and Juno Baker (Neville Barber and Linda Polan) were friends of Sarah Jane Smith in the one episode produced of K9 and Company. They managed to avoid being infected by any alien viruses (that we know of).

Are any of these guys worthy of being our thirteenth baker? I’m not sure.

What about someone in the show who was a baker? In other words, who did baking?

Well there are probably others but the most obvious choice for this is Oswin Oswald.

This is a splinter of Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) who created a fictional reality for herself to avoid thinking about being converted into a Dalek, in which she spent much of her time baking soufflés. The original Clara also made soufflés, albeit badly, having been inspired by her mother Ellie Oswald, who not only baked the dish but used them to teach Clara life lessons. But when you think of soufflés, Oswin comes to mind first.

Does that count? A time-splinter version of a fictional character who imagined she was baking soufflés? No?

Okay, I have one more that’s going to blow your minds…it did mine!

He’s an uncredited actor named Baker, but there is something about him which puts him head and shoulders above all the others that I’ve mentioned, aside from the Doctors and the writers that I mentoined at the start.

His name is Christopher Baker, who was a production assistant for the BBC in the 1970’s, although not on Doctor Who, and also (mostly later), a director, though still not on Doctor Who. On Doctor Who, believe it or not, he played the Doctor himself!

This was in the infamous scene in The Brain of Morbius in which it was revealed that there was a bunch of pre-William Hartnell incarnations of the Doctor who all appeared in still photographs. They were all played by BBC crew members–apparently Christopher Baker answered a call that was put out to BBC staff and now, thanks to Chris Chibnall’s controversial retconning in The Timeless Chidlren, is canonically one of the Doctors!

Christopher Baker sadly died in 2011, years before Chibnall pulled his reworking of Time Lord history, so he never saw his position “ratified” in this way. But like it or not (and I’m not one of those who like it), it’s a done deal, at least until a future showrunner decides that enough is enough.