Tom Baker Talks Fans And Immortality As Horror Channel Launches Classic Who Season



Horror Channel in the UK begins an Easter weekend marathon of classic Doctor Who adventures to mark the arrival of the series on the channel. Tom Baker joined an invited audience of journalists and bloggers earlier this week to mark the arrival of Who On Horror and to reflect on his time in the role as the Fourth Doctor and how incredible it is that the show is still popular today.

"Seeing the fans’ enthusiasm donkeys’ years after I left is really quite extraordinary," he said. "And also the intensity of their emotion – I get lots of mails still, probably ten a day, or something like that, and they’re all emotional, people thanking me and being reminded of when they were children and how happy they were."

Tom played the role for the longest on the BBC, from 1974 to 1981. He considered his longevity: "It’s a bit daunting. I’m now 29200 days old. It’s a pretty daunting thing, I can’t believe it, all that time has passed. But isn’t that amazing, it almost makes me immortal. People are still stopping me to say, ’You were really influential in my life’. I like that a lot. And if they say it nicely enough I offer them money."

"I never watched myself," he added "All I wanted to do was do it. The thing is...I was playing Doctor Who before I got the part, which made me so happy when I did get it. I didn’t watch myself because I was so opinionated about which shots they used. I thought, we did a better take than that. So I just celebrated coming out of obscurity into being a children’s hero and, not to be soppy about it, it really gave me an enormous pleasure, and I did a lot to promote the programme, and still do."

Horror Channel will be showing selected classic episodes of Doctor Who from this weekend. A special WHO ON HORROR marathon runs across the Easter weekend starting from 11am BST today and featuring one story from each of the Doctors.  There will then be weekday double-bills in daytime and evening slots with stories shown in chronological order starting on Easter Monday 21st April.

Weekend schedule – starts today

Saturday 19th April
11.00am BST   An Unearthly Child (1963) – starring William Hartnell as the Doctor with Carole Ann Ford, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill
1.20pm BST   The Mind Robber (1968) – starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor with Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury
3.35pm BST   Terror Of The Autons (1971) – starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor with Katy Manning and Roger Delgado
6.00pm BST   The Brain Of Morbius (1976) – starring Tom Baker as the Doctor with Elisabeth Sladen (parts 1 & 2)

Sunday 20th April
11.00am BST   The Brain Of Morbius (1976) – starring Tom Baker as the Doctor with Elisabeth Sladen (parts 3 & 4)
12.10pm BST   The Caves Of Androzani (1984) – starring Peter Davison as the Doctor with Nicola Bryant
2.30pm BST   Attack Of The Cybermen (1985) – starring Colin Baker as the Doctor with Nicola Bryant
4.50pm BST   Remembrance Of The Daleks (1988) – starring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor with Sophie Aldred

From Monday 21st April

Monday 21st – Thursday 24th April
The Daleks (1963-4) – starring William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill

Thursday 24th – Tuesday 29th April
Seeds Of Death (1969) - starring Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury

Tuesday 29th April – Thursday 1st May
The Daemons (1971) - starring Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning and Roger Delgado

Watch Horror Channel on Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138
For the full schedule and more information visit www.horrorchannel.co.uk
You can also follow Horror Channel on Twitter.  Remember to use the hashtag #WHOonHorror to join in the chat and tweet your own 'Scared Still Selfies' while you're watching!


 
 

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