Tom Baker was the fourth person to play the Doctor. The Doctor can be as heroic as any of the macho leading men such as Clint Eastwood or any of the costumed superheroes such as Batman and Robin but they do not have any of his wit or charm.
He played the Doctor for seven years from 1974 to 1981, which is the longest tenure of any actor, and he was definitely one of the coolest television characters of the 1970s. He was quite young when he took on the role. At this point, this Time Lord was about 750 years old. His portrayal of the Doctor had a big smile and a great sense of humor. This Doctor was really enthusiastic and had a big personality. He used his wit and levity to diffuse troublesome situations. For a short time, he was the science advisor to UNIT. He was a lot more stylish than the three previous Doctors. He had a huge shock of curly brown hair and he wore a big, floppy hat that looked similar to the Fedora hat that Harrison Ford wore in all 4 Indiana Jones movies. He typically wore a red corduroy jacket, cravat, vest, brown slacks and brown shoes. His scarf is the most recognizable piece of his costume. It was made by a woman named Begonia Pope who decided to knit an outrageously big, multicolored wool scarf. It was quite colorful and contained various shades of red, yellow, purple, light blue, brown, gray, and white that was so long that both ends nearly touched the floor even after he wrapped it around his neck a couple of time. He also loved jelly babies and always had a supply of them in his pocket.
His first companion was journalist Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen. She was the longest running companion. She was modern, friendly, adventurous and had a good sense of humor. She was always dressed conservatively. The Doctor called her Sarah while everyone else called her Sarah Jane. The Doctor and Sarah were best friends. Elisabeth Sladen reprised the role for a couple of episodes while David Tennant was the 10th Doctor. This character even got her own series which lasted for a couple of years.
His second companion was a Sevateem warrior named Leela, played by Louise Jameson, who came from a tribe of savages. She was a trained killer, who always carried a knife, and did not have a problem killing people which is the polar opposite of the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. However, she was also very bright. She wore very revealing costumes. She typically wore a low cut sleeveless top and short shorts. Her costumes looked like something that Tarzan’s girlfriend Jane would wear. Whereas the Doctor was Sarah’s best friend, the Doctor was a mentor to Leela.
He also had a little robotic canine companion called K-9, who was voiced by John Leeson. He was the Doctor’s first pet. He was a supercomputer and he was actually smarter than the Doctor. He could even beat him in a game of chess. He had no problems with correcting the Doctor whenever he was wrong. However, he always called the Doctor ‘Master’. Leela and K-9 could really relate to each other so they became very good friends. His head and body were rectangular. Even though he was a robot, K-9 had a personality. He had a droopy head, his ears would spin around and he had a wagging tail. The television viewing audience really enjoyed this character. He had a retractable laser in his nose and a radio antennae in his tail.
