Before Who

Born in 1934 to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, Tom Baker was a religious lad who left school at 15 to become a novice monk in Jersey. He stayed at the monastery for over six years before growing tired of it and becoming a sailor with the Merchant Navy instead.

The ever-restless Baker then switched careers again – deciding that he'd rather like to have a try at acting. He attended drama school, appeared in plays and a number of, frankly, rather rubbish films. Then came 1974's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, in which he played a flamboyant villain. It was this performance that got him noticed by the producers of Doctor Who – by which time Baker was so short of cash that he was actually working on a building site when he heard he was cast as the Doctor.

His Who

"You may be a doctor. But I'm the Doctor. The definite article, you might say." So proclaimed the Fourth Doctor, and it was true: Tom Baker's incarnation became so famous that he's still regarded by most fans as the quintessential Who (though today's younger viewers will no doubt defend Tennant to the death).

Playing the part from 1974 to 1981, Baker gave us the most bohemian and eccentric Doctor of them all: by turns witty and aloof, stroppy and generous, he delighted in danger and always thought of clever ways to befuddle his opponents ("Now drop your weapons, or I'll kill him with this deadly jellybaby"). A kind of space-bound Oscar Wilde (with elements of Sherlock Holmes and Lord Byron), the Fourth Doctor has strong claim to be considered the most memorable Doctor of them all.

After Who

Baker didn't pause for breath after those seven years of Who came to an end. He turned up in all sorts of productions, from Blackadder II, where he played a demented sea captain, to the blackly comic Life and Loves of a She-Devil, in which he had a mad, moaning sex scene – no doubt traumatising any Doctor Who fans who happened to be watching. In more recent years he's appeared in Monarch of the Glen and the remake of Randall and Hopkirk, but is perhaps most loved for his bonkers voice-overs for Little Britain ("Britain, Britain, Britain! We've had running water for ten years and we invented the cat!").

Who knew?

Tom Baker's most famous accessory, the unfeasibly long scarf, came about by accident. The costume designer for Doctor Who gave too much wool to the knitter, who naturally assumed it was all to be used. The resulting scarf was almost thrown out by the designer, until Baker noticed it and realised it was just perfect.

Who says...

Baker's epic tenure in the role can be put down to one thing: his sheer love of the part. As he once said: "Playing Doctor Who came as a great surprise to me – I had no idea that I would enjoy it so much. All that was required of me was to be able to speak complete gobbledygook with complete conviction!"