# Was Doctor Who's Tom Baker Really an Alcoholic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028 "2011-01-01T05:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/1 "2011-01-01T05:52:29Z")
I know, really earth-shaking question, but I’m all curious now since someone here mentioned that Tom Baker was a raging alcoholic (I think it was here, anyway), and I’m not able to find confirmation for it. So, anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/2 "2011-01-01T06:15:10Z")
Alcoholic, I don’t know. Very self-destructive, and a problem drinker? Seems to be the case. That’s certainly his story. [This page](http://thomas-stewart-baker.com/article04.html) reprints several Daily Mail articles, where he speaks about many subjects, including his drinking, though it’s never really the subject, but rather mentioned in passing as he discusses the end of his marriage to Lalla Ward, and the start of his relationship with Sue Jerrold, his third wife. Relevant excerpts: > [@](#): > > Our relationship was not moving in any direction. Drinking heavily, I wasn’t going anywhere accept Soho. > [@](#): > > We fell in love and got married in 1980, but happy as we were for a while, the attractions of drinking and low life around Soho were too strong for me - stronger than our union, which ended within two years. > > The swift break-up of my second marriage (the first had ended long before, with my violent departure from the Wheatcroft dynasty) had not deterrent effect on my drinking, so that self-destructive life went on as usual. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/3 "2011-01-01T09:01:17Z")
Those fermented Jelly Babies really take a toll on a man. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/4 "2011-01-01T09:33:07Z")
I guess fans remember Lalla Ward played Romana, Doctor’s Companion? She fell in love with Baker on the set and they briefly married. The Tardis produces sparks after all. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/5 "2011-01-01T10:42:22Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I guess fans remember Lalla Ward played Romana, Doctor’s Companion? She fell in love with Baker on the set and they briefly married. > > The Tardis produces sparks after all. 😉 And now she’s married to Richard Dawkins. They were introduced to each other by Douglas Adams. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/6 "2011-01-01T10:52:50Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Alcoholic, I don’t know. Based on my admittedly limited experience with British “pub culture”…how could you tell? I mean seriously, any American who drank like the English people I know would be the subject of an intervention. ---
**Author:** ![Private\_Bin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@Private\_Bin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Private_Bin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/7 "2011-01-01T15:32:27Z")
I remember hearing a bit on a British radio show called Dead Ringers that involved the producers calling people at home with a spot-on impersonation of Tom Baker. They called up someone he had worked with -I think it may have been a later incarnation of the doctor- and started haranguing them, insisting that they were the \*\*real \*\*doctor. The man’s response was a fairly calm, “Tom? Have you been at the pub?” Make of that what you will, but it seems like getting a drunken phone call from Tom Baker isn’t an unexpected occurrence. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/8 "2011-01-01T17:32:08Z")
Someone he had worked with, a later incarnation of the Doctor–that would have to be Peter Davison, who seems a rather calm chap in general. Or, wait, Colin Baker was in one serial, & maybe Tom had worked with McCoy on some other project. Actually, I don’t expect Tom Baker was familiar with any of the other Doctors really. Seems to have kept to himself a lot for an actor. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/9 "2011-01-01T21:45:04Z")
> [@Private\_Bin](#): > > I remember hearing a bit on a British radio show called Dead Ringers that involved the producers calling people at home with a spot-on impersonation of Tom Baker. They called up someone he had worked with -I think it may have been a later incarnation of the doctor- and started haranguing them, insisting that they were the \*\*real \*\*doctor. The man’s response was a fairly calm, “Tom? Have you been at the pub?” > Make of that what you will, but it seems like getting a drunken phone call from Tom Baker isn’t an unexpected occurrence. It was Sylvester McCoy, the 7th doctor. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfcSAMkQknM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfcSAMkQknM) “Have you been in the pub?” “For several millenia.” “Oh, I believe you.” A number of those calls are up on Youtube. He called the real Tom Baker: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ7uHzZYREo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ7uHzZYREo) And here’s a video of the Doctor taking a train: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q88kt\_Vtyl4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q88kt_Vtyl4) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/10 "2011-01-01T21:58:17Z")
Richard Dawkins is banging Romana from Doctor Who on a nightly basis? _THERE IS NO GOD!_ ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/11 "2011-01-01T23:03:31Z")
During the 1980s, I was involved with a group that ran American Doctor Who and Blakes 7 conventions. Both were running on PBS at the time and enjoying enough fannish popularity to make conventions workable. Some smaller conventions found out - at considerable cost - that it was a good idea to put a strict cap on the amount the British actors were allowed to charge in the hotel bar at the convention’s expense. It had been customary with Star Trek conventions for the conventions to cover the actors’ food and bar bills as a courtesy. It didn’t usually work out to be anything extreme. That didn’t turn out to be the case with the Dr. Who and B7 people. There were a few of the actors who were _especially_ notorious for this, and there was more than one Doctor who was one of them. One small convention went completely bankrupt - lost money rather than breaking even or making some back - due to bar bills. (Some of the smaller conventions didn’t bother to incorporate to protect themselves, either. That lesson got learned, too.) I’d managed to forget about all this stuff. Those were the days. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/12 "2011-01-01T23:31:36Z")
Oooohhhh…which Blake’s 7 stars did you get to come to the conventions? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/13 "2011-01-02T00:52:10Z")
Yup, I’d say Tom Baker’s an alcoholic, from what I’ve heard. And I was in love with the man regardless for years. Say what you like, but he’ll be 77 on January 20th, and that’s longer than any of the three preceding Doctors lasted. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/14 "2011-01-02T00:56:23Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Richard Dawkins is banging Romana from Doctor Who on a nightly basis? > > _THERE IS NO GOD!_ Hee hee hee, I see what you did there. 😃 (Of course, I don’t know the details of their sex lives, just a report on their marital status.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/15 "2011-01-02T02:06:39Z")
So, we don’t have definitive confirmation, but it’s pretty damned likely? I can live with that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/16 "2011-01-02T02:56:07Z")
The man is nearly 70. I’m just saying, I doubt it’s _every_ night. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/17 "2011-01-02T04:17:08Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Oooohhhh…which Blake’s 7 stars did you get to come to the conventions? I wasn’t personally involved in inviting anyone, but I did help run conventions and knew other people in fandom. The relative popularity of active B7 fandom (pre-internet) in America lasted less than five years, and it imploded hugely at one point due to various fannish disagreements and nastiness, which some of the actors, quite sadly, chose to take sides in and encourage. Most of the B7 cast made American convention appearances at one point or another. Paul Darrow and Michael Keating probably did the most. Gareth Thomas did a few, as did his ex-wife Shelagh Wells who was a BBC special effects makeup artist and would do panels and demonstrations. Terry Nation did a lot of cons both for Doctor Who and B7. Jacqueline Pierce also did some conventions and was always funny and entertaining. This was twenty years ago, so forgive me if I don’t remember all the details. (I DO remember Michael Keating’s reaction on being told that New Orleans could not be visited as a day trip from Chicago. He didn’t believe it at first and had to be convinced that no, the Americans hosting him weren’t joking.) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/18 "2011-01-02T07:00:13Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > During the 1980s, I was involved with a group that ran American Doctor Who and Blakes 7 conventions. Both were running on PBS at the time and enjoying enough fannish popularity to make conventions workable. Some smaller conventions found out - at considerable cost - that it was a good idea to put a strict cap on the amount the British actors were allowed to charge in the hotel bar at the convention’s expense. It had been customary with Star Trek conventions for the conventions to cover the actors’ food and bar bills as a courtesy. It didn’t usually work out to be anything extreme. That didn’t turn out to be the case with the Dr. Who and B7 people. There were a few of the actors who were _especially_ notorious for this, and there was more than one Doctor who was one of them. > > One small convention went completely bankrupt - lost money rather than breaking even or making some back - due to bar bills. (Some of the smaller conventions didn’t bother to incorporate to protect themselves, either. That lesson got learned, too.) Free bar + British people = unfortunate cultural misunderstanding on your part ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/19 "2011-01-02T17:48:33Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Free bar + British people = unfortunate cultural misunderstanding on your part Not my part, no. The local group I was most closely associated with had learned that lesson and both incorporated and capped actors expenses in the contracts. There were a LOT of small groups (local fanclubs, etc) trying to run individual conventions in that era, and very little communication between them. The internet has changed many, many things. I was talking about fandom as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028/20 "2011-01-02T18:03:26Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > Not my part, no. The local group I was most closely associated with had learned that lesson and both incorporated and capped actors expenses in the contracts. There were a LOT of small groups (local fanclubs, etc) trying to run individual conventions in that era, and very little communication between them. The internet has changed many, many things. I was talking about fandom as a whole. I wasn’t going to ask until I saw you back today, but while I don’t know anything about conventions AT ALL, I am wondering how even a few incredibly huge bar/room service tabs could bankrupt a fan convention. If a guy charged 25 drinks (and survived the alcohol poisoning) at $5 a drink, that’s only $125, and let’s say with another $50 in food. If they do this for all three days of the convention, that’s still less than $500. If there are 5 actors who keep up this kind of pace, that’s still under $3000. Are the profit magrins so thin that this would be something that could take an entire convention down? How much is admission for a fan? How many fans would show up to a Doctor Who convention? Do these conventions make money on anything besides selling admission? (food or drinks, memorabilia, etc.?) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-doctor-whos-tom-baker-really-an-alcoholic/566028.md?page=2)