Tom Baker unable to film scenes for Doctor Who special

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 24 October 2022

Chris Chibnall confirms that Tom Baker was asked to appear in Doctor Who but was unable to commit.

Tom Baker was asked to appear in Jodie Whittaker's final episode of Doctor Who, outgoing showrunner Chris Chibnall has confirmed.

'The Power of The Doctor', which aired on Sunday, featured brief cameos from the First Doctor (now played by David Bradley), the Fifth (Peter Davison), the Sixth (Colin Baker), the Seventh (Sylvester McCoy), the Eighth (Paul McGann) and the Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin).

Notably absent was Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor between 1974 and 1981 - and now Chibnall has revealed that the actor was unable to appear.

"I wanted it to be classic Doctors and there's not a huge amount of those. It was a bit of an instinct, and we asked them, and they said yes," Chibnall told The Mirror.

"They were all really keen. We got incredible messages back. To see those people back on the set was an incredible thing."

Of Baker, he said: "We asked Tom, but sadly he could not do it. He was not available. Such a shame."

The episode ended with Whittaker's Doctor regenerating into a new incarnation of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor.

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