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"Classic Doctor Who is returning to British television. Courtesy of the Horror Channel, episodes from the &amp;#039;60s, &amp;#039;70s and &amp;#039;80s will air on UK screens from Friday, April 18.  At a launch in central London, the Week in Geek had the privilege of sitting down with arguably the show&amp;#039;s most iconic star - 80-year-old acting veteran and national treasure Tom Baker - for a frank discussion about his seven-year Who stint. Tom talks landing his dream part, shares fond memories of Elisabeth Sladen, reveals his favourite period of Doctor Who from his tenure, plus makes a surprising admission. Tom Baker open to Doctor Who return: &amp;#039;Capaldi might ask for me!&amp;#039; &amp;quot;Doctor Who hoisted me out of oblivion...&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;I had done several films before that - I&amp;#039;d been a leading actor with Maggie Smith in The Millionairess on television and then there was a lull. I was very down, you know - my private life was pretty empty at the time. &amp;quot;So when Doctor Who came it was amazing - I really leapt at it and I stayed with it for so long because I thought\u2026 why would I stop being so happy? I mean, it was ecstasy - and I had a lot of influence by the end. Life was just great, you know?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;All of the Doctor was just me!&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;They asked me what I was going to do with it, as if I had an idea! By the time I signed the contract, I still had no idea and they were rather crestfallen. &amp;quot;Of course, the scripts that I was doing at the beginning had been written in advance on the assumption that Jon Pertwee would be playing it. They weren&amp;#039;t written for me, so I had to wrench them a bit my way. &amp;quot;It was just heaven - I didn&amp;#039;t have to reach for it. It was just me - saying those lines, in those situations!&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Elisabeth Sladen cemented it for me.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;I was saying all this gobbledegook and people were falling around laughing - and especially Elisabeth Sladen. As a colleague, she was absolutely devoted to me - so when we&amp;#039;d cook up a scene, she was always there saying just what I wanted. She&amp;#039;d say, &amp;#039;Listen to Tom!&amp;#039; - we both were fond of old movies and we often stole bits! &amp;quot;Because she admired me, I in turn adored her! When people laugh at my jokes, I&amp;#039;m extremely vulnerable! Elisabeth, oh - it was terrible when she went.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;My series with Philip Hinchcliffe were by far the most successful.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;My favourite period had to be the changeover from Barry [Letts] to Philip Hinchcliffe - he was amazing. Graham Williams was absolutely devoted, but he didn&amp;#039;t have that kind of flair that Philip had. But he let me get away with murder, so that was alright! &amp;quot;Then John [Nathan-Turner] introduced many more characters. In the 25-minute format, there isn&amp;#039;t room to divide a script between four or five principal characters so it meant that I was surrounded by people nodding away saying, &amp;#039;Yes, Doctor, that&amp;#039;s right&amp;#039; - they couldn&amp;#039;t drive the plot. I had to drive the plot. That wasn&amp;#039;t so fun at all. &amp;quot;John Nathan-Turner and I did not see eye-to-eye really about very much. It was only afterwards when he&amp;#039;d gone that I got to realise what he was doing for Doctor Who - he was promoting it all over the world, which was all to my advantage. We became quite good friends as time passed - we forgot all about those disagreements.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I did one series too many of Doctor Who.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Probably I stayed on too long - I think I should&amp;#039;ve gone when John was taking over to liberate him to recast. Maybe I did one series too many. &amp;quot;But the truth is, I never did give it up - because people wouldn&amp;#039;t let me give it up! I&amp;#039;d been waiting for a part like Doctor Who all my life and since I finished, it&amp;#039;s never gone away - I&amp;#039;m still playing it for Big Finish. And I&amp;#039;m still happy!&amp;quot; The Horror Channel will begin airing classic Doctor Who episodes with &amp;#039;An Unearthly Child&amp;#039; on Friday, April 18 at 7pm. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/feature/a564726/tom-baker-remembers-classic-doctor-who-probably-i-stayed-on-too-long/>