The Doctor's shadow

[merlinsseer]

Dear Tom -
After reading the interviews from the Doctor Who magazines, the typecasting issue got my curiosity peeked . In the "84" interview you didn't seemed very concerned about being typecast, but by the "91" interview you had excepted, quite gracefully I might add, having been typecast.
Between these two interviews was there a particular incident or moment such as, the loss of a part, something mentioned or said that made you realize you HAD been typecast ? Or was it a gradual ( and no doubt frustrating ) feeling that began to build over time through a series of events ?

Always in admiration

Merlin

[Tom Baker]

Dear Merlin

A wizard question. But interviews only reflect what I was FEELING at the time. No dogma in old Tom or not much. If the facts change I'm likely to change. I should revise my way of describing TYPECAST. As far as Doctor Who went, there was no acting on my part. I just said the lines and everybody laughed. Some people actually believed me! I was the Doctor. They could have called me Doctor Tom and his sonic screwdriver. I recently caught a glimpse of me in Nicholas and Alexandra. I was playing Grigori Rasputin you may remember? Well it was pure Doctor Who when I saw it a few weeks ago. And recently someone who remembers my Macbeth said: "Tom, you were from another planet." And as for my Captain Red Beard Rum! Did you ever see that? If not, don't. And when I recorded The Hornets Nest earlier this year I felt I have never been away.

Best wishes

Tom