Tom Baker has two main worries about playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island, which has just opened at the Mermaid Theatre: the parrot perched on his shoulder, and the fear that some of the audience may expect to see him as Doctor Who.
The parrot is Jack Sprat (a female) which belongs to Lord Miles, doyen of the Mermaid Silvers. Mr Baker admits he is not greatly attracted to parrots, but thought he had the answer by putting Sprat with her blind eye next to him, while he wore a patch over the eye nearer to Sprat, so that neither could see the other. It failed to work, for Sprat occasionally peers across quizzically, her beak poised for action an inch from Baker's nose.
Caption: Tom Baker and co-star of Treasure Island: Mermaid
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