It's Colin's turn as the good Dr
- Publication: The Herald (Australia)
- Date: 1984-06-16
- Author: Gini Skinner
- Page: Teleguide, p. 10
- Language: English
GINI SKINNER looks at the week's children's TV
Dr Who, the chameleon-man of the TV screen, is about to change his skin again.
Doctor No. 6, played by Colin Baker, comes to the screen on Friday night at 6.30.
One of the longest-running children's TV programs, "Dr Who", has been alternately delighting and terrifying kids around the world for more than 20 years.
In November, 1963, BBC-TV launched a new series, introducing a most unlikely hero in the form of an irritable, absent-minded old man who spent most of his time gallivanting about in space in a machine which looked like a police telephone box.
He was running away from his own planet but, as he didn't know how to operate his new, highly sophisticated spacecraft, he was always ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
His name was Dr Who, so-called because no one knew who he was, where he came from or where he was headed.
No one could have guessed then the show would become as timeless as its star, the Timelord, and would be Britain's longest-running science fiction series, .with an estimated viewing audience of 100 million in 54 countries.
The first Doctor was played by the late William Hartnell.
He was followed by Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison and now Colin Baker.
There have been other changes over the past 20 years. More recent doctors have not been quite so absent-minded and the police box is due to disappear.
But the Doctor's lack of dress sense remains constant.
Peter Davison as the Doctor wore a bunch of celery in his lapel, and Colin Baker has question marks embroidered on his collar.
Peter Davison's last episodes, "The Caves of Androzani, begin screening on Tuesday night.
The Doctor and his assistant, Peri, stumble into a sticky substance on the planet of Androzani Minor. They are captured by Krelper and Stolz, two gunrunners. Meanwhile, on the planet of Androzani Major, plans are being laid to destroy Sharaz-Jek - the controller of the Spectrox mines on Androzani Minor.
Spectrox is a chemical which slows down the ageing process and is in great demand.
It's not until the fourth episode that the Doctor takes his new shape, that of Colin Baker.
But things don't go well for the new Doctor next week. His mind is disturbed, and during one of his fits he tries to kill Peri.
Caption: The fifth Dr Who, Peter Davison, bows out this week.
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Skinner, Gini (1984-06-16). It's Colin's turn as the good Dr. The Herald (Australia) p. Teleguide, p. 10.
- MLA 7th ed.: Skinner, Gini. "It's Colin's turn as the good Dr." The Herald (Australia) [add city] 1984-06-16, Teleguide, p. 10. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Skinner, Gini. "It's Colin's turn as the good Dr." The Herald (Australia), edition, sec., 1984-06-16
- Turabian: Skinner, Gini. "It's Colin's turn as the good Dr." The Herald (Australia), 1984-06-16, section, Teleguide, p. 10 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=It's Colin's turn as the good Dr | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/It%27s_Colin%27s_turn_as_the_good_Dr | work=The Herald (Australia) | pages=Teleguide, p. 10 | date=1984-06-16 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 December 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=It's Colin's turn as the good Dr | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/It%27s_Colin%27s_turn_as_the_good_Dr | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 December 2025}}</ref>
