Robot

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) makes
 his debut in the greatest show in the galaxy!

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Dec 28 1974 to Jan 18 1975
Average audience for serial: 10.15m

REGULAR CAST

Tom Baker (The Doctor) Born Jan 20 1934

Doctor Who credits

Played: The Doctor in Robot, The Ark in Space, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks, Revenge of the Cybermen, Terror of the Zygons, Planet of Evil, Pyramids of Mars, The Android Invasion, The Brain of Morbius, The Seeds of Doom, The Masque of Mandragora, The Hand of Fear, The Deadly Assassin, The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Horror of Fang Rock, The Invisible Enemy, Image of the Fendahl, The Sun Makers, Underworld, The Invasion of Time, The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, The Power of Kroll, The Armageddon Factor, Destiny of the Daleks, City of Death, The Creature from the Pit, Nightmare of Eden, The Horns of Nimon, Shada (unbroadcast), The Leisure Hive, Meglos, Full Circle, State of Decay, Warriors' Gate, The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis (1974-81). Return appearances in The Five Doctors (1983, archive footage) and Dimensions in Time (1993). Archive footage in Castrovalva (1982), Earthshock (1982), Mawdryn Undead (1983), Resurrection of the Daleks (1984), The Next Doctor (2008), The Eleventh Hour (2010), The Almost People (2011), Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (2013), The Name of the Doctor (2013), The Day of the Doctor (2013), The Magician's Apprentice (2015) and Twice Upon a Time (2017).
Tom also played the Doctor in the 1975 audio story Doctor Who and the Pescatons, and in several BBC and Big Finish audios since 2009.
Played: Meglos in Meglos (1980)
Played: The Curator in The Day of the Doctor (2013)
Career highlights
Tom's career began with a 1968 adaptation of The Winter's Tale, followed by roles in George and the Dragon (1968), Z Cars (1968), Softly Softly (1970), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), The Mutations (1974), Piccadilly Circus (1977), Late Night Story (1978), The Book Tower (1979-81), The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982, as Sherlock Holmes), Jemima Shore Investigates (1983), Remington Steele (1984), Blackadder II (1986), Roland Rat: The Series (1986), The Kenny Everett Television Show (1986), The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986), The Silver Chair (1990), Selling Hitler (1991), The Law Lord (1992), Cluedo (1992), Backtime (1998), Max Bear (2000), Dungeons and Dragons (2000), Fun at the Funeral Parlour (2001), Strange (2003), Fort Boyard (2003), Swiss Toni (2003), The Magic Roundabout (2005), Agatha Christie's Marple (2007), The Beeps (2007-08), The Genie in the Bottle (2010), Saving Santa (2013) and Star Wars Rebels (as the voice of The Bendu, 2016-17). Tom has also had regular roles as Prof Geoffrey Hoyt in Medics (1992-95), Professor Wyvern in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (2000-01) and Donald MacDonald in Monarch of the Glen (2004-05). He is probably most famous in his latter career for providing the eccentric narration for sketch series Little Britain between 2003-08.
Facts
Tom left home at 15 to become a monk with the Brothers of Ploermel on Jersey, but abandoned this profession at the age of 21 in favour of National Service. In 1971 Tom was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his portrayal of Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (he was beaten by Ben Johnson and Desi Arnaz Jr). In December 1980 he married actress Lalla Ward (who had been companion Romana in Doctor Who since 1979), but the marriage ended 18 months later. He married third wife Sue Jerrard in 1986, previously an assistant editor on Doctor Who. Tom's old drinking buddies in the 1960s and 70s included artist Francis Bacon at the infamous Colony Room. Tom has several links to popular music - appearing on Technocat's single Only Human (1995), and providing a monologue on Witness to a Murder (Part Two) by Mansun (1998 - his Doctor and the TARDIS also appeared on the cover of the band's album Six). Pop band The Human League released a song entitled Tom Baker in 1980. In 1999 Tom published a short fairytale novel called The Boy Who Kicked Pigs, which has since been adapted for the stage. Tom's distinctive vocals can also be heard at various tourist attractions in the UK, such as the London Dungeon, Natural History Museum and Alton Towers' Nemesis ride. In 2006 Tom recorded 11,593 phrases so his voice could be used for BT's text messaging service to raise money for homeless charity Shelter - as a result record producer Mark Murphy created a single of Tom "singing" You Really Got Me by the Kinks.
This is Your Life: Tom was the subject of BBC TV's This is Your Life on March 18th, 2000, surprised by host Michael Aspel and some Daleks during a book signing at Waterstone's in Kingston-Upon-Thames.

Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) Feb 1 1946 to Apr 19 2011 (pancreatic cancer) Click here for Elisabeth Sladen's entry on The Time Warrior

Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan) Oct 28 1944 to Oct 28 1986 (diabetes-related heart attack) Click here for Ian Marter's entry on Carnival of Monsters

Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart) Dec 16 1929 to Feb 22 2011 (cancer) Click here for Nicholas Courtney's entry on The Daleks' Master Plan

John Levene (Benton) Born Dec 24 1941 Click here for John Levene's entry on The Web of Fear

GUEST CAST

Edward Burnham (Professor Kettlewell) Dec 25 1916 to Jun 30 2015
Doctor Who credits
Played: Professor Watkins in The Invasion (1968)
Played: Professor Kettlewell in Robot (1974-75)
Career highlights
Edward's career began in 1938 with The Marvellous History of St Bernard, followed by Destination Downing Street (1957), Quatermass and the Pit (1959), The Citadel (1960), The Plane Makers (1964), The Saint (1966), To Sir, With Love (1967), The Avengers (1967/69), Christ Crucified (1969), The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971), 10 Rillington Place (1971), The Pallisers (1974), Nicholas Nickleby (1977), Van der Valk (1977), Tales of the Unexpected (1982), Muck and Brass (1982), Eh Brian! It's a Whopper (1984), The Gentle Touch (1984), Oliver Twist (1985), Little Dorrit (1988), Nightingales (1990), The Bill (1992), Black Books (2002) and Swiss Toni (2003).
Facts
Edward was the first director to put Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood on the stage at the 1956 Edinburgh Festival. Edward's daughter Vinilla Burnham has some impressive claims to fame, including designing the Batsuit for Tim Burton's Batman (1989), Aslan the Lion for The Chronicles of Narnia TV series (1988-90) and various creatures and costumes for Brazil (1985), The Fifth Element (1997), The Wind in the Willows (2006) and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007). In 2008, at the age of 92, Edward released his first novel, Moosia, set during the Russian Revolution.

Timothy Craven (Short) Dec 10 to Nov 5 2020 (vascular dementia)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Cell guard in Frontier in Space (1973, uncredited)
Played: Robinson in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)
Played: Short in Robot (1974-75)
Played: Tesh in The Face of Evil (1977, uncredited)
Career highlights
Timothy's other credits include A Touch of the Other (1970), Paul Temple (1971) and The Moonstone (1972).

Michael Kilgarriff (K1 Robot) Born Jun 16 1937
Doctor Who credits
Played: Cyber Controller in The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967), Attack of the Cybermen (1985)
Played: Ogron in Frontier in Space (1972)
Played: Robot K1 in Robot (1974-75)
Career highlights
6ft 6in Michael's other appearances include Whack-O! (1959), The Golden Spur (1959), We Joined the Navy (1962), Taxi! (1963), UFO (1970), Aquarius (1972), Men of Affairs (1974), The Upchat Line (1977), The Moon Stallion (1978), 3-2-1 (1979), The Borgias (1981), Artists and Models (1986) and Tipping the Velvet (2002). Michael has also done a lot of voice work, including Obelix in the English version of The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976), the General in The Dark Crystal (1982), various voices in The Storyteller (1987-88), Watt's uncle in Watt on Earth (1991), Mr Crotchit in Oscar's Orchestra (1995), the Ogre in the English version of Snow White: The Sequel (2007), God in Albert's Speech (2008) and Lenigrast in the video game Dark Souls II (2014).
Facts
Michael, who is 6ft 6in tall, is a music hall enthusiast, and wrote what is considered the definitive guide to music hall songs, Sing Us One of the Old Songs: A Guide to Popular Song from 1860-1920 (1998), as well as Grace, Beauty and Banjos (1999) and various children's joke books in the 1970s and 80s. For 36 years Michael was Mr Chairman at the Players' Theatre Victorian music hall. Michael also once established a theatre company specialising in corporate work as well as music hall, with fellow music hall enthusiast Johnny Dennis (who himself appeared in Delta and the Bannermen (1987) - indeed, Johnny was best man at Michael's wedding to his wife Sarah in 1968).
In 2017 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Michael here.

Alec Linstead (Jellicoe) Born 1940
Doctor Who credits
Played: Sgt Osgood in The Daemons (1971)
Played: Jellicoe in Robot (1974-75)
Played: Stengos in Revelation of the Daleks (1985)
Career highlights
After debuting in Doctor Who, Alec's further credits include The Man Outside (1972), Nicholas Nickleby (1977), The Professionals (1979), Suez 1956 (1979), Bulman (1985), The Tripods (1985), A Vote for Hitler (1988), Lovejoy (1993), Goodnight Sweetheart (1995), The Governor (1995), Silent Witness (1996/99), Lexx (2001) and The Bill (1993/2004).

Patricia Maynard (Miss Winters) Born Feb 16 1942
Career highlights
Patricia's career began in Night Train to Paris in 1964, after which she secured roles in Sanctuary (1968), Paul Temple (1969), Doomwatch (1970), Crossroads (1970), The Last of the Mohicans (1971), Escape into Night (1972), The Sweeney (1975), This Year Next Year (1977), Strangers (1981-82), Angels (1983), Strike It Rich! (1986), Minder (1982/89), Campion (1990), Coronation Street (1991), Holby City (2000) and Doctors (2005). She also had a running role as Dr Joanna Whitworth in General Hospital (1972-73) and Beth Radley in Within These Walls (1974-76).
Facts
Between 1977-87 Patricia was married to the actor Dennis Waterman (star of Minder), with whom she had two children - Julia and Hannah Waterman, the latter of whom is an actress herself (and is married to fellow actor Huw Higginson aka PC Garfield in The Bill). In 2001 she had a brief role in soap EastEnders playing the mother of character Laura Beale (played by her daughter Hannah). In 1979 Patricia co-wrote (with Gerard Kenny) the theme tune to the TV series Minder - I Could Be So Good for You - which was sung by her then husband Dennis Waterman, and even became a single, charting at number 3 in 1980.

CREW

Terrance Dicks (writer) Apr 14 1935 to Aug 29 2019 Click here for Terrance Dicks's entry on The Invasion

Christopher Barry (director) Sep 20 1925 to Feb 7 2014 (following a fall) Click here for Christopher Barry's entry on The Daleks

Barry Letts (producer) Mar 26 1925 to Oct 9 2009 (cancer) Click here for Barry Letts's entry on The Enemy of the World

Robert Holmes (script editor) Apr 2 1926 to May 24 1986 (chronic liver ailment) Click here to see Robert Holmes's entry on The Krotons