10 Biggest Feuds In Doctor Who History
8. Colin Baker V Michael Grade
The most infamous regeneration of classic Doctor Who features Sylvester McCoy in a wig with his face obscured, standing in for Colin Baker who had refused to appear. Baker had suffered the indignity of being fired after an 18-month hiatus by Michael Grade, the controller of BBC 1. Grade only commissioned another series of the show on the condition that Baker wasn't in it.
Baker offered to return for a full season, at the end of which he would film a regeneration. This wasn't even refused - it was flatly ignored and so he said no to filming his own death scene. This is a decision he later regretted, citing the heat of the moment and his own frustrations as reasons.
While he was certainly bitter toward Grade for a long time, previous Doctor Peter Davison elaborated on what was happening at the BBC at the time. According to him, John Nathan-Turner was the intended target of the sacking, as he was blamed for the perceived lower quality and higher violence of the show.