10 Doctor Who Real Life Alternate Timelines

5. What If Tom Baker Had Returned For The Five Doctors?

In 1983, producer John Nathan-Turner tried many times to get Tom Baker to participate in the anniversary that year. Baker eventually passed on the part, Terrance Dicks redrafted his script, and clips of Baker from the unfinished story Shada were used. But what would have happened if Baker had agreed to return? This one is less speculative: on the 20th anniversary DVD, Dicks revealed that, if Baker had returned, the Fourth Doctor would be the one to steal the transmat device from the Master in the Death Zone. He would then go to Gallifrey, get involved with Borusa, and betray his fellow Doctors. This is based on Dicks' belief that, if any Doctor were to go over to the Dark Side, it would be the Fourth. This does make you wonder whether fans would've accepted the Fourth Doctor going rogue. We've seen this once before, in The Invasion Of Time - but there, he was pretending to betray Gallifrey in order to save it. In Dicks' original version of the story, he would actually have joined Borusa's side. So how would the Doctors get out of this predicament? With the Fifth Doctor on their side, would they have banded together to contact the Fourth Doctor's mind to show him the error of his ways? Or would he somehow be dealt with by Rassilon in the same way that the Master is? There are loads of possibilities here, some of them downright uncomfortable, and it's not clear that the fans at the time would've much cared for a Doctor not only acting evil but being evil. Dicks admits it was better for the story that the Fifth Doctor be the center of attention. If Baker had participated, though, he might've been more willing to participate in the Big Finish audios from the start. It's doubtful that his participation in Dimensions in Time would've been affected, though - pity, that.