6. A Friend Of Fans
"Fan love is stronger than ordinary human love because with fans the nostalgia is so powerful that when they see me the dedicated fans are catapulted back to their childhood and they feel happy. We are all fans of something and they love me for that and they dont say Christ hes gone all white haired or he cant walk anymore or God doesnt he look old. (Fans are) catapulted back to when they are happy and full of hope. (The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule, BBC Worldwide 2013).
Baker is never one to ridicule his Doctor Who fan following. He speaks fondly of them out of genuine respect and gratitude. Later in that same interview he goes on to credit them as the source of his success.
My view is this, the fans created me, I know they responded, they liked what I did and they wrote and told other people but their confidence created my little bit of influence in the series and serials department and the BBC took me seriously because of that audience. I wanted to be wanted - and the fans were there.
This is no one sided love affair. Perhaps he developed a Messianic complex about the whole thing (In the Daily Mail, on his 75th birthday in 2009, he recollected being greeted at the airport as a Messiah by American fans). He may have become addicted to the ecstasy inducing drug of fame but his response was to give back in whatever way he could - through public appearances and collaborations. Keith Millers The Official Fan Club Volume Two: The Tom Baker Years includes a transcript of a meeting that took place between himself (as president of the club) and key members of the production team. Tom and Liz (Sladen) were also present. It shows Tom taking a great interest in building relationships with the fan base and in oiling the publicity wheels through marketing and merchandise. Whilst aware of his adult audience, Baker has often remarked how the shows appeal to young children has been his greatest pleasure. In one appearance on Swap Shop in 1976 his rapport with the children is clear as he answers one callers question Who knitted your scarf? with A witty little knitter called Madam Nostradamus, she knitted it and a very good job she made of it, too". Without dismissing the mature fan, for Baker the children are the primary viewers.