10 Doctor Who Moments IMPOSSIBLE To Watch The Same After This
2. Tom Baker Watched His Most Harrowing Moment With Some Fans
The cliffhanger to The Deadly Assassin part three is one of the most frightening Doctor Who moments ever committed to screen.
It proved so controversial that campaigner Mary Whitehouse successfully convinced the BBC to re-edit it for repeat showings.
And Whitehouse wasn’t the only one with concerns.
The cliffhanger – which sees the ruthless Chancellor Goth attempt to drown the Doctor in the Matrix – also had a lasting effect on Tom Baker, who felt that his genuine fear of drowning had made him “overdo the terror”.
To make matters worse, Baker wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to watch the episode when it aired, as he was on the road at the time. So what did he do? Why, he dropped in on a random fan's house and watched it with them, of course!
Baker recalled this incident in his 1997 autobiography Who On Earth is Tom Baker, where he said:
“A young man of about 30 opened the door to me and I asked, ‘Do you watch Doctor Who in this house by any chance?’ For a split second the young man looked puzzled, and then he smiled, opened the door wide, and simply said, ‘Come in, Doctor.’ And in I went.”
Baker then explained how watching the episode with this man’s two sons significantly eased his anxieties.
It’s a heartwarming anecdote that makes this moment a bit less terrifying to watch!