Of course we love the legend, the Great Man himself, Tom Baker. 

The longest running Doctor, whose voice commanded any room he stepped into. His gaze, his intensity, his unpredictability, his humor, both in front of and behind the cameras. His unforgettable chemistry with Elizabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith. And of course, the incredible combination of producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes. Together, this group brought Doctor Who to all knew heights. 

But perhaps he was lucky. There have been mutterings over years, mostly in passing, about how closely Baker’s legend was tied into the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era. An era consisting of Seasons 12, 13 and 14, where we enjoyed the exploits of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah, Harry Sullivan, and eventually Leela.

Barry Letts over saw the start of the Hinchcliffe run and Terrance Dicks even finagled his way into writing the first story, Robot. 

But the twists and turns of the industry and its personnel are ever in flux. 

An Alternative History

What if, for some reason, Philip Hinchcliffe was not chosen as producer? What if circumstances dictated that it was Graham Williams who stepped in and chose his script editor? For the sake of this article, I’m choosing Williams since basically, he was around. It might have been yet another producer stepping in, but we’ll use Williams as the substitute. We know how vastly different a producer Williams was compared to Hinchcliffe. 
Whereas Hinchcliffe oversaw a darker, gothic horror spin on the show, Williams went for lighter fare. 

Imagine if you will, what we might have seen during a season 12, 13 and 14 under Williams. 

More importantly, what we might have seen in Tom Baker. Tom was the new kid on the block going into Season 12, and was allegedly very happy under the Hinchcliffe regime. Yet in Season 15, under new producer Williams, he became less accommodating and much less pleased with the scripts. He got bored quite a bit and tended to play up the comedy.

By the time John Nathan Turner took over with Season 18, circumstances behind the camera gave us a more subdued Fourth Doctor, who would eventually leave by season’s end. 

Picture This

In this imaginary scenario, where Williams gave us S12 thru 14, the alternate stories presented in those first three seasons would likely not be the same Williams stories we got from Williams later on. But the tone, I think, would be somewhat similar. 

We would have undoubtedly still gotten Robot from Dicks, but after that, the changes would set in.
Letts’ mandate was to have some returning monsters in Season 12, so we likely would still have seen  the Daleks and Cybermen, BUT under the banner of Williams and his script editor, Anthony Read, not Robert Holmes. For that matter, even Holmes working under Williams provided very different content than Holmes under Hinchcliffe. After all, in our reality, The Invisible Enemy was script edited by Holmes, so the direction of the show, the choice of stories, was really all down to the producer. 

So in Season 12, we indeed may still have gotten Robot, and some stories with returning monsters like the Daleks and Cybermen, but they’d be more in line with Williams and Read’s vision. We also don’t know if Liz Sladen would have been contracted to stay. Sarah Jane garnered most of her popularity during Tom’s run. Focusing on just her time in Season 11, she was technically still just Jo Grant’s (Katy Manning’s) replacement. After Robot, Season 12 might have seen a new companion coming in to work with this new Doctor. 

We don’t know if we would have gotten more Sarah, more Harry, or Leela at all, nor what kind of stories we’d get. 

Whereas in S12, Hinchcliffe gave us Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks—with the brand new character Davros. In later seasons, along came Pyramids of Mars, Seeds of Doom, Robots of Death, and Talons of Weng Chiang… none of which happen without Mr. H’s guidance.

Some of the stories we got from Williams included The Invisible Enemy, Underworld, Destiny of the Daleks and Invasion of Time, alongside Fang Rock, Fendahl, and City of Death. A set of stories with a different tone in general. 

Lighting In A Bottle

And now, to my point. 

Yes, we likely would have gotten one or two scripts from Holmes during this alternate era with the typical Williams mix. But beyond that, what might Williams, or someone else, have given us?

And what about Tom? What might his legacy be without the H&H stories?

He liked what he liked, and made it known what he didn’t like. Being the new kid, he probably would have behaved under Williams (or whoever) up to a point, but how would fandom have reacted to him in those early seasons without the wonderful Hinchcliffe/Holmes stories he inhabited? The Season 12 Dalek story would likely have been something far different than Genesis, and without Davros. Does anyone think Williams and Read could have given us a better Dalek story? 

The questions don’t end there

Would there be a new companion? Or Two? Would the scripts for the Fourth Doctor, Sarah, and Harry elevate or bury them? Would script editor Douglas Adams enter the picture in S14? Sooner? Later? Ever? And how much would it matter under Williams’ stewardship?

But most importantly for Tom, where would his legacy be without Hinchcliffe and Holmes? 

In this potential timeline, would Tom’s second season, 13, now become the Key to Time with Romana? 

Would Baker’s charisma and command of the room alone be enough to elevate his Doctor to the same heights as in our reality? 

Would he decide enough is enough after only three seasons with Williams? 

Without the fabled Golden Age, where would the ratings end up? 

Where exactly would the show be? Would the powers that be bring in JNT —or someone else—-to replace Williams for Season 15? 

Would Tom stay for a few seasons under Nathan Turner, or would he be asked to leave in favor of someone who would in turn become much more popular? 

In this other existence, without the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era, where would Tom rank amongst the other Doctors? 

Having seen what Graham Williams gave us in our world… if all we ever saw of Tom Baker’s Doctor was the Williams and Read version, what would we fans have thought of him and his Doctor? 

Would he only be thought of as some silly, over the top incarnation in a somewhat forgettable era?

I’ll throw it to you, dear readers…