COLIN BAKER ONLINE

Colin has been confirmed as a guest at the forthcoming 10th Planet DIMENSIONS event  at the Holiday Inn,  Newcastle Upon Tyne 13th - 15th  November 2009. Colin will be appearing on the SATURDAY ONLY.   CLICK HERE for booking details.

The poster for Colin's panto appearance in Malvern this Christmas

Colin blogged again a few days ago with an update on his movements over the past few weeks including Hustle and of course his return to the drivers seat ! Check out THOUGHTS OF A TIME LORD.      

He has also given me a few dates added to his appearance diary:

Saturday 29th November 2009

HEROES AND LEGENDS V - Dolphin Hotel, Swansea

12th - 14th March 2010

TIME QUEST,  Cheshunt  (10th Planet event)

3rd - 5th December 2010

DRAGON CON,   Atlanta,  USA

29th - 31st October 2010

Florida,  USA  (details to be confirmed)

Some of you  might have noticed that updates have been a bit sporadic over the summer months.  That is because I have been finishing my book THE HI-DE-HI! COMPANION,  co written with Mike Fury,  telling the story of the hit BBC sit-com from the 1980's Hi-de-Hi! along with it's successor, the ever popular You Rang, M'Lord ?     Packed with 250 glossy pages of rare photos from behind the scenes, the book has been written with the full co-operation and input of legendary writers Jimmy Perry OBE and David Croft OBE.    Among the actors to have contributed recollections are Paul Shane, Su Pollard, Ruth Madoc,  Jeffrey Holland,  the late Felix Bowness and Diane Holland,  Barry Howard,  Michael Knowles, Barbara New and many many more.

RRP is £18.00 and can be ordered via Amazon by clicking on the cover above,  or direct through bookshops using the ISBN number 978-0-9547702-1-1.  Official publication date is 1st November 2009.

An ideal Christmas gift for fans of classic British sit-com.  OK plug over...

Hirst Books have announced that they will be publishing LOOK WHO'S TALKING,  a collection of Colin's acclaimed newspaper columns written for the Bucks Free Press since 1995.    The book is priced at £12 (including p & p within the UK) to pre-order.  Click on the image above to take you to the Hirst Books site to place an order.   Publication is scheduled for Christmas 2009.   ALL PRE-ORDERS WILL RECEIVE A SIGNED AND DEDICATED COPY AND YOUR NAME LISTED IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK.

Colin will be reading ghost stories along with festive music provided by Glyndebourne singer Freya Wynn-Jones at the Lamb Theatre,  Eastbourne on Sunday 6th December at 2.30pm.    Tickets are priced at £12.    Go to www.thelambtheatre.co.uk for further details.   

Thanks to Garry Jones of Newport for the info.

Big Finish have unveiled two more of the Lost Stories covers - Paradise 5 and Point Of Entry.  The Lost Stories range makes it's debut in November with the much anticipated THE NIGHTMARE FAIR by Graham Williams. 

An article recently appeared in the Daily Mail newspaper in which Colin - who has daughters in further education - highlighted the unscrupulous practice of some landlords regarding student accomodation.

Read the full story HERE

A message from Colin:

" I've just signed a petition to stand up for the BBC. The papers have been full of Sky Chief Exec James Murdoch's comments, where he labels the BBC 'Orwellian' state-sponsored news.

[1]. If it isn't bad enough to hear the owners of Fox News criticising the BBC's independence, this comes at the same time the Government is considering top-slicing the License Fee to fund commercial news organisations

[2]. Never has the BBC been so under threat.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/standup4theBBC

The BBC's critics control much of the media, but if we work together we can prove that they don't speak for us. Please sign the petition to support the BBC, together we can make a real difference in preserving the BBC's integrity.

Thanks,   Colin "

Big Finish have recently announced that joining the Sixth Doctor on his BF travels in 2010 will be Jamie MacCrimmon alias Frazer Hines.    Last paired in the 1985 anniversary tale "The Two Doctors",  Colin and Frazer will be battling enemies together for three regular releases (scheduled for April, May and June 2010 respectively) with Hines also voicing a Sixth Doctor tale for one of the Companion Chronicles range alongside a guest actor yet to be announced. 

Big Finish Productions have released the covers to three more of their season 23 LOST STORIES range featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri. 

RELEASED DECEMBER 2009

CAST:

Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Nabil Shaban (Sil), Malcolm Rennie (Anzor), Maggie Steed (Madamme Rana Zandusia), Susan Franklyn (Jarmaya/Tace), Tina Jones (Ulema/Soma), William Townsend (Vion), Callum Witney Mills (Asam), Nicholas Briggs (Brorg/Vedikael/Grand Marshall/Ishka), James George (Skaarg/Jarga/Hussa)

SYNOPSIS:
The Lost Stories: Adventures that wereoriginally written for the Doctor Who television series but never made.Now available to hear for the first time…

The Doctor and Peri face enemies at every turn on the planet Magnus. There's the Time Lord bully Anzor, who made the Doctor's life hell during his time at the Academy. There's also Rana Zandusia, the matriarchal ruler of the planet, who seeks to prise the secret of time travel from these alien visitors.
 
Also on Magnus is the slug-like Sil, still bitter from his defeat on the planet Varos and seeking to make his fortune from the most potentially destructive ends. And, deep within the planet, there is something else. Another old enemy of the Doctor's. And the future is looking decidedly colder...

RELEASED JANUARY 2010 

CAST:

Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Howard Gossington (Gurth), John Banks (Herne the Hunter), Beth Chalmers (Althya), Jamie Parker (Wulfric), Derek Carlyle (Siward)

SYNOPSIS:
No one lives to old age in the village. When their Time is come, they are taken and never seen again. That is The Way. And, should anyone try to break with the established order of things, then the fury of Herne the Hunter is unleashed...
 
When the TARDIS materializes near a castle in this mediaeval society, the Doctor and Peri befriend Gurth, a terrified youth who is attempting to flee his fate. And Herne is closing in...
 
Why does the local baron impose the culling? What is the secret of Zeron? And who are the Sentinels of the New Dawn?
 
The answers lie within a cave...

RELEASED FEBRUARY 2010

CAST:

Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), David Garfield (Professor Stream), Trevor Littledale (Reverend Foxwell), Susan Sheridan (Mrs Streeter), Hywel John (Steel Specs), Victoria Finney (Jane)

SYNOPSIS:
The Doctor and Peri have been on holiday, visiting old friend Reverend Foxwell in the sleepy English village of Hollowdean. But why are their memories so hazy?
 
Piecing together events they recall a mysterious chauffeur, who is not what he seems, and Foxwell's experiments that could alter the nature of reality. Huge sand creatures have been sighted on the dunes, and many of the locals are devoted to a leader known as 'Professor Stream'.
 
But who is Stream? And what lies within the Hollows of Time?
 
The Doctor will discover that not every question has a definitive answer...

ALL TITLES CAN BE PRE-ORDERED FROM WWW.BIGFINISH.COM 

Colin starts this week filming a guest role in the sixth series of the popular BBC con drama HUSTLE featuring iconic actor Robert Vaughn ('The Man From UNCLE') and Adrian Lester.    The series is being filmed in and around Birmingham (UK) and is set to air in the spring of 2010.

UK fans are not far off completeing their Sixth Doctor DVD collections when THE TWIN DILEMMA makes it's debut on 7th September.     A host of special features are included on the final Sixth Doctor DVD adventure,  ironically marking his debut at the helm of the TARDIS.

Is the Doctor really losing his mind? After his fifth regeneration his behaviour certainly seems strange. He tries to strangle Peri, and then lands the TARDIS on the asteroid Titan 3 determined to pursue the quiet life of a hermit. But a mysterious giant dome on the horizon seems set to shatter his peace.

The Doctor is quickly drawn into a plot to conquer the universe by a race of giant gastropods. Their leader, Mestor, intends to cause an enormous explosion in order to spread his people's eggs throughout the galaxy. But just exactly what is their connection to the kidnapping of the twins Romulus and Remus, famed for their mathematical genius?

Special Features:

· Commentary - with actors Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Kevin McNally.
· The Star Man - an interview with title sequence designer Sid Sutton.
· Look 100 Years Younger - Colin Baker and comedian Amy Lamé discuss the Doctor's costumes over the years.
· Stripped for Action - The Sixth Doctor - a look at the Fifth Doctor's comic strip adventures from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine. Featuring
interviews with artist John Ridgway, writer Simon Furman, former Doctor Who Magazine editors Alan McKenzie, Gary Russell and Alan Barnes.
· Breakfast Time - Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant interviewed by Frank Bough and Selina Scott on the BBC's breakfast TV show.
· Blue Peter - Colin Baker interviewed by Janet Ellis on the long-running childrens' magazine show.
· Continuity - BBC1 continuity announcements from the story's original transmission.
· Photo Gallery
· Coming Soon
· Programme Subtitles
· Subtitle Production Notes

An exclusive new figure depicting the Sixth Doctor moments after his regeneration at the end of The Caves Of Androzani is now available for pre-order from Forbidden Planet International.    Priced at £14.99, the figure will be available to despatch from mid August.     To pre-order click HERE

US residents have to order from an alternative source,  www.underground-toys.com