The Real Reason Tom Baker Left Doctor Who

As you know, Tom Baker was the Doctor longer than any other actor. What you may not know is that Baker has often said that he tried to quit the show nearly ever year. Rumors have persisted for years about behind-the-scenes conflict, and in the 501st issue of the official Doctor Who Magazine, Baker spoke openly about his different experiences with producers over the years, stating how he "clicked" with Philip Hinchcliffe — "He was young, and handsome, and beautifully dressed, and witty, and not long down from Cambridge. We got on like a house on fire" — but that he started having more a more difficult time during the era when Graham Williams took over as Doctor Who's producer. 

Baker acknowledges that he deserves some of the blame for these problems with Williams, admitting that he wasn't always easy work with: "By then, I was rather proprietorial." These feelings, though, came from a deep love for Doctor Who. "I cared so much about the show," Baker explains, "about making it the best it could be. Although I used to affect that I didn't do very much work, in fact I thought about the part all the time, marking up the scripts." 

It was the next producer, though, who Baker truly struggled with.