Newspaper and Magazine Cuttings: 1970-1979

The 1970's were good to Doctor Who, the programme started the decade with a question mark over its head but this was quickly forgotten as increasing popularity made it a mainstay of BBC 1's schedules.

In many senses the public gained it's quintessential Doctors in Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) and Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor).

Certainly, even now, many remember one or the other as being 'the best Doctor". Admittedly Tom would doubtless win out in any, imaginary, mass vote but it must be remembered that the Pertwee era was highly popular in it's own right and for the early part of the decade Jon Pertwee's, oft repeated, words "I am the Doctor" summed up his role and the early haughtiness of his Doctor. Much of the press coverage of the time reflected this - concentrating on Pertwee who was happy to court publicity and offer himself for interview.

This popularity continued, and grew, during the tenure of Tom Baker. The press continued to enthusiastically report the series with coverage focused as much on the Doctor, in contrast to the 60's but similarly to the Pertwee era, and his companions as it did on the monsters that frightened the nations children every Saturday.

To many the names Zygon, Krynoid and Davros will still conjure up images of dark nights watching the grinning, brilliant Fourth Doctor take on his deadliest enemies.

Tom Baker's portrayal etched itself on the collective minds of a generation and, almost as certainly, that memory is reflected in the press of the day, as so often it is in the press of today - for an exaqmple of that just look at the coverage of the 1999 Doctor Who Night!