Talk:Tom Baker

date of death

the article has a deceased date listed but he is still alive and the date is in 2026 at that? 2600:8803:10A:B00:C9C3:DCFE:553:5853 (talk) 13:26, 7 May 2025 (UTC)

Max Bear

An editor has requested a citation for Baker's participation in the Max Bear series for Channel 4. I have found the following:

• New Series Of “Max Bear” To Hit UK This Month Courtesy 0f Channel 4

• Gloucestershire inspires TV return of animated bear

Not sure about the first one but the second is the BBC. Do they still count as reliable? Mondo Beer (talk) 11:15, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Jewish

Is Baker really Jewish? Some sources say he is and some say he isn't. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 05:52, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

This is an interesting one. The best source I have found is a 1971 interview by Henry Ehrlich for Look. Ehrlich wrote: "Tom was brought up by his mother as a Catholic zealout, though his father was Jewish ("A contradiction in sperms," he says)."

So far I've been unable to find any other source where he discusses his father being Jewish, but I would be interested in hearing Baker discusses his Jewish heritage. Baker has a reputation for telling tall tales but I don't see a reason why he would lie about this. It's worth noting that "Baker" is not really a Jewish surname.

Baker has often discussed his devoutly Catholic upbringing and subsequent loss of faith in interviews and so it is pretty clear he identifies more as an ex-Christian than as a Jew. Also under traditional law he would not be considered Jewish. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:28, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Adding to this, it is pretty clear from interviews that Baker is an atheist. I have added the relevant citations in the Personal Life section. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:30, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Well, if he actually said it himself in a magazine interview than I think we can keep it in the article. For some reason I thought it might have been something a random Wikipedia user made up as a joke because of the fact that he kind of looks Jewish. Glad there’s a source for it. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 15:20, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

And as to Baker not being a Jewish surname, well, it's worth noting that plenty of Jewish people from the United Kingdom, the US, and other English-speaking countries have English surnames because their ancestors anglicized them. So it's reasonable to assume that Baker's paternal ancestors originally had a German, Yiddish, or otherwise Jewish surname which they changed to "Baker" when they arrived in England. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 18:09, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

I see that someone has edited the article to clarify that Baker doesn't have Jewish ancestry, and that he supposedly used the Liverpudlian phrase "Jewish" as slang to mean his father travelled alot. In the absence of evidence, I have removed references to his father being Jewish, but have added a note about that 1971 interview - which again, is the only time Baker has mentioned his father being Jewish (afaik) SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:14, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

If that's the case, I'll go ahead and remove him from the Jew categories then. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 15:36, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Yes, I expected the same thing SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 01:31, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

" he supposedly used the Liverpudlian phrase "Jewish" as slang to mean his father travelled alot. " - is there a source for this? It makes sense but it would be helpful if we could put it in the article (it's been removed) with a source. (Incidentally, I have known "Baker" as a Jewish name - not exclusively, obviously, but it is an anglicized name that is not uncommon in the Anglo-Jewish community, much like Lewis - but given that there is no known Jewish ancestor for Jonathan Baker listed on genealogical websites - his ancestry appears exclusively Irish/Scottish, and merchant mariner was not a common occupation for Jews - I am skeptical about the Jewish ancestry claim though it is not impossible that one of Baker's ancestors married a Jewish woman). Wellington Bay (talk) 16:48, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

I removed the note about it being slang because it was unsourced. Hopefully there is a clip or article out there where Baker explains this. Anyway, most websites discussing Baker's heritage seem to only show him having British and Irish heritage: https://web.archive.org/web/20110717120347/http://thomas-stewart-baker.com/familyhistory.html https://ethnicelebs.com/tom-baker However I don't think that these sites are reliable enough to be cited at the moment SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 21:35, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Separate filmography page

Considering the length and breadth of Baker's roles (and the effort of finding sources for all of them), I suggest creating a separate page titled something like "List of Tom Baker performances and credits". Is anyone opposed to this?

SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 12:38, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

I am creating the page anyway SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 23:48, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

GA review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Tom Baker/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: SkywalkerEccleston (talk · contribs) 23:04, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: Pokelego999 (talk · contribs) 03:36, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

Will take this on in the coming days. Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 03:36, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

Six GA Criteria

1. Article is well-written. Very minimal mistakes if any at all.

2. No OR, all info is cited in the article.

3. Coverage is broad in depth and focus. Shows multiple aspects of the character.

4. Article appears neutral, and does not appear to hold a significantly negative nor positive stance on the subject.

5. Article appears stable. Does not appear to have had any major vandalism occur.

6. Article uses no fair use media.

Lead

-Looks good

Early Life

-Looks good. Small note, but does The Complete History potentially contain any info that could buff this up? Baker also published an autobiography in 1997 that may be helpful here if you can access it.

• I have added more info from various sources, including Baker's autobiography

Career

-Did Baker take on any roles while playing the Doctor beyond the few mentioned? At present very little is mentioned besides Doctor Who in the from 74-81.

• Added

-I would remove the "marsh-wiggle" mention, since it's a bit confusing without further context.

• Done

-Is the "hammy" aspect of the narration an opinion or part of the character? At present it's a bit unclear.

• I have removed the adjective

-The section on Little Britain seems a bit short and isn't very clear about why the role "re-invented" Baker. Could some sources regarding its influence and/or popularity be included? At present it's a bit unclear why the header for the section includes Little Britain with so little about it being in there.

• I have updated this section - let me know what you think

Personal life

-Could it be clarified if he is still with Jerrard? The current wording makes it unclear.

• Updated

Awards

-Looks good

Overall

@SkywalkerEccleston: Text looks mostly solid, only have a few quibbles above, plus a few below.

• @Pokelego999: I have updated the page per your changes. Let me know what you think. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 08:46, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

@SkywalkerEccleston All looks good. Carrying on with the spotcheck:

WhatCulture should be removed since it is an unreliable source. Also, make sure to sub out TheOneRing if possible.

Sources checked: 121, 101, 115, 96, 8, 102, 87, 38, 156, 98. All check out bar the above WhatCulture issue. Once those quibbles are addressed this should be good to pass. Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 02:13, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

@Pokelego999 I have updated the article and removed the WhatCulture citation. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 03:48, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

@SkywalkerEccleston should be good to go then. Happy to pass! Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 21:26, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

Sources

-Not going to start the source spotcheck just yet but there a number of sources that concern me reliability wise. Doctor Who Watch, Find My Past, Nothing at the End of the Lane, Time/Space Visualiser, Discogs, TheOneRing.net, IMDb, are unreliable. What are the reliability of Livepool Footprints, Look, New Humanist, Theatricalia, Mansun, TotalNtertainment, Campaign Live, Moviefone, Skwigly Animation Magazine, Pass It On, and the Digital Fix? I am either unfamiliar with them or have not seen them be used by others before and thus am a little concerned about their reliability. Source 12 is iffy to me as well since it is unclear if it is the same person or not. I'd also be careful about source 110 since I believe that may have some issues under WP:THESIS, but I'd double check on that one. Most of your sources are fine but I would appreciate a double check on the reliability of these before doing a spotcheck. Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 03:33, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll begin updating the page. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 05:42, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

@Pokelego999 I am currently focusing on replacing unreliable sources; so far I have removed them or placed a "better source needed" tag beside them. I just wanted to raise some notes about the reliability of certain sources.

TheOneRing.net includes a quote from Baker from an October 1999 issue of SFX Magazine. I am currently searching for a digital copy of this issue so I can cite it directly. In the meantime, I have left the TheOneRing.net citation in the article.

I believe that Richard Bignell (editor of Nothing at the End of the Lane) is considered a SME per WP:SPS. See earlier discussion here: Talk:Dimensions in Time#Overall SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 07:05, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

@Pokelego999 Any concerns with the reliability of Tom's own website? SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 07:09, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

@Pokelego999 Additionally, would you consider Baker's episode of This Is Your Life to be reliable? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ejKbySp_I SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:17, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

@SkywalkerEccleston on Tom's website: That should be fine since he is just talking about himself. Same should apply for This Is Your Life. Both would be Wikipedia:PRIMARY sources so they should be fine so long as they are clarified in terms of where the info is coming from.

I did forget about the consensus we came to on Dimensions in Time, my mistake. This should be fine for now then per what was already discussed. So sorry about that! Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 18:45, 3 June 2026 (UTC)