TWO Article Reprints - RE "Monarch of the Glen"

TWO Monarch of the Glen REPRINTS

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First off...Total TV Guide 25 Sept-1 October 2004.

TOM TAKES THE HIGH ROAD - by Tim Randall

Tom baker joins Monarch of the Glen this week as Hector's long-lost brother. Holding court in Glenbogle House, the ex-Doctor Who tells us why he has no intention of retiring.

Tom Baker admits he loves the sound of his own voice more than other people do. Sitting imposingly on a throne-like chair in the wood-panelled hallway of Monarch Of The Glen's Glenbogle House, the eccentric former Doctor Who muses on his love of storytelling - especially when he's the one doing all the talking.

'People who've known me for years say, "Well, you'll talk to anyone Tom, because you love the sound of your own voice." And it's very difficult to deny that. I got talking to an illegal immigrant from Albania in Kent a couple of years ago, and I think he actually ran screaming back to his own country because he simply couldn't get a word in edgeways. And even when he did, I didn't understand a word he was saying, so I kept brushing it aside and telling him the story of my life. He was back in Albania within 36 hours...But that's me' he goes on. 'I'm fascinated by people and perfectly willing to talk to them. That's why I've been enjoying myself so much here in Scotland. The Highlanders are notoriously hospitable people and they love tall stories, so I'm in my element up here.'

This week, Tom joins the Monarch cast as Donald MacDonald, the late Hector's suitably eccentric long-lost brother. It's a role the much-loved actor was born to play: a former international playboy racing driver who's as mad as a hatter.

'In many ways he reminds me of me,' says Tom. 'So when I was offered the role, I thought that was rather beguiling.'

Donald returns to Glenbogle under police escort after a 40-year absense and he doesn't want to be there at all. Someone else who isn't too pleased is Molly (Susan Hampshire), and with Donald moving back in, the big house soon descends into chaos.

'Molly and Donald have unfinished business,' explains Tom. 'Something happened in their past which led to Donald's self-imposed exile. It's wonderful to be given such a marvellous part, because I am surely coming to the end of my career now - I mean, I'm nearly 71. I'm offered lots of work but I pick and choose and spend more time at home in France with my wife Sue and our cats. But it's always hard to turn down work when your vocation is to flaunt yourself.'

In fact, the Liverpool-born actor - whose first TV appearance was a bit-part in Dixon of Dock Green nearly 40 years ago - has been in great demand of late, thanks to his narration of the hit BBC comedy Little Britain and Jon Culshaw's impersonations of him on Dead Ringers.

'It pleases me I'm considered somewhat hip and generally funny by the likes of Matt Lucas and David Walliams,'he says. 'And, as for Dead Ringers, sometimes when I'm doing a voice-over I find myself doing a Jon Culshaw impression of myself! But in this business I think perhaps we all become parodies of ourselves in the end.'

Even today, 23 years after his last Doctor Who appearance, a crew member walks through the Glenbogle hallway and grins. 'Where's your scarf, Tom?'

As the fourth Doctor - and probably the most popular of them all, having played the part for 7 years - does Tom have any advice for new kid on the block Christopher Eccleston? 'I wish him well, and if he's reading this I'd like to send him a message saying that nobody has ever failed at Doctor Who, so he's in for a good time.' He smiles, benignly. 'I do hope it goes well, and it certainly won't do me any harm.'

Next up for Tom is voicing for the role of evil wizard ZeeBadee (not to be confused with Zebedee) in The Magic Roundabout Movie, alongside Sir Ian McKellen, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and Joanna Lumley.

A big fan of British film and TV, Tom admits he hates it when people start going on about the good old days of TV: 'Yesterday someone said to me "Oh, these days it's all about shagging and incest and bloody crying." And I had to say:"But that's what we're all interested in! What do you expect it to be about - f**king furniture?"'.

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Next up its the TVTimes..25 Sept - 1 October 2004

ECCENTRIC, UNPREDICTABLE AND OUTSPOKEN, TOM BAKER TALKS TO TIM RANDALL.

Tom Baker is slumped on a chair in his dressing room. To be honest, with his frizz of white hair and bright red face, jumper rolled halfway up his chest and wild eyes, he looks slightly demented. 'You're not a woman,' he mutters about 5 minutes into our interview. 'Shame.' What to make of that is anyone's guess, but, then, this isn't any normal interview - this is Tom Baker, many people's favourite Doctor Who and one of Britain's best-loved and unpredictable eccentrics.

It's clear Tom loves to play up to this persona he's created, but as we meet on the set of Monarch of the Glen, for once he seems to be in the mood to let the mask slip.

'I don't think people know the real Tom Baker, do they?' he ponders. 'But they do know I have a style of approach to a character, of filtering things, which seems to amuse them. People don't really know Tom Baker because, if they did, they'd discover I'm really just like everyone else, with the same worries and such. When I'm criticising and raving on about what I don't like, that betrays my anxieties. I don't pretend to have any insight. I'm perfectly willing to be debunked - I'm used to it. I'm certainly used to rejection. In fact, sometimes I find acceptance the most difficult thing.

'I play up to whatever will please people,' he continues. 'After a while, you discover ways - or you hope you discover ways - that make you acceptable. There's no point in alienating the people who "buy" you. It's no use a tart cultivating bad breath, is it? A tart with bad breath, like a dentist with bad breath, is going to have a limited audience and customers will go elsewhere. I have always tried to do things from a slightly skewed angle - that's what pleases me. I like the oddness of things. I don't like things to be entirely rational because I'm not entirely rational.'

Rational or not, Tom is entertaining company and, thanks to his narration of cult BBC2 comedy Little Britain, he's also back in fashion. 'I'm now employed by the children who hid behind the sofa and watched me in Doctor Who,' he explains. 'There's a good example of the power of nostalgia. They're doing it from their hearts and I'm very grateful.'

Tom started out as a props man at the Liverpool Empire in 1955 and his CV takes in TV shows as diverse as Medics, Blackadder II and an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Born in Liverpool in 1934, he was raised by his cleaner mother, Mary, and his sailor father, John, who was often away at sea. Despite acting with the likes of Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier at the National Theatre in the Sixties, Tom was working on a building site in 1974 when he landed the role that changed his life: the lead in Doctor Who. This week, aged 70, Tom joins BBC1's Monarch of the Glen, marking his first regular TV drama role since Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) four years ago.

He is Donald MacDonald, Hector's estranged brother, a former international racing driver with a colourful past, back in Glenbogle under police escort-and against his will. It's 40 years since he left and his reappearance stirs up bad memories for a shocked Molly (Susan Hampshire).

'Donald is a wonderful character,' explains Tom. 'He likes to create mischief now that he's been forced to return to his rather privileged background, but under a cloud. He was in self-imposed exile for a long time and, like all old people, he has secrets, meaning he can put the cat among the pigeons. Molly's version of what happened 40 years ago and Donald's recollections are rather different, which makes for some very funny moments.

'I'm enjoying myself on Monarch no end. and it's marvellous following in the footsteps of my old chum, Richard Briers. I'm actually very friendly, full of admiration and intimate with all the cast and crew - I couldn't feel more at home.'

Now living near Toulouse in France with his wife, Sue, Tom admits it took a lot of persuasion for him to sign up to six months' work in the wilds of Scotland: 'We've only lived in France for just over a year and I'm also very much in demand in short bursts for voiceovers in London every month. I had to weigh that up as well. But my wife was beginning to think I was getting a bit bored in France. And she was right. It takes a long time to fit in to a new place and I just found myself weeping on French war memorials all the time,' adds Tom, who will shortly be heard as ZeBadDee in the long-awaited big-screen computer-animated adaptation of The Magic Roundabout, alongside Robbie Williams (Dougal) and Kylie Minogue (Florence).

And with Doctor Who making a big-budget return, what does Tom think about Christopher Eccleston playing the starring role?

'I'd never heard of him, but I was rather disappointed to hear that this Doctor was "going to be more serious", which always sounded very hollow in the mouth of an actor. Certainly, when actors use words like "challenge" and "serious", you just think, "Oh, shut up! Get your head out of your fat bottom!"

With that, our time is up. 'All right, c**k,' he sighs, as he lurches out of his chair, his jumper still rolled halfway up his belly. 'If you need to know anything else, just make it up - that's what I usually do...'