Life's busy after Dr Who

BACK in the 1980s Colin Baker was best known for fighting the evil Daleks and embarking on the various sojourns of time travel, as was befitting any Dr Who.

However, more than a decade has now pased since he stepped into the Tardis for the last time and the former Time Lord is still enjoying a flourishing career on both stage and screen.

It's a great shame that Dr Who isn't on television any more," said Colin. Every generation had their Dr Who and this one hasn't got one.

Since those heady days, between 1983 and 1986, the former solicitor has enjoyed many more demanding roles, including playing all six members of the D'Ascoyne family in the world premiere of the stage version of Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Despite treading the boards frequently throughout Britain and Europe, he has still made appearances on the small screen in series such as Jonathan Creek, The Bill, Casualty, Dangerfield and The Knock.

I enjoy both television and the theatre," said Colin.

The big difference though is that a director can cut out lots of your scenes when you are on television. Somehow, in theatre you are more in control."

Although he has been fairly constantly on the road since the 1970s in his profession, he makes sure he enjoys a healthy home life. He is married to actress Marion Wyatt, with whom he has had four daughters.

And the couple have a menagerie of pets at their home in Buckinghamshire.

However, the lure of the stage means home life is being interrupted once more as he tours in the West End comedy hit Why Me?

It is the story of John Bailey who finds himself out of work in his 50s and is having a hard time coping with it, says Colin.

''It is a play all about relationships and what can go wrong."

Acting alongside him are other stars of the small screen Tracey Childs (Lynn Howard in Howard's Way) and Jean Boht, known to millions as the matriarchal Nellie Boswell in the Liverpudlian sitcom Bread.

To add to the main character's woe, his marital relationship is far from happy. His entrepreneurial wife's pizza business is flourishing, he is philandering with a neighbour and his pain-in-the-neck mother-in-law is al-ways dropping in.

"It really is quite tragic, but also very funny,adds Colin.

Why Me? is being staged at Cheltenham's Everyman Theatre from Monday, October 30, to Saturday, November 4.