TARDIS Edwarnia: Tom Baker quits in 1976

POD

At the climax of The Deadly Assassin. The Master is sucked into a time-space imbalance caused by the unplugging of the Eye of Rassilon

The Doctor manages at in OTL to reconnect the cords to the eye but the sheer power released by the Eye causes him to collapse.

Boursa, Spandrell and Engin rush into the obelisk and find the Doctor motionless and regenerating...
 
So, what caused Baker to leave?

The power had gone straight to Tom's head. His thinking was 'I AM Doctor Who'.

From my first day of being on Doctor Who I experienced Tom's desire for power, for 'creative control'. He would ask questions such as 'why does this need to be done, why not this instead etc

Some days Tom would come onto the set pissed as a newt and very uncontrollable. Barry Letts and he had many battles about the show and his thirst for more control.

The crunch point came when Liz decided to leave. Tom and Liz had become very close and her departure for him was the final straw. He came up to me and Barry and said 'Liz is going, so am I'

To be honest it was something of a relief


Philip Hinchcliffe. Transcript from Interview on "Scream of the Hydrax" DVD
 
The Fifth Doctor:

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