Sixth Doctor

The Sixth Doctor, as he appears in The Mark of the Rani

Bumptious, melodramatic, and above all stubborn, the **Sixth Doctor** instantly believed himself superior to almost anyone he encountered. He would often browbeat others into submission with his savage wit and his grammarian's interest in language. Even so, his mercurial and flippant tendencies did not define the true heart of his persona. Beneath his thunderous and turbulent exterior, he was quite the opposite: a passionate, warm, virtuous and empathetic individual.

He was profoundly difficult with his first companion, Peri Brown, whom he initially challenged for her use of American English and her as-yet-incomplete education. Indeed, during the early hours after his regeneration, he physically assaulted her due to post-regenerative paranoia. It took considerable time for himself and Peri to stop bickering and speak together on amiable terms, but the Sixth Doctor eventually became someone she could rely upon. With enough distance from the regenerative event, she was able to look to the Doctor for strength after her mother's death.

Despite his bluster, the Sixth Doctor did possess great reserves of compassion. His gentler side began to blossom largely as a consequence of travelling with Melanie Bush, a brilliant computer programmer from Earth in the 1980s.

A dominant feature of his life was yet another Time Lord trial. Though this one sought to blame him for a shifting docket of crimes, it in fact turned out to be an elaborate ruse. He later found himself in a reverse situation where he became the prosecutor against the Valeyard, the malicious being that had framed him in an attempt to steal his regenerations. He discovered that the Valeyard's dubious existence was somehow tied to his own and took shape from his inherently darker characteristics.

For one reason or another, the Sixth Doctor found himself under attack from the Rani above Lakertya, an attack that forced him into a crash landing on the planet. By the time the Rani forced her way into his TARDIS, the Doctor had regenerated.

## Biography

### Post-Regeneration

Whilst on Androzani Minor, both the Fifth Doctor and Peri Brown contracted a fatal condition called spectrox toxaemia. The Doctor gave Peri the only antidote available, saving her at the cost of his own life. He expressed uncertainty as to whether he would regenerate or not, as it felt "different this time". However, he managed to regenerate. (TV: *The Caves of Androzani*)

The Doctor expressed joy at the change, seeing his sixth incarnation as an improvement over the Fifth Doctor, who he considered unbecoming. Despite having stabilised physically, he suffered initial personality and mental issues that caused him to lapse into extreme paranoia and violence, even trying to strangle Peri. After regaining his senses, the horror of his actions caused him to exile himself on Titan III as punishment until he had attained appropriate humility. On Titan III, he met another Time Lord, his old tutor Azmael. Instead of a self-imposed exile, the Doctor soon became involved with stopping the Gastropod Mestor from launching his eggs into space, which would cause death and destruction on every world they landed on. These efforts cost Azmael his life, as he sacrificed himself to trap Mestor in his own mind to prevent him having the chance to assault the Doctor's still-fragile new persona, but left the Doctor affirmed in his new identity. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*)

### Dark Beginnings

The Doctor set out to fix everything wrong with his aging TARDIS, even succeeding in partially repairing its broken chameleon circuit. Picking up an extraterrestrial signal, he and Peri were drawn into an adventure involving an attempt by the CyberNeomorphs to destroy the Earth with Halley's Comet. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*) The Doctor later disconnected the chameleon circuit, causing the TARDIS to resume using its police box exterior. (TV: *Vengeance on Varos*)

Discovering that the TARDIS was running low on vital Zeiton-7 crystals, the Doctor travelled to their source on the planet Varos. While searching for the crystals, the Doctor was nearly forced to participate in deadly "games" when he attempted to free those trapped in the Punishment Dome. Stopping Sil, the greedy Mentor who had caused this devolution, the Doctor obtained the required Zeiton-7, restoring the TARDIS' supply of it. (TV: *Vengeance on Varos*)

Tracing a time distortion to 19th century England, the Doctor discovered that the Master had teamed up with another renegade Time Lord, the Rani, to aid her experiments in the extraction of the chemical responsible for inducing sleep from human miners. Sabotaging the Rani's TARDIS, the Doctor sent the pair flying through the Time Vortex while he took back the chemical and cured the miners. (TV: *The Mark of the Rani*)

After the Doctor and Peri went on a fishing trip, the Doctor felt a time slip in his subconscious where he saw his second incarnation get executed. Upon Peri's suggestion to see a doctor, he went to *Space Station Camera* to see Joinson Dastari, only for them to find that a massacre had occurred there, with no signs of life. In the service ducts, they found Jamie McCrimmon, who claimed that the Second Doctor had been executed by the Sontarans during a battle on board the space station. After letting Jamie rest, the Sixth Doctor deduced that the Second Doctor's supposed death was an illusion created by the Sontarans. The Sixth Doctor used telepathy to track the Second Doctor to a hacienda near Seville, where he was being held captive while Dastari tried to isolate the symbiotic nuclei in his cells so that the Sontarans could be given the secret to time travel. While Peri distracted the hacienda's occupants, a local woman called Anita helped the Sixth Doctor and Jamie find a secret passageway into the cellars.

The Sixth Doctor sabotaged a TARDIS copy that was being developed on the space station, and lied to Jamie about its workings while he knew the Sontaran Group Marshal Stike was listening in on them. Jamie wounded Stike, and the two of them escaped. Knowing there was another Time Lord present, the augmented Androgum Chessene changed the plan into having Dastari alter the Second Doctor into Chessene's Androgum consort. Chessene also betrayed the Sontarans. The effect on the Second Doctor was not permanent, however, as the condition was not stabilised. The Sixth Doctor, Peri, and Jamie followed the Second Doctor to Las Cadenas restaurant in Seville. Dastari and Chessene had the Doctors and their companions brought back to the hacienda. The Sixth Doctor saved Jamie from being butchered and eaten by the Androgum Shockeye. Dastari then freed the Second Doctor upon realising his mistake in augmenting a primitive Androgum, and was shot by Chessene for betraying her. With Peri's help, the Sixth Doctor deceived Chessene into using the faulty prototype TARDIS, and Chessene was killed by molecular disintegration. (TV: *The Two Doctors*)

### Mellowing Out

On Stella Stora, the Doctor met an investigator named Hallett. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*)

When the TARDIS became caught in a time corridor oriented from the planet Karfel, the Doctor discovered that Megelen, a human who had become mutated into a half-Morlox hybrid, now ruled the planet. Calling himself the Borad, Megelen was using a device known as the Timelash to banish his disobedient subjects through time. The Doctor found the amulet that powered the Timelash, preventing Megelen from mutating Peri into a hideous mutant like himself in order to mate with her and sent Megelen through his own device. (TV: *Timelash*)

The Doctor went to Necros to pay his respects to his old friend Arthur Stengos at Tranquil Repose, but discovered that Davros had falsified the news of Stengos' death to lure him to the planet. The Doctor learned that Davros had created a new breed of Imperial Daleks, loyal to him alone. The situation was resolved with the arrival of the Renegade Daleks, who sought to take Davros to Skaro for trial. (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*)

### Final Travels with Peri

After a series of stressful adventures, the Doctor decided to take Peri to the planet Ravolox to relax. Soon discovering that Ravolox was Earth, moved thousands of light years from its original position, they encountered the primitive descendants of humanity, and prevented L3 robot Drathro from allowing a black light explosion. The Doctor also met conman Sabalom Glitz, who explained that "Ravolox" had been moved to protect the secrets of a "higher species" from the Andromedan "Sleepers". (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*)

Sometime later, the Doctor and Peri landed on a planet that had been subjugated by the Daleks. He managed to instigate a human uprising that forced Skaro to send a squadron of Imperial Daleks to find and destroy the Doctor before he could do any more harm. They were chased to and cornered in an ancient religious building, only saved from their inevitable extermination by the sudden arrival of a platoon of Cybermen, who engaged the Daleks in a brief gunfight. Bernice Summerfield, who had been sent by a future incarnation of the Doctor to save his previous selves from the Cybermen, took advantage of this by placing explosives around the chamber the Doctor was in and ushering him and Peri to safety. After detonating the explosives, Bernice explained the situation to the Doctor, telling him to rendezvous at the Old Marley church.

After arriving at the church, the Doctor worked out a plan with his third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth incarnations, and helped to hold off Cybermen that had followed him and his other incarnations there. He then worked with his other incarnations to telepathically turn the Cybermen's time capsules and spaceship into time bombs, and safely evacuated everyone away from the church. Following these events, the Doctor left in his TARDIS. (TV: *Destiny*)

On the planet Thoros Beta, the Doctor encountered Sil, and discovered that he and his fellow Mentors were trying to make deals with a savage king named Yrcanos through manipulating his mind. After a failed attempt to probe his mind to see if the Time Lords had sent him to intervene on their behalf, the Doctor pretended to be on the Mentors' side and helped a scientist named Crozier transplant the mind of Kiv, the Mentor leader, to a deceased Mentor. Though the process was successful, Kiv's mind was unable to adjust to new body, and so Crozier made plans to have Peri's mind overwritten with Kiv's consciousness, which would kill her in the process. Rushing to her rescue, the Doctor was suddenly influenced by the Time Lords, who put him under their control and forced him to board his TARDIS (TV: *Mindwarp*) and travel to a Time Lord space station. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*)

### Trial

Upon arriving at a courtroom on the CIA's space station, the Doctor initially tried to use his status as Lord President to avoid a trial, but was informed by the Inquisitor that he had long since been removed from office due to his perpetual absence. Alerted to the fact that he was the defendant, the Doctor chose to represented himself in the trial, during which he and his prosecutor, the Valeyard, would present events from his life via the Matrix as evidence. The Valeyard proceeded to display his recent adventures on Ravolox (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) and Thoros Beta. (TV: *Mindwarp*) Having been under the effects of partial amnesia due to being taken out of time, the Doctor was unable to defend his actions properly, (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) and also suffered an emotional blow when he witnessed what seemed to be Peri's death. (TV: *Mindwarp*)

The Doctor presented the case for his defence, offering an adventure from his future, featuring an Earth woman named Melanie Bush as his companion, where he was forced to destroy an artificial race known as the Vervoids. However, the Valeyard seized on this to charge the Doctor for the genocide of the Vervoids, prohibited by Article 7 of the Constitution. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*) The Doctor tried to point out the hole in the Valeyard's claim of genocide; the Vervoids were artificial in nature and never truly alive to begin with.

When the Inquisitor pressed the Doctor to provide evidence against the Valeyard's claims, the Doctor was surprised at the arrival of both Mel and Glitz, who were brought to act as witnesses. Furthering his shock, the Doctor learned that the Master had supplied this aid from inside the Matrix, and that the Valeyard was in fact a manifestation of the Doctor's own inner darkness created "between [his] twelfth and final regeneration". Taking advantage of the confusion, the Valeyard fled into the Matrix. The Doctor and Glitz followed and entered a battle of wits with the Valeyard. However, the Master intervened with this and tried using the Doctor as bait for his own plots. The Doctor overcame this and proceeded to find out that the Valeyard had prepared a weapon to kill all the Time Lords in the court room.

The Doctor defeated him and learned that the Valeyard falsified some of the evidence with the aid of the High Council in a plot to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations. To his surprise, he learned Peri had not died, but was now wed to Ycarnos as his queen. As the populace of Gallifrey reacted to news of the dishonesty of their High Council, the Doctor left in his TARDIS with Mel. (TV: *The Ultimate Foe*) The Doctor then returned Mel to Oxyveguramosa, her original point in time. (PROSE: *The Ultimate Foe*)

### Final Adventures

The Doctor was called to a spaceship to be used as a scapegoat to drive out hijackers. However, this plan turned sour when a genetically engineered species known as the Vervoids emerged from their pods in storage and killed many of the passengers, simultaneously causing several others to mutate into new members of their own kind. With the Vervoids attempting to convert all of humanity, the Doctor was forced to destroy them by fast-forwarding their lifecycle, as he knew that just one Vervoid making it to Earth would allow this to happen. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*)

The Doctor and Mel took a trip to Oxyveguramosa, where Mel was taken by the Master to give testament at the Doctor's trial. (PROSE: *The Ultimate Foe*)

### Death

According to one account, the Doctor was influenced by his next incarnation into killing himself. According to Death's version of events, the Doctor joyfully piloted his TARDIS towards the Rani's tractor beam, (TV: *Love and War*) though Mel witnessed him attempting to activate the HADS. (PROSE: *Time and the Rani*)

The Rani's attack buffeted the TARDIS out of flight, (TV: *Time and the Rani*) and caused the Doctor's head to collide with the TARDIS control console, (PROSE: *Time and the Rani*) forcing him to regenerate as the TARDIS was pulled on to Lakertya. (TV: *Time and the Rani*)

As the Doctor lay unconscious on the floor of his TARDIS after the TARDIS landed on Lakertya, the First Rani and her Tetrap servant, Urak, invaded the TARDIS, and Urak was ordered to leave Mel behind and take the Doctor to the Rani's laboratory. As Urak rolled the Doctor onto his back in preparation to take him away, the final stages of his regeneration commenced, and he transformed into his seventh incarnation. (TV: *Time and the Rani*)

### Undated Events

On BBC3, the Sixth Doctor introduced an episode of *Roland Rat: The Series* with disdain. After the episode concluded, he cheerfully recommended the viewers to switch over to BBC1 to watch *Doctor Who*, however Ron Rat insulted the series, causing the Doctor to attempt to kill him in retaliation. (TV: *Untitled*)

## Personality

The Sixth Doctor could be unpredictable, consistently self-absorbed, stubborn, argumentative, moody, melodramatic and arrogant, believing himself greatly superior to anyone he encountered. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *Attack of the Cybermen*, *Vengeance on Varos*, *The Two Doctors*, *Timelash*, *The Mysterious Planet*) However, he was critical of himself in some situations. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *Attack of the Cybermen*, *Revelation of the Daleks*) Despite his hubris approach, the Doctor knew when to be serious, such as when he rushed to help Gustave Lytton after exiting his TARDIS in a comedic manner, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*) and being quick to respond to the threat on his timestream after mocking his Dalek pursuers for being easily distracted. (TV: *Destiny*)

He also believed himself to be blessed with both "tact and finesse", (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*) and believed he could subdue opponents with his charm. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*)

When Peri was distressed over the idea that Ravolox was a devastated Earth, the Doctor tried to comfort her, even showing empathy for her plight, despite initially telling her not to get emotional. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) He was devastated when presented with the news of Peri's demise on Thoros Beta, and was enraged that the Time Lords had engineered her execution, threatening he had every intention of discovering what they were up to. (TV: *Mindwarp*) When he discovered the Time Lords had relocated Earth and renamed it Ravolox to keep the secrets of the Matrix from being exposed, the Doctor announced his purpose was to stop evil and power mad conspirators. (TV: *The Ultimate Foe*)

By the time he travelled with Mel, the Doctor acted disciplined, aware that his actions had consequences, and was careful about what he did and where he went. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*)

Despite his often unstable demeanour, the Doctor was quick to act when the situation called for it, and very little, even his companions, could hope to get in his way. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *The Ultimate Foe*) More than his other incarnations, the Sixth Doctor was a fatalist, more than once deciding he was doomed and resolving to accept his fate. (TV: *Timelash*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *The Ultimate Foe*)

His adventurous side still remained, but the Sixth Doctor was more selfish about it, especially when it came to decision making. He would often decide he knew what Peri wanted out of her travels and often told her where she wanted to go instead of asking her. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*, *The Two Doctors*, *Timelash*, *The Mysterious Planet*)

A man of little fear, the Doctor would remain unfazed when in the line of fire, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *Destiny*) or in the face of the unknown. (TV: *Vengeance on Varos*, *The Ultimate Foe*) Even when helpless or under threat, the Doctor would be unafraid to speak his mind. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *The Mark of the Rani*, *The Two Doctors*, *Revelation of the Daleks*)

While he believed that the "purpose of life [was] too big to be knowable", the Doctor felt that "everything in life [had a] purpose" and that "every creature [played] its part". (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) While he was willing to leave Hugo Lang for dead after Lang made an attempt to kill him, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) the Doctor was, for the most part, always willing to lend a helping hand wherever he could, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*, *The Mark of the Rani*, *Revelation of the Daleks*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *Destiny*) and see that justice triumphed over the guilty. (TV: *Mindwarp*)

He wore several cat brooches on his left lapel, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) and carried a cat themed face mask on his person. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*)

The Doctor was more willing to resort to a "modicum of force" than his previous incarnations. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) While his physical attack on Peri could be attributed to post-regenerative trauma, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) he later stabbed a Cyberman scout to death with a Sonic lance, killed the Cyber-Controller at close range with a Cyber-gun, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*) seemed unperturbed after witnessing two men fall to their death in an acid bath, (TV: *Vengeance on Varos*) smothered Shockeye to death with a cyanide rag in self-defence, (TV: *The Two Doctors*) and shot out a Renegade Dalek's eyestalk. (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*) He was also willing to allow a few deaths if it would protect the majority from harm, such as destroying the Vervoids to stop them from dooming the human race, although he felt regretful with his actions. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*)

However, the Sixth Doctor also had a more emotional and caring side, determined to not let people die "if [there was] a chance of saving them". (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) He was ashamed with himself when he learned he had attacked Peri in his post-regenerative trauma, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) worried what would become of Flast after he exposed her to warmer conditions, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*) commanded Peri to save herself instead of him when being carted away by the Rani's miners, (TV: *The Mark of the Rani*) comforted a mutated man as he died, was outraged by Davros's disregard for life, offered to find a way to avoid Orcini needing to sacrifice his life, and then agreed to honour his last request. (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*) He also claimed he would begin a "vegetarian diet" after almost transforming into an Androgum. (TV: *The Two Doctors*)

He also mourned for Azmael, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) Gustave Lytton, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*) Luke Ward, (TV: *The Mark of the Rani*) Oscar Botcherby, (TV: *The Two Doctors*) Arthur Stengos, the DJ, (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*) Dorf, (TV: *Mindwarp*) and Hallett. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*) He became grief-stricken when presented with evidence of Peri's untimely death, (TV: *Mindwarp*) and was most pleased when he discovered the evidence had been tampered with, and that Peri was alive. (TV: *The Ultimate Foe*)

The Doctor could be literal minded, checking Peri's back after she complained about her "heart being where [her] liver should be", and taking Lytton's "look around you" statement seriously. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*) When Lord Ravensworth asked the Doctor what he and Peri did in the TARDIS, the Doctor answered with, "argue, mainly". (TV: *The Mark of the Rani*) On Ravolox, the Doctor misunderstood Peri's reluctance to enter an abandoned building as her stating their inability to find an entrance. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*)

He also seemed unable to see his own faults, but would hypocritically criticise those that showed them, particularly the Valeyard. (TV: *The Ultimate Foe*) He accused Peri of being an "egotistical young lady", (TV: *The Caves of Androzani*) and of being overweight. (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*) He also rebuked Balazar for boasting about his knowledge. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) He did, however, admit he had misjudged Lytton following his death and their defeat of the Cybermen, feeling bad even after they had kept Earth safe and the timeline intact. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*)

Immediately after his regeneration, the Doctor saw his new body as an improvement and felt that the Fifth Doctor had "a feckless charm that simply wasn't [him]". (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*)

The Sixth Doctor did not suffer fools gladly, and sometimes seemed to endure the presence of others more than he enjoyed it. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *The Two Doctors*, *Timelash*) However, he enjoyed his companions' company, saying that Peri was important to him, and assuring her he wouldn't abandon her, (TV: *The Mark of the Rani*)

While suffering from post-regeneration trauma, Peri Brown called the Doctor a "manic depressive paranoid personality", while Mestor described him as "egocentric, wilful and quite mad". (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) On Thoros Beta, King Yrcanos noted that the Doctor thought like a warrior but did not act like one. (TV: *Mindwarp*)

### Habits and Quirks

Commonly, the Sixth Doctor would overreact with rage when questioned about his methods, repeating a single word from the criticism, often getting louder as each repeat went on. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *Attack of the Cybermen*, *The Mark of the Rani*, *Timelash*) He also had a taste for poetry and literature, often reciting bits of them. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *The Mark of the Rani*, *Terror of the Vervoids*, *The Ultimate Foe*)

The Doctor, when concerned with his appearance, often asked his companions how he looked in an act of vanity. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma, The Mark of the Rani*, *Revelation of the Daleks*)

The Doctor was prone to saying, "Mmm, I wonder...", when thinking aloud, and then exclaiming, "aha!", when his suspicions were proved correct. He was also known to let out an annoyed, "doh", when dismissing someone. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*, *Timelash*, *The Ultimate Foe*, *Destiny*)

For good luck, the Doctor would stroke his cat brooches before attempting something risky. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *Attack of the Cybermen*, *Vengeance on Varos*)

Much like his previous incarnation, he would also stand with his hands in his pockets, also while flicking the long tails on his frock coat back. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *Attack of the Cybermen*, *Vengeance on Varos*, *The Mark of the Rani*, *The Two Doctors*, *Timelash*, *Revelation of the Daleks*, *Terror of the Vervoids*, *Destiny*) When not in his pockets, he would keep his hands hovering above his waist, wringing his fingers together. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *Attack of the Cybermen*, *The Mark of the Rani*, *The Two Doctors*, *Timelash*, *Revelation of the Daleks*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *Mindwarp*, *Terror of the Vervoids*)

When relaxing, the Doctor would go fishing, especially for Gumblejack, which he considered amongst the tastiest fish in Mutter's Spiral. (TV: *The Two Doctors*)

On occasion, the Doctor would carry a multi-coloured umbrella that matched the clashing colours of his clothing. (TV: *The Two Doctors*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *Time and the Rani*)

### Skills

The Sixth Doctor was highly deductive, able to understand a situation based on small details that others overlooked, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *Vengeance on Varos*, *The Two Doctors*, *Terror of the Vervoids*, *The Ultimate Foe*) and identify his location by studying his surroundings. (TV: *The Two Doctors*)

Despite his larger build, the Doctor still possessed the fighting skills of his predecessors, being able to overpower Azmael, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) one of Gustave Lytton's fake policeman, Russell, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*) Maldak, (TV: *Vengeance on Varos*) a wounded Stike, (TV: *The Two Doctors*) one of the Borad's androids, (TV: *Timelash*) Davros's guards, (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*) and a Cyberman. (TV: *Destiny*)

The Doctor was also a skilled hypnotist, able to put an erratic Jamie McCrimmon into a trance in order to extract information from him. (TV: *The Two Doctors*) He was later able to use hypnotism to calm a violent mutant human, but the mutation rendered the man unable to remain calm for long. (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*)

The Doctor had great mechanical skills, being able to briefly repair the TARDIS's damaged chameleon circuit. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*)

He was also shown to have great acting skills, (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*, *Mindwarp*, *The Ultimate Foe*) as well as being a decent organ player. (TV: *Attack of the Cybermen*)

## Appearance

Physically, the Sixth Doctor was identical in appearance to an incarnation of the Time Lord Maxil that the Fifth Doctor met with Nyssa, (TV: *Arc of Infinity*) being a tall man, with bouffant, curly, blond hair. (TV: *The Caves of Androzani*) Over time, the Doctor gained weight and his hair significantly grew out. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) Consequentially, Melanie Bush thought him overweight and forced him to undergo a vigorous fitness program, which he found annoying, taking every available opportunity to deviate from it behind Mel's back. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*)

Upon first seeing his reflection, the newly regenerated Doctor was pleased with his new face, describing himself as having "a noble brow," as well as "a firm mouth, [and] a face beaming with a vast intelligence". (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*)

Dibber described the Doctor as "a dilly in a long coat", (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*) and Sabalom Glitz described him as a "flashy, fair-haired person". (TV: *The Ultimate Foe*) The Third Doctor described him as being "a patchwork jester" (TV: *Destiny*), and Death called him "the colourful jester". (TV: *Love and War*)

### Clothing

#### Main Attires

Much like his fourth and fifth incarnations, the Sixth Doctor wore a plain white shirt with cherry question marks embroidered on the collar, (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) and braces adorned with question mark symbols. (TV: *Vengeance on Varos*) He took to wearing a set of royal yellow trousers with black stripes, and his generally preferred footwear was a pair of royal orange spats over forest green ankle boots. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) Sabalom Glitz confused his spats with "ankle armour". (TV: *The Ultimate Foe*)

Most distinctive of the Sixth Doctor's attire was his patchwork frock coat, which had cuffs the same colour as his trousers and featured patches of crimson tartan, scarlet, green, pink and maroon felt, peach wool, a woven back piece, checked collar and amber and pink lapels. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*)

The Doctor also included a range of waistcoats, oversized bow-tied cravats, and fob watches with coloured chains to accompany his patchwork coat, each possessing a different colour scheme and design. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *Terror of the Vervoids*) He first wore a knitted waistcoat that was dark brown, orange and purple in colour and featured dark green buttons, along with a dark green metal watch chain and a turquoise cravat. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*) Later, the Doctor's prominent waistcoat became a red and white gingham waistcoat with bear face buttons, with which he wore both his original cravat and a new neon green plastic watch chain, before replacing his turquoise cravat with a plain red polka-dot one and his green watch chain with a bright pink plastic one. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*)

During his travels with Mel, the Doctor wore both a pink, purple and green waistcoat with red ladybug buttons, a yellow cravat decorated with a starfield pattern and a plastic watch chain that was a half neon green and half bright pink. (TV: *Terror of the Vervoids*)

The Sixth Doctor's coat was the subject of much ridicule, with people often mocking it. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*)

Due to his fondness of cats, the Doctor always wore one of a number of cat-shaped pins or brooches on his left lapel. (TV: *The Twin Dilemma*, *The Mark of the Rani*, *The Two Doctors*, *Revelation of the Daleks*, *The Mysterious Planet*, *Time and the Rani*, *Destiny*) On occasion, the Doctor would carry a multi-coloured umbrella that matched the clashing colours of his clothing. (TV: *The Mysterious Planet*, *Time and the Rani*)

#### Other Costumes

While confronting the Sontarans in Seville, Spain in 1985, the Doctor removed his coat, left his cravat-less shirt unbuttoned, and replaced his usual waistcoat with a Hawaiian-styled one. (TV: *The Two Doctors*)

On Necros, the Doctor briefly wore a large and eloquent royal blue cloak with gold trim over his usual attire as a sign of mourning for the death of Professor Arthur Stengos. (TV: *Revelation of the Daleks*)

## Behind the Scenes

### Casting

In 1983, Sylvester McCoy put his name forward in consideration for the Sixth Doctor. He would later be cast as the Seventh Doctor and briefly played the Sixth Doctor in a regeneration sequence.

### Regeneration

#### Circumstances

Colin Baker declined an invitation to film the regeneration sequence at the start of *Time and the Rani* due to the circumstances of his dismissal from the role. Wishing to play the Doctor for the whole of Season 24, he was instead offered one last full story to reappear and regenerate. Baker declined, reasoning that he did not want to make the audience think he was still the *de facto* Doctor for a sliver of 1987 when he had been removed from the series. His successor, Sylvester McCoy, donned a blonde wig and briefly appeared on screen as the unconscious sixth Doctor. McCoy's face was obscured from camera view, first by the TARDIS console and then by the regeneration FX, before the final reveal of the Seventh Doctor.

#### The "bang on the head" myth

Due to lack of any information as to what caused the Sixth Doctor to regenerate, viewers were left to draw their own conclusions. At some point, it became the subject of ridicule that the Doctor had regenerated because he hit his head in some manner, an idea which some writers ran with, while others teased it. Some fans even joked it was because he fell off the exercise bike Mel had been forcing him to use since *Terror of the Vervoids*- the very subject was brought before Colin Baker himself, as evidenced by a YouTube video entitled "Colin Baker Reacts to his Regeneration (50th Anniversary Convention)" by MrTARDISreviews, which shows Baker found it disappointing.

*Love and War* by Paul Cornell offered an explanation, indicating the Seventh Doctor had willed himself into existence by influencing the Sixth Doctor's demise.

### Other Matters

* According to an interview with Colin Baker in *DWM* 118, the Doctor's coat was created because John Nathan-Turner had the idea that it should be in "very bad taste" to show the Doctor's alien nature. Baker himself had wanted to wear black to display the Doctor's darker side.
	+ More recently, Colin Baker has expanded upon this, stating that he wanted his Doctor to wear a black leather jacket. (DOC: *Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide*)
* Colin Baker related the character of the Doctor to a quote from Rudyard Kipling "I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me". This made him decide to wear a different cat badge on his costume in each story arc. He subsequently received a lot more cat badges from fans in the mail. When he played the Doctor on stage in 1989 these gifts gave him the opportunity to wear a different badge in every single performance.

## Appearances

### Season 21

* *The Caves of Androzani*
* *The Twin Dilemma*

### Season 22

* *Attack of the Cybermen*
* *Vengeance on Varos*
* *The Mark of the Rani*
* *The Two Doctors*
* *Timelash*
* *Revelation of the Daleks*

### Season 23

* *The Mysterious Planet*
* *Mindwarp*
* *Terror of the Vervoids*
* *The Ultimate Foe*