Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, bob baker, doctor who, jon pertwee, k9, sarah jane adventures, sarah jane smith, tom baker, wallace and gromit

Doctor Who Writer & K9 Co-Creator Bob Baker Passes Away, Age 82

Published Sat, 06 Nov 2021 16:34:12 -0500

by Adi Tantimedh

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Bob Baker, the prolific TV writer for Doctor Who and a number of other projects & co-creator of the Doctor's robot dog K9, has passed away at the age of 82. The news was disclosed by the official K9 Twitter account on Friday with an official statement.

Doctor Who: K9 Creator Bob Baker Passes away, Aged 82 — Bob Baker, "Doctor Who" writer with Radio Host Laura Rawlings at BBC Radio Bristol, BBC

"Bob was a prolific film and television writer," it reads. "Alongside his late writing partner, Dave Martin, they were stalwarts of children's television in the 1970s, with a well-earned reputation for bizarre and spine-tingling adventure. They wrote many of what have become to be regarded by fans worldwide as true classic BBC TV 'Doctor Who' stories; creating many well-remembered enemies for the time lord during the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker years."

https://twitter.com/K9official1/status/1456604442808225794?s=20

As the Radio Times reported, Baker had a previous career as a stonemason and worked in animation before becoming a writer. He even wrote an autobiography, "K9 Ate My Trousers", recounting his 50-year career in show business. Baker had written many Doctor Who serials, including many in the Jon Pertwee 3^rd Doctor and Tom Baker 4^th Doctor eras, including "The Claws of Axos" (1971), "The Mutants" (1972), "The Three Doctors" (1972–1973), "The Sontaran Experiment" (1975), "The Hand of Fear" (1976), "The Invisible Enemy" (1977), "Underworld" (1978), "The Armageddon Factor" (1979) and "Nightmare of Eden" (1979).

Baker and his writing partner Martin created K9, who first appeared in the Doctor Who serial "The Invisible Enemy". The robot dog became an instant fan favourite. After all, kids love dogs and robots, so what could be better than a robot dog on a Science Fiction show? 4^th Doctor Tom Baker adored John Leeson, the actor who voiced K9 with wit and nuance, but despised the robot dog itself because it had a tendency to malfunction and not hit its marks, often ruining takes and needing resets.

The official Doctor Who Twitter account also paid tribute to Baker, saying: "We're sad to hear that Bob Baker has passed away, who wrote many of the Doctor's adventures, and was the co-creator of K9."

https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1456625584570867714?s=20

Baker went on to for a production company aimed at kids' content for TV, working for Disney, Cartoon Network and BBC Kids. Per Writer's Guild of Great Britain rules, he continued to own K9 and developed spinoff projects featuring the robot dog. There was a K9 pilot for the BBC in the 1980s featuring Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith who became the 3^rd K9's owner after The Doctor presented him to her as a gift. That was how the spinoff series The Sarah Jane Adventures featured K9 as part of Sarah Jane's team. Baker also worked on the Wallace & Gromit films with creator Nick Park, going so far as to have a cameo as a murder victim in a newspaper headline in one of the shorts, which fellow Doctor Who writer Eddie Robson showed as a tribute on his Twitter feed.

https://twitter.com/EddieRobson/status/1456615840955215883?s=20

It makes sense that the creator of K9 would work on Wallace & Gromit. His was a particularly British sense of humour, full of surrealism and whimsy. He will be missed, his contribution to pop culture is forever.

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