Today In DOCTOR WHO History: June 8th

A tear Sarah Jane?

Welcome to our daily round-up of the Doctor Who episodes which received their premiere broadcast on this day throughout the show's long history, along with anything else of note that may have taken place. You can click on any red text to read our full retrospectives/reviews for that episode, and note that all viewing figures listed are for UK broadcasts (unless otherwise stated).

June 8th
On Colin Baker's birthday we bid farewell to the Third Doctor. The sixth and final part of Planet of the Spiders was broadcast this day in 1974 at 5:38pm, with 8.9 million people tuning in to catch the regeneration episode.

But did someone mention a birthday?

Born June 8th 1943, Colin Baker first found prominence playing Paul Merroney in the BBC drama series The Brothers from 1974 to 1976, and later guest-starred as Bayban the Butcher in a 1980 episode of Blake's 7, City at the Edge of the World. Of course, y'all know and love him as the Sixth Doctor, a role he played on-screen from 1984 to 1986 (after a guest-appearance as Commander Maxil in the Peter Davison-era 1983 story Arc of Infinity) during a troublesome time for Doctor Who. Baker's era was interrupted by an 18-month hiatus which was announced in February 1985, midway through transmission of Season 22, his first full season. The Controller of BBC1 at the time, Michael Grade, criticised Doctor Who, saying that the programme had become overly violent in 1985. Grade later admitted that he "hated" the series, which he described as a "very clunky studio show".

After being unceremoniously replaced for season 24, Baker continued to be a champion for Doctor Who. Appearing in the stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure, the 1993 Children in Need charity special Dimensions in Time, writing a graphic novel adventure, providing audio dialogue for the BBC video game Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors, and from 1999 found a new home with Big Finish Productions where his Doctor has finally been able to grow and flourish.

Happy birthday to you sir!

Join us again tomorrow for another round-up of the episodes broadcast, the spin-offs aired, the special events, the birthday's celebrated and anything else of note that went down on this day in Doctor Who history.