• Tom Baker ended up watching one of his episodes in Pauline Bennett’s house

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 21:45 GMT, 25 December 2023 | Updated: 21:45 GMT, 25 December 2023

The Tardis has taken the Doctor to many out of this world places since first materialising in 1963 – but have you heard about his unexpected trip to the home of a Radio Rentals worker in Nuneaton?

It happened on November 13, 1976, when the then Doctor, Tom Baker, ended up watching one of his own episodes in Pauline Bennett’s living room, to the astonishment of her children.

Mrs Bennett had been at work in the Radio Rentals shop in the Warwickshire town that Saturday when Baker and a BBC manager walked in. 

They had been returning from the show’s exhibition in Blackpool and wanted to see that evening’s episode.

The then Doctor, Tom Baker, ended up watching one of his own episodes in Pauline Bennett's living room, to the astonishment of her children. Pictured: Baker as the Doctor

The then Doctor, Tom Baker, ended up watching one of his own episodes in Pauline Bennett’s living room, to the astonishment of her children. Pictured: Baker as the Doctor

Mrs Bennett had been at work in the Radio Rentals shop in the Warwickshire town that Saturday when Baker and a BBC manager walked in

Mrs Bennett had been at work in the Radio Rentals shop in the Warwickshire town that Saturday when Baker and a BBC manager walked in

Mrs Bennett had been at work in the Radio Rentals shop in the Warwickshire town that Saturday when Baker and a BBC manager walked in

The TV shop’s manager bluntly told them that they were about to close, said Mrs Bennett, adding: ‘I said, ‘You can come back to my house to watch it if you’d like’, and they jumped at the offer.’

Baker, in a scarf and long coat, just like the Doctor, and his BBC colleague followed behind Mrs Bennett’s Hillman Imp – even helping push it to her house when it broke down.

Once inside, Baker ‘pulled up an easy chair straight in front of the TV’, she said. 

‘Our children Karen and Martin couldn’t believe their eyes. There was this man on the TV and he was sat here watching TV with them. They sat and watched him with their mouths open.’

The episode – part three of The Deadly Assassin, in which the Doctor is trapped in a virtual reality by his nemesis the Master – was watched by 13million viewers.

After the show Baker ‘was very grateful’, said Mrs Bennett. ‘He gave the children signed photos. We had a letter from him, and Christmas cards as well.’

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The day Doctor Who’s Tom Baker ended up watching the show with a Radio Rentals girl at her home in Nuneaton in 1976

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