Tom Baker with Bessie on 2 May 1974, during recording of his first serial, Robot (1974-75).
Shortly after recording began on Tom Baker’s first series, a publicity photoshoot was arranged at Wood Norton Hall near Evesham in Worcestershire, where all the exteriors were being recorded for Robot. On 2 May 1974, Baker posed for photos in Bessie with Elisabeth Sladen, and then in a UNIT Jeep with Ian Marter and Nicholas Courtney, all dressed in their costumes for that serial.
The resulting photographs became the primary promotional images of the new Doctor for the 1975 series. They were also used as source material for much of the Doctor Who merchandise produced over the next two years, referenced by the artists working on The Dr Who Annual 1976, The Doctor Who Dinosaur Book, Target’s Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius novelisation, the Airfix Painting by Numbers set and the TV Comic strip. Four of the photos were also use on 224-piece jigsaw puzzles.