Tom Baker appears in The Wife of Bath's Tale, which is one of Chaucer's most well-known stories. He plays
the role of Jenkin (or Jankyn in the original story), a student at Oxford who is a boarder in the home of the
Wife of Bath's neighbour. The Wife takes a shine to Jenkin after the death of her fourth husband, and claims
that he has bewitched her, and must therefore marry her. They subsequently get married, but the Wife does
not like him reading from the book of 'Wikked Wyves', and there is an angry confrontation between Jenkin and
his new wife, which has a rather comical ending. This story is in fact based on the prologue to the The Wife of
Bath's Tale, rather than the story itself, and is notable for a Tom Baker nude scene. It was also only his third
film role, and it was released just two years before Baker stepped into the Tardis for the first time.

The verdict: 'The Canterbury Tales' is an interesting adaptation of one of English literature's greatest works,
and is one of many film and TV versions of the Chaucer stories. Be warned that this version contains nudity,
sex scenes, coarse language and some graphic violence (so it is not exactly a family film). Pasolini himself
even makes several cameos as Chaucer as he writes the stories at a desk.

Who connections:  The film also features Philip Davis (Lucius in The Fires of Pompeii), Derek Deadman (Stor
in The Invasion of Time),  Nicholas Smith (Wells in The Dalek Invasion of Earth),  Francis De Wolff (Vasor in
The Keys of Marinus and Agamemnon in The Myth Makers) and Stephen Calcutt, who had uncredited roles in
many episodes during the Tom Baker and Peter Davison eras).