Doctor Who - Season 16 (1978)

Costume Design by:

- June Hudson ( notable efforts: Nicholas Nickleby (1977), Blake's 7 'Redemption' to 'Killer' (1979), The Comedy of Errors (1983), Much Ado About Nothing (1984), The Theban Plays by Sophocles (1986) )

- L. Rowland-Warne

- Doreen James

- Colin Lavers ( notable efforts: Timon of Athens (1981), All's Well That Ends Well (1981), Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1984), Loves's Labours Lost (1985), Titus Andronicus (1985), A Royal Scandal (1997) )

- Michael Burdle ( notable efforts: The Borgias (1981), Macbeth (1983), The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984), The Importance of Being Earnest (1988) )

'The Ribos Operation'

Costume Design by: June Hudson

The sixteenth season of Doctor Who marked a slight departure from previous seasons in that for the first time, every individual story actually linked up as part of one larger one, this being the ‘Key to Time’ arc, which involved the Doctor being sent on a mission to find the seperate segments of the ‘Key to Time’ before the evil Black Guardian could find it. This season also introduced new companion Romana (Mary Tamm), a fellow member of the Doctor’s kind and in her introduction story ‘The Ribos Operation’, is clad in a flowing white dress with a furred robe (in material that’s very clearly synthetic). This would be the first of the many lavish outfits that costume designer June Hudson would make for both Doctor Who and Blake's 7. I won't cover the other outfits that Romana wore in this serial as it really seemed that only Hudson properly 'designed' for the character, whilst it seemed that other designers merely used shop bought clothes for her instead (with the exception of her attire in 'The Androids of Tara' perhaps).

‘The Ribos Operation’ was a tad of a departure in that it took place on a planet that had not even developed technology. As such, the design sense of this story is vaguely medieval and actually slightly Central Asian at that, with many furred hats to be seen (Ribos is a snowy planet so this was possibly intended as a direct parallel for medieval Russia). The alien warlords Graff Vynda-K (Paul Seed) and Sholakh (Robert Keegan) have arrived, disguised in Ribosian dress, to purchase the planet. Graff’s in regal fur-lined white and gold robes with a bejewelled armor plate and possibly a kalpak, whilst Sholak sports a more drab outfit of chest armor and furs, with the most notable feature being his pronged helmet.

Selling the planet to the Graff is Garron (Iain Cuthbertson) an intergalactic conman, who is aided by his lackey Unstoffe (Nigel Plaskitt) – Garron’s furs and tunic is more well-maintained, to show off his (forged) reputation as a figure of high standing

The Ribos crown jewels are guarded by ‘Shrieves’ all dressed in large woolen hats, their captain dressed in black with a gold-lined collar, with the guards under his command in brown coats with studded shoulders.

Lastly is the mysterious ‘Seeker’ (Anne Tirard), a seer hired by the Shrieves to find thieves with her telepathic powers, and is most certainly has the most striking outfit of this story, with many ‘pagan’ design influences such as the antler headpiece and painted tear markings on her face.

'The Pirate Planet'

Costume Design by: L. Rowland-Warne

‘The Pirate Planet’ was more traditional space opera fare, with a script written by Douglas Adams (who was script editor for this season), involving the planet Zanak, hollowed out by space pirates and essentially used as their spaceship. The leader of these pirates is the blustering Captain (Bruce Purchase), a cyborg whose human half is still in his pirate captain’s uniform of red with black studded leather lining, with half a shoulder cape on his non-cybernetic shoulder. This stories costumes were designed by L Rowland Warne, in his last credit on the series.

Personally assisting the Captain as well is his nurse (Rosalind Lloyd), in a single-pieces black-lined white dress. The nurse turns out to actually be a hologram projected by the planet’s real controller, the decrepit Xanxia, still alive and in her golden regal dress.

The soldiers under the Captain’s command are all clad in clad uniforms lined with studded leather and armor plates, the studs being blue and silver, with the design completed with visored helmets, giving them a uniform appearance.

The natives of Zanak are still present, and actually sport some of the more fun designs in the story – the main three we see are the elderly Balaton (Ralph Michael), in a patterned tan and brown gown, his daughter Mula (Primi Townsend) and friend Kimus (David Warwick), the latter two of which have more simple designs, but still have ornate touches on the collars and armbands.

Some other Zanak natives that we don’t see as much of are Pralix (David Sibley), whose gold-threaded pink outfit sadly doesn’t get enough screentime, as well as various other Zanak citizens – special mention to the one in the striped outfit!

'The Androids of Tara'

Costume Design by: Doreen James

This serial was another period-influenced story, but this time with a very vibrant bent, with many very colourful outfits (this story was a spin on The Prisoner of Zenda (to the point the original title actually was ‘The Androids of Zenda’!) which explains the design aesthetic of the story. Technically the first outfit we see is the one Romana sports for this story, as its described as ‘Taran’ dress, and perfectly shows the colourful sense of the story.

Mary Tamm had a double role in this story as the Princess Strella, who is always in a lined purple gown but only completing it with a golden collar and sash towards the end of the story.

The Doctor becomes embroiled in the struggles of the local Prince Reynart (Neville Jason) who together with his aides Zadek (Simon Lack) and Farrah (Paul Lavers), are attempting to find out just what the villainous Count Grendel is up to, Reynart is in what looks like a velvet red gown, whilst Zadek is a red-lined tunics and Farrah in a golden uniform with a vaguely Napoleonic bent.

The android duplicate of Reynart used to distract Grendel is always clad in gold, first in a golden tunic (with a slight heart design motif on the chest) and then in a golden gown and turban.

The villainous Count Grendel of Gracht (Peter Jeffrey) is always dressed in a snazzy burgundy tunic and shoulder cape, both of them lined with silver, and his outfit is completed with a patterned sash and pointed helmet, which he replaces with a masked one for his duel at the end.

Grendels’ deputy Kurster (Martin Matthews) and the guards under his command are all dressed in tunics with symmetrical lined patterns, Kurster’s uniform being black with silver lining, and the guards in pale blue with red lines, and ornate plumed helmets.

For me however, the most interesting outfits in this are the ones worn by the ‘Archimandrite’ (Cyril Shaps) and his footmen, who perform the coronation ceremony. Over his orange shirt, he wears a patterned cloak and sports two types of multicoloured headwear, the first being a striped skullcap and the second a large hollow striped headpiece. The footmen wear robes made up of rectangular pieces of coloured fabrics sewn together, completed with skullcaps – shame there’s no full shots.

'The Power of Kroll'

Costume Design by: Colin Lavers

This serial was a return to more standard fare, set among the conflict between the native ‘Swampies’ a marsh-covered planet, and the human crew of a chemical refinery built over it. The human crew of the chemical refinery are in blue and white uniforms all with silver diamond symbols on one side, and the commanders with silver streaks on the other to denote rank.

'The Armageddon Factor'

Costume Design by: Michael Burdle

This was the last serial of the season, bringing the search for the Key to Time at an end amid the war and turmoil of Atrios, at war with the planet Zeos, and the conflict possibly being guided by darker forces. Leading Atrios is Princess Astra (Lalla Ward), always in a purple gown lined with gold, and a yellow cloak. Michael Burdle's costume designs for this serial are rather similar in design to the ones he designed for 'Colony in Space' a few years earlier, being rather simple but with large stiff shoulder and chest boards. The rest of the costumes in this serial are either just generic uniforms, or drab rags.

The real leader of Atrios however is the curt and aggressive Marshal (John Woodvine), in a red and gold uniform completed with rather angular epaulettes and the black body-plate adorned with the symbol of Atrios. The lesser members of the Atrios military dress in black uniforms of similar cut, with their body plates being only distinguished by the lining.