Doctor Who - Season 17 (1979)

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) )

- Rupert Jarvis ( notable efforts: Treasure Island (1977), Blake's 7 'Project Avalon' to 'Orac' (1978), Jane (1982 - 1984) )

Costume Design Genre: futuristic, contemporary

'Destiny of the Daleks'

Costume Design by: June Hudson

The costume design highlight of the serial are the Movellans, clad in some of the most 70s-looking dsigns ever, in tight white spandex and worn with silver dreadlock wigs, and bright green tubes worn on the shoulders, as well as silver belts and collars - very disco, and would have been right at home in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and I meant that in a good way! You may notice I'm not including 'City of Death' in this entry, and that's because due to its contemporary setting it's not worth including much, with the only notable outfit in that serial being the uniform of the alien Scaroth, which seems to be a silver boiler suit fixed with a chest plate that’s almost certainly decorated with abicus beads. Even Romana's outfit in 'City of Death' is bland compared to the costumes designed for her by Hudson and Amy Roberts in the next season.

'Creature from the Pit'

Costume Design by: June Hudson

This was a much more costume heavy serial set on a medieval level planet, with Romana wearing a lovely white dress over white stockings, the dress being fixed with an ornate pink belt around the waist. This outfit helped set apart Romama from the rest of the cast, clad in blacks and burgundies, and definitely looks fantastical enough to count for here.

The serial isset on the planet Chrolis ruled by the evil autocrat Adrasta (Myra Frances), sporting dress of black and burgundy leather, topped off with a turban and her face painted with silver - a rather sensual design too.

Her direct advisor Karela (Eileen Way) dresses in a black gown with burgundy trim, which is worn with turban - similar outfits are worn by her handmaidens.

It seems that the colours of black and burgundy are the thematic colours for this story, as other officials of Adrasta’s court such as the former astrology Organon (Geoffrey Baldon) wear outfits of the same colour scheme, with Organan sporting a golden lined black toga. Two other royal scientists wear black robes with burgunday trim as well.

Serving Adrasta is the Huntsman (Morris Barry) in a black uniform of ridged leather, and also sporting a turban with spiked pieces molded on.

The soldier’s under Adrasta’s command all are in felt burgunday tunics and turbans, but also with black masks in order to make them seem more intimidating.

'Nightmare of Eden'

Costume Design by: Rupert Jarvis

This serial was set on a spaceship which was covertly being used to smuggle drugs, with a component being some monstrous aliens that are let loose on the ship. Romana's outfit in this serial is fairly drab so I'm not including it - again, it seems that Hudson had the best deeling for the character! The spaceship’s crew are clad in the same cut of uniform, with just the colours being different, with the crewman wearing glittery copper uniforms, and the ship command in black with the uniform of Captain Rigg (David Daker) having gold lining to show his rank. The costumes of this story were designed by Rupert Jarvis, who also designed the costumes for the seasons intended unmade story 'Shada' as well. There isn't anything much else worth noting in terms of futuristic costumes in this serial, as the customs officials are jus tin leather jackets and caps fixed with some strips of shiny material, and the spacesuits are just silver boiler suits.

'The Horns of Nimon'

Costume Design by: June Hudson

Another costume-heavy serial, with the residents of the planet Skonnos being in amazingly lavish and detailed costumes. The main villain, Soldeed (Graham Crowden) has of course a typical space opera villain’s garb, with a robe of gold and black with a massive collar, in a design rather remniscient of the likes of Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon and other classic space opera villains.

His servants dress much more subdue but no less official, especially with the way the robes are cut at the bottom, and wear helmets with their robes.

The former servant Sezom (John Bailey), trapped in the Nimon's labyrinth, is in a much tattier version of the robes, with feathers adorning the shoulders and headscarf. The robes are cut in a bit of a different fashion, and the feathers combined with this sweeping look almost gives off the appearance of a wounded old bird.

The Skonnos military are no less flashy, with their commander Sorak (Michael Osborne) being perhaps one of the best designs – the jutting shoulders and sleeves are enough, let alone coupled with the plumed helmet!

This jagged motif is seem in all the Skonnos soldiers, with the that guards having v-shaped pointed armor and even the pilots having pointed shoulders and helmets. Also as you can see from these screenshots, Romana is for this serial in a bright red coat worn with red gloves, in a manner remniscient of a foxhunter.

Meanwhile the Anethans being used as sacrifices by the Skonnons are just in patterned yellow suits and dresses.

'Shada'

Costume Design by: Rupert Jarvis

This would have been the last serial of the season had filming not been left incomplete thanks to strike action, so almost all the various versions released since then have had the missing segments replaced with extremely poor-quality animation, the exception being the original VHS release which was spliced with sequences of Tom Baker narrating. The main design highlight has to be the costumes (all designed by Rupert Jarvis) worn by the villainous Skagra (Andrew Sachs), which is a very ‘1970s’ design. The other crewmembers of the ‘Think Tank’ spacestation are just in white smocks with circle & triangle symbols emblazoned on them. Romana is in this serial, but sports a more conservative outfit than usual, being just an Edwardian dress albeit worn with bright red stockings.