Doctor Who - Season 23 - 26 (1986 - 1989)

Costume Design by:

- Ken Trew ( notable efforts: The Prisoner of Zenda (1984), Strangers and Brothers (1984) Clarissa (1991) )

- John Hearne ( notable efforts: Galloping Galaxies (1985) )

- Andrew Rose

- Richard Croft ( notable efforts: By the Sword Divided (1983 - 1985), Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) )

- Janet Tharby

- Rosalind Ebbutt ( notable efforts: The Flipside of Dominick Hyde (1980), Downton Abbey (2011), Victoria (2016) )

- Anushia Nieradzik ( notable efforts: The Trial (1993), Madame Bovary (2000), Belle (2013) )

'The Mysterious Planet'

Costume Design by: Ken Trew

Colin Baker’s second and final season as the Doctor was a bit of a departure from the standard format in that it was entirely set in one overarching story, ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, with the individual stories withing being played ‘in story’ by the Time Lords. This was an unsubtle metaphor for the crisis the show itself had found itself in at the time. The first segment, ‘The Mysterious Planet’ is set on a future Earth disguised as a new planet, Ravalox, with the surviving humans on the surface having reverted to a medieval lifestyle (and just wear medieval rags), as well as a more civilised but oppressed population that live underground (and just are in overalls) - the only really notable futuristic outfits are worn by the two intergalactic mercenaries, Glitz (Tony Selby) and Dibber (Glen Murphy) – both are in streaked wraparounds worn over patterned shirts, with Glitz having the more colourful outfit, his wraparound being in a striped pattern as well as having a studded armor pad slung over one of his shoulders.

Remember that detail about the show by this point being in a crisis? This particularly manifested in the costumes becoming far cheaper and shodder, meaning a lot less noteworthy designs in the remaining seasons. The underground guard commander Merdeen (Tom Chadbon) wears just a jacket with a skullcap and vest both made of a shiny material over it, at times wearing a helmet reused from the serial 'Earthshock' a few years earlier. The two scientists Humker and Tandrell just wear white jackets that have been cheaply altered to have yellow strips on the lapels.

'Mindwarp'

Costume Design by: John Hearne

The second segment of the 'Trial' arc, featuring the return of the grotesque alien Sil and his species the Mentors, and set on his home planet. The various humanoid servants of the Mentors all seem to have purple as their colour of choice, with the chief servant Kani (Alibe Parsones) sporting a shiny purple dress with yellow stockings, and her hair cut into a long curved ponytail.

Her servants wear pink gowns with short hats and yellow veils, as well as a triangular patch of yellow material on the chest.

The various guards of the Mentors' base also wear purple, with the commander Frax (Trevor Laird) wearing an old-fashioned buttoned uniform with large sleeves and strips of vinyl amterial around the sleeves and front - the guards under his command are just in cheap purple overalls with yellow straps over the chests, worn with reused Trojan helmets.

Whilst this serial also had Brian Blessed as the warrior king Ycarnos, who sports a robe made of a textured beige material, worn over an armor vest and with a (no doubt reused) samurai helmet. There's also an alien ambassador who wears a cheap robe with a tabard-like garment that I suspect was reused from another production.

The various other citizens of Thoros Beta wear mosaic patterned garments that feel inspired by Mesoamerican fashion (perhaps as a shorthand to show them as a colonized people), especially the ponchos, with the dog mutant Dorff (Thomas Branch) wearing a robe with a wide shoulders.

'Terror of the Vervoids'

Costume Design by: Andrew Rose

The penultimate story, and last of the ‘evidence’ stories within the ‘Trial’ arc was ‘Terror of the Vervoids’, set onboard the starship Hyperion III where the genetically mutated plant creatures have ran rampant. These planet creatures have been grown by the scientist Lasky (Honor Blackman) who wears a pink dress, and is assisted by Bruchner (David Allister) and Doland (Malcolm Tierney) who wear green and brown jumpsuits respectively with lining around the collars.

Another passenger on the ship is Kimber (Arthur Hewlett) who sports a wraparound tunic with a vest fitted with an enormous collar with red lining.

More obviously futuristic is the outfit worn by the agent named ‘Grenville’ (Tony Scoggo) who is in a green padded jacket with triangular straps attached.

The Hyperion’s crew, lead by the Commodore (Michael Craig) are all in identically cut uniforms, which actually resemble the outfits worn by Morgus and the President in ‘The Caves of Androzani’ two seasons before – not surprising considering that this story’s costume designer, Andrew Rose, had also worked on ‘Androzani’. The rank of the crewmembers are designated by the colour of the oval patches round the collar, with the security officer Rudge (Denys Hawthorne) having a black top instead. In some of these screenshots you can see the security guards, who just wear buttoned purple uniforms with the only futuristic detail being the chest armor.

The ship’s stewardess, Janet (Yolande Palfrey) is in a pink and white dress cut in a manner not too dissimilar from the rest of the crew - but a very charming design, in my personal opinion! In these screenshots you can also see the Mogarians, but their costumes are just cheap jumpsuits and straps, only the helmet being striking.

'The Ultimate Foe'

Costume Design by: Ken Trew

The culmination of the ‘Trial’ arc, and so mostly featured the cast of the preceding stories’ ‘trial’ segments. Across the whole story, the Doctor’s trial was being overseen by the Inquisitor (Lynda Bellingham), who is in a pointed white headpiece lined with gold, and red sash over her white dress.

Also introduced is the ‘Keeper of the Matrix’ (James Bree) who is in an ornate orange robed with a large crested collar that consists of see-through material, and with keys hanging down from his collar-piece - sadly, this outfit, like the Inquisitor's, gets very little shots that even remotely show it fully. The other Time Lord outfits seen are just reused from previous serials.

The other main addition to Time Lord dress that ‘Trial of a Time Lord’ introduced was the ‘Valeyard’ (Michael Jayston) who turned out to be none other than an evil future incarnation of the Doctor himself, in a sweepi ng white-lined black robe and skullcap (which according to Jayston, had to be glued on his head for the court scenes), with pointed shoulder plates.

'Time and the Rani'

Costume Design by: Ken Trew

The last few seasons of Doctor Who had been hit by a visible decrease in funding, which showed in a marked decline in 'future' stories, and an increase in contemporary settings and pantomime visuals (so, a forerunner to the reboot series then). These last three seasons would all star Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor with his companion Mel (Bonnie Langford) still with him from the previous season. This introductory serial once again involved the Rani (again played by Kate O’Mara), who this time sports a shiny reddish top and scarlet trousers and heeled boots, no less 80s than her previous outfit but definitely more glittery!

The alien 'Lakertyans', oppressed by the Rani, wear a variety of gowns and robes in a variety of yellows, burgundys and pastel pinks, all wearing patterned headdresses (that I suspect were reused from period productions) over their large wigs.

'Paradise Towers'

Costume Design by: Janet Tharby

This serial was, amusingly enough, a scifi spin on J. G. Ballard's High Rise, and thus was set on a futuristic tower block whose denizens have reverted to savagery and cannibalism, though here it went in the direction of, uh, Walter Hill's The Warriors if it was a children's movie. The tower block, the titular 'Paradise Towers' is home to the 'Kangs', various all-women gangs wearing ragged red, blue or yellow garments (apparently meant oas a commentary on the UK political system, whose three main parties - Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats - have these as colours) with their hair dyed the same colour, and wearing striped necklaces.

Another denizen of Paradise Towers is Pex (Howard Cooke), a vigilante who wears a wraparound blue shirt and cut up patterned baggy jeans, just to remind you this was made in the late 1980s! The other residents of Paradise Towers aren't worth noting, as the cannibalistic 'Rezzies' are just in contemporary elderly women's wear.

The 'Caretaker' police force are dressed far less colourfully, though the Chief Caretaker (Richard Briers) wears a very kitschy parody of military attire, as it has black vinyl panelling and silvery lining all over; when possessed by the 'Chief Architect', the uniform has a silvery sheen. The troops under his command aren't worth nothing, as the 'Deputy Chief Caretaker' just wears a cheap Nazi-style buttoned uniform with some vinyl cuffs and shoulders, and the Caretaker troopers wear dull grey overalls also with vinyl panels on the collars and cuffs.

'Delta and the Bannermen'

Costume Design by: Richard Croft

‘Delta and the Bannermen’ which involved the evil Gavrok (Don Henderson) and his platoon of ‘Bannermen’ hunting down the last of the ‘Chimeras’ Delta (Belinda Mayne), as the Doctor and Mel take a holiday in 1950s Wales. The titular Delta and her new family wear the most interesting outfits; white bodysuits fitted with net-like threaded patterns over it, sometimes with see-through plastic jackets over them - a rather stereotypical 'alien' outfit, but perhaps to fit into the serials theme of this being about alien encounters in the 50s (...in Wales)>

Again as per the show's increasing cheapness, the other costumes are entirely just cobbled up from older productions; the other Chimerons are wearing the spacesuits from the Blake's 7 episode 'Headhunter' but painted green and worn with a helmet, whilst the 'Bannermen' of the title are just in black overalls (possibly the same ones used for the Federation troopers in Blake's 7, as you can see faint traces of the logo in the linked photo) worn with the helmets from the earlier Doctor Who serial 'Earthshock' but with red goggles!

'Dragonfire'

Costume Design by: Richard Croft

Set on an intergalactic shopping centre, 'Iceworld', this serial's costumes were mostly reuses the BBC wardrobe, the only new outfits being worn by the evil Kane (Edward Peel) and his guards, who wear all-white uniforms with buttonless jackets and pickelhaube helmets! The jackets also have rank lining on the sleeves that calls to mind icicles, which is a nice touch.

'The Happiness Patrol'

Costume Design by: Richard Croft

This serial was set on the human colony of Terra Alpha, a place under the dictatorship of Helen A (Sheila Hancock) which demands that all her subjects be happy or else. Helen A herself wears a double-breasted velvet tunic and skirt - usually I don't include these kind of designs, but this is so campy that I have to, especially with the hairdo!

Helen A's will is enacted by the titular 'Happiness Patrol', whose uniform consists of short jackets with large sleeves, wide belts and deep collars, worn with pink high-heels and of course the utterly garish hairdos as well. The other citizens of Terra Alpha, as per the thrifty costume budget, just wear clothes that have been dyed pink, with elders wearing chef jackets and male soldiers in t-shirts and caps.

There was also the 'Pipe People', the alien natives of Terra Alpha, who wear hooded robes made up of a patchwork of patterned black and white fabrics, worn with sashes as well.

'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'

Costume Design by: Rosalind Ebbutt

Another serial that tried to work around its costume budget by leaning into the satire angle; being set in a circus, all the costumes are just the usual fodder such as clowns, ringmasters, fortune-tellers, and so on, almost all rented. One of the few exceptions is the patterned dress and black top worn by the alien Mags (Jessica Martin) - whilst it is very much of its time with the fashion, the leopard print belt and yellow blotch patterned shirt are pretty stylish. I also wonder if this was a little bit inspired by the dress worn by Daryl Hannah as Pris in Blade Runner?

There is also the space biker Nord (Daniel Peacock) whose outfit does feel a little like a futuristic spin on the classic biker outfit, with his jacket covered in studded tubing - though the real highlight has to be his bat wings helmet!

'Battlefield'

Costume Design by: Anushia Nieradzik

This serial details an invasion of knights from a parallel universe where the King Arthur myths were real, with the standout costumes being worn by the witch Morgaine (Jean Marsh), who for most of the serial wears a set of copper armor and chainmail. The various other knights are in fairly cliched armor designs not worth noting, with some wearing helmets reused from the serial 'Androids of Tara' nearly a decade earlier.

Morgana's second outfit is a shiny golden gown worn with a striped cape, that is slightly hard to see properly in the serial itself thanks to the moody way it is shot.

'Ghost Light'

Costume Design by: Ken Trew

This serial (of the very last season of the show entirely) was set in a Victorian household which had been built over an alien spacecraft, the alien revealing himself to be an ancient being named Light (John Hallam), who is clad in a silver-grey robe with a large collar and shoulder pads – designed by Ken Trew, it is one of the few ornate costumes designs of the last two seasons, and also the very last 'future' costume design in the show's run ('The Happiness Patrol' and 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy' were more or less contemporary) - a good note to go out on, when it came to costume design. One variant of Light's robes has golden foil over the shoulders and arms, though this is barely seen in the final cut, only slightly more visible in the original workprint, and in production photos. This was to be the final serial of the show to have any sort of noteworthy costume design; the following serial 'Curse of Fenric' and the final serial 'Survival' (both of which also had their costumes designed by Ken Trew) only had the future mutant 'Ancient One' wearing tattered rags and cheetah aliens wearing ragged tribal garments, respectively.

Light's main outfit however, has no golden cape, and has a silver cloak worn under the large shoulder pads instead, as well as two golden streamers trailing around the front - again, truly the most spectacular outfit of the last few seasons of the series. Am I allowed to make a Liberace joke here?

'Dimensions in Time'

Costume Design by: Ken Trew

An infamously awful 90s Children in Need special, that I've included here thanks to Ken Trew once again providing the costumes for Kate O'Mara as the Rani - this time she wears a purple striped vest over a shiny shirt, with black tights and boots. Sorry for the awful quality, but the special has never been re-releasted thanks to its loathed reputation.

Also with the Rani is her own companion, Cyrian (Samuel West) who dresses a bit like a swashbuckler, with a leather sleeveless vest worn over a very 90s shirt, as well as black boots.

Doctor Who: The Movie (1996)

Costume Design by: Jori Woodman

Another infamously loathed 90s outing of the series was the American TV movie, which was partly made as a pilot for a hopeful American reboot series. The plot involved the Doctor, now played by Paul McGann, facing off the Master who was this time played as Eric Roberts - the only futuristic costume in this rather terrible TV movie is a very 'Ming the Merciless' deal sported by the Master in the film's finale, which is admittedly a pretty charming design.