Showing posts with label James Acheson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Acheson. Show all posts

Sunday, 31 August 2025

Doctor Who - Season 9 (1972)

'Day of the Daleks'

Costume Design by Mary Husband

The Daleks' ape-like Ogron soldiers wear a uniform consisting of a vinyl vest with tubing around the shoulders and collar, worn over a mesh shirt. Worn with it are wristguards and a belt both made of the same brown vinyl material.

Costume Reuse note; Several of the Ogron uniforms were reused in the later serial 'Frontier in Space'.

Also with the Ogrons are human soldiers in similar uniforms, though the vests are narrower and made of a slightly more stiff material; underneath the vests are red or brown patterned tops, the commander's made of a quilted material. I don't know if the helmets were made for the production or just altered existing helmets of some kind.

Costume Reuse note; Some of the tunics were worn by the extras playing Ogrons in the later serial 'Frontier in Space'.

A deep bottle green nehru-style suit was made for Aubrey Woods as the 'Controller' of the dystopian future Earth.
The Controller's underlings wear grey uniforms consisting of smock-like tops and trousers, with the manager wearing a grey zip-up jacket with a large open collar.
Resisting the regime are guerilla fighters in futuristic combat fatigues consisting of a custom camouflage patterned nehru-style jacket, caps and large sash belts. Their squad leader Anat (Anna Berry) is distinguished by her jacket having a deep v-collar.

'The Curse of Peladon'

Costume Design by Barbara Lane

Lane revamped Pertwee's look as the Doctor, with a reddish velvet smoking jacket with narrow lapels, and worn with a tartan-patterned Inverness cape.
Pertwee also wore a mosaic-patterned waistcoat, that I suspect was designed and fabricated by Lane for the production, given if fits with Lane's fixation on similar patterns (such as Delgado's priest robe in 'The Daemons').
Lane designed and made Kary Manning's dress in this serial; designed to evoke the look of a princess. The gown was made of silk with hand-painted floral patterns on the sleeves, chest and skirt bottom; Lane would later design similar costumes for the women in Blake's 7 first season. Worn over the gown is a custom-made velvet red dress.
Peladon is a feudalist planet, with this reinforced by the dress sense of Peladon's nobles. Lane designed a purple hued costume for David Troughton as King Peladon, with fur lining on the cuffs and a stiff white collar. Worn over is a cape made of a wavy blue material. A ceremonial robe with a large Ming the Merciless-esque collar was fabricated; the collar was embedded with coloured stones to appear as gemstones.
A similarly hued robe and cape was made for Geoffrey Toone as Hepesh, Peladon's high priest; the robe is adorned with silvery lining. A robe similar to Hepesh was also made for Henry Gilbert as the doomed chancellor Torbis, with fur on the shoulders and a different style of lining across his chest.
Peladon's soldiers wear a Greco-Roman influenced, but still slightly futuristic, set of armor worn with kilts; the chest armor is segmented, with the commander having more segments.
The Earth ambassador that briefly appears in the last episode wears a black gown, silvery shawl and black hat lined with the same material; sadly there are no production photos showing off this costume better.

'The Sea Devils'

Costume Design by Maggie Fletcher

Fletcher designed and made a white pantsuit with purple highlights and wide lapels; Katy Manning loathed the suit, saying 'it made me feel like a British Rail waiter'. The suit was made of wool, which meant it shrunk if it got wet - and this was a serial filmed in a lot of wet locations!
A shiny patterned cape with silver-painted fasteners was also made for Roger Delgado, though it is not seen much in the serial.

Costume Reuse note: The guards staffing the Master's prison wear Victorian police capes - no doubt from wardrobe stock - with their jumpers and berets, intended to evoke an old-fashioned maritime look.

Husband also had to make several vests made of mesh netting at the last second to be worn by the titular Sea Devil monsters; the director felt that the idea of them walking from the water nude was potentially obscene! A rudimentary mesh cape was made for the chief Sea Devil.

'The Mutants'

Costume Design by James Acheson

The first serial to have its costumes designed by the future Oscar-winner; Acheson designed the future humans' garments to be cut like frocks, with angular cut deep collars.

The costume designed for Paul Whitsun-Jones as the Marshal consists of a black frock-like jacket is adorned with angular silver lining with a silver panel around the collar and chest. In some scenes it is worn with a silvery cape.

Costume Reuse note: The Marshal and his troops wear the helmets that had originally appeared in the serials 'Enemy of the World' and 'Fury from the Deep', These helmets would appear once more in the rebooted Doctor Who episode 'End of the World' in 2005.

The soldiers under the Marshal's command wear similar uniforms with a blue-grey chest panel instead and single-strip lining rather than double-strip; their cuffs also do not have the number '58' inscribed like those of the Marshal's jacket.
The Administrator (Geoffrey Palmer) wears a frock coat with the same pattern of lining as the Marshal's jacket, but in gold instead. He also briefly wears it with a glittery golden cape as well.
The investigators sent from Earth are dressed in white robes with frilly sleeves adorned with golden lining in a similar manner to the other uniforms.
The investigator’s guards wear white jackets also adorned with golden lining in a similar pattern to the investigator's robes; they also wear white versions of the reused Enemy of the World helmets.
The Marshal’s own scientist Jaeger (George Pravda) is in a tan frock coat with brown lining and a brown panel around the collar.
Sondergaard (John Hollis) wears a blue-hued silver spacesuit; the silver material was presumably overdyed with blue dyes, with the helmet made by the prop department.
The Solonians's native garb evokes medieval aesthetics, consisting of tunics and vests with coloured fabric on the sleeves and collars. John Hollis' vest has silvery material around the collar.

Costume Reuse note: I have no idea about the chainmail vests worn by the Solonian performers, but the helmets were reused; they have previously appeared in a brief fantasy sequence in A Clockwork Orange! Whether they were originally made for Kubrick's film, or from another production, it's impossible to know.

I aslso suspect the armor worn by James Mellor as Varan, and the vest worn by Garrick Hagon as Ky, were also reused from other productions; they're a little *too* well-made for a Doctor Who budget! I honestly suspect that all of the Solonian costumes were reused medieval wardrobe stock.

An elaborate costume was definitely designed and made by Acheson for Garrick Hagon as the evolved Solonian Ky, consisting of a silver armor set with large shoulder pads, and a cape. In the episode itself it is obscured with a rainbow effect.

'The Time Monster'

Costume Design by Barbara Lane

Lane designed a woollen jumper and skirt for Katy Manning to wear in this serial; the grey wool is coated in yellow and teal Greek patterned lining around the chest, sleeves and skirt. The rest of the costume, such as the yellow boots, were from Manning's own wardrobe.
The reason for the Greek motif of Jo's main costume is due to most of the story being set on Atlantis; Lane designed a Minoan-style dress for Jo, with a colourful skirt and waistband. The golden-trimmed top has a deep collar showing Manning's chest - but not as much as real Minoan women showed!
Much more ornate is the dress Lane designed for Ingrid Pitt to wear as the Atlantean queen Galleia; her first dress is white and gold design with a wide golden patterned waistband and belt.
Galleia's second outfit is blue with silver and gold trim, with a large panel of silver stripes on the waist and a golden waistband as well; this dress, like the earlier white one, is cut to of course show off Pitt's busty figure!
The robe worn by Donald Eccles as the priest Krasis was most likely made by Lane for this production, with his cape in red, orange and yellow with golden trim.
Most likely the various other Atlantean costumes in the serial were designed and made by Lane for the production, as the robe worn by George Cormack as King Dallos.
The Atlantean extras presumably also had their costumes made for the production, especially the women's dresses; several loinclothes were also made. I have no idea about the armor and helmets worn by the soldiers though, they were most likely wardrobe stock.
Note: the information about the bespoke-made contemporary costumes made for Katy Manning is sourced from Doctor Who Magazine Special 52: Costume Design Special Issue.

Doctor Who - Season 11 (1973)

'The Time Warrior'

Costume Design by James Acheson

This serial was set in the Middle Ages; no doubt while the extras and bit-parts were all in reused wardrobe stock, the principal cast members had their costumes made, such as the tunic sported by Elisabeth Sladen as new companion Sarah Jane Smith.
Acheson also designed and made costumes for David Daker and John J. Carney as the warlord Irongron and his deputy Bloodaxe. Irongron costume is made of a green and brown striped colour scheme, with studs and plates adorning different sides of the tunic. Bloodaxes's tunic is carmine in colour, with studs all over.
The 'star warrior' Linx was designed by Acheson to resemble a futuristic knight, with a large domed chrome helmet; padding was placed inside the costume's chest to make the Sontaran look more muscular than actor Kevin Lindsay actually was.

The collar was also much wider than Lindsay's own neck, instead being measured up to the prosthetic makeup John Friedlander sculpted, that itself was also based on Acheson's design.

Acheson designed another futuristic knight costume, consisting of a studded tunic made of a silvery quilted material with large shoulder pads with a metallic belt; the anachronistic look is justified as the knight was a robot made by Linx, and ergo would not be 'accurate'.

'Invasion of the Dinosaurs'

Costume Design by Barbara Kidd

For this serial, Kidd designed a new smoking jacket and Inverness cape to be worn by Pertwee; the new jacket was blue, with the Inverness cape being grey with blue silk as the inner lining.
At least one other costume was designed for Carmen Silvar to wear as Ruth, leader of the 'Golden Age' cult wishing to leave Earth; the folk-inspired design probably was a jab at the hippy movement, with the modern textures giving it a futuristic touch.

Costume Reuse note: The tunic was worn again by Derek Farr in the Blake's 7 episode 'Orac'. The spacesuit seen briefly in this serial was reused from Moonbase 3.

'Death to the Daleks'

Costume Design by L. Rowland-Warne

Rowland-Warne designed several futuristic uniforms for the stranded Earth spaceship crew; men wear blue trousers and jackets with curved flat collars, while the one female member Jill Tarrant (Joy Harrison) wears a lighter coloured uniform with a puffy sleeved jacket and flared trousers.
Rowland-Warne also made the rudimentary clothing worn by the Exxilon natives, as well as tabard-like outfits worn by the mummy-like 'Antibody' guards. The natives' tattered robes were made from cheese-cloth and were painted in latex to give a rock-like appearance. Presumably the same process was used on the Antibody costumes. One set of Exxilon rags was coated in red dye to distinguish it as belong to the Exxilon priest.

'The Monster of Peladon'

Costume Design by Barbara Kidd

Kidd designed a new costume for Pertwee's Doctor, consisting of an emerald velvet smoking jacket with black lining in the lapels, and worn with a frilly green shirt. For what it's worth, I think this is my personal favorite of Pertwee's outfits, alongside the purple suit Hazel Pethig designed in 'Planet of the Daleks'.
Keeping with the purple theme established by Barbara Lane in 'The Curse of Peladon', Kidd designed a golden dress for Nina Thomas as the queen Thalira, with two purple cloaks also made; the first cloak is made of a shiny patterned fabric, while the second is made up of purple furs.
The queen is always flanked by a maid, wearing a lilac dress, with a gold-lined panel around the waist and translucent material aroun the collar. Judging by the design of the collar matching the queen's golden dress, this was most likely made for the production.
A purple and golden robe was also made for Frank Gatliff as Ortron, with fur lining around the collar; the robe is also worn with purple gloves, as well as a chain fitted with see-through plastic segments. The below publicity photos show off the striped pattern of the costume's sleeves better than the videotape quality of the screenshots.
A more 'futuristic' costume was made for Donald Gee as the engineer Eckersley; I feel the jumpsuit was made for the production, due to both its shiny material as well as the rounded collar. It doesn't resemble any kind of commercially available work overall or racing jumpsuit.

Costume Reuse note: The jumpsuit was reused (and altered with strips of red and white material around the collar and cuffs) in the later serial 'The Armageddon Factor', worn by Barry Jackson.

(The armor worn by Rex Robinson as Gebek however, I have not included as I suspect it may have been wardrobe stock reuse. I also suspect that the outfits worn by the guards were wardrobe stock as well, with perhaps only the helmets being made.)

'Planet of the Spiders'

Costume Design by L. Rowland-Warne

For Pertwee's swansong serial, Rowland-Warne clad him in a new velvet smoking jacket, this one being black with pale grey lining and curved lapels.
The costumes of the Metebelis 3 natives were designed with a slightly Native American look with the diamond patterns, especially clear in the peach pants and vest worn by Ralph Arliss as Tuar.
The other Metebelis 3 colonists wear tunics with similar diamond patterns around the collars and trouser cuffs, in a variety of colours; Gareth Hunt as Arak is distinguished with the v-neck collar lined with white fur.
The Metebelis 3 colonists are enslaved by the ‘Eight-Legs’ who use controlled humans as their servants; the Eight-Leg servants wear uniforms of blue pantaloons and sash belts, with vests lined with furred shoulder pads, topped off with what look like blue taqiyah hats. The vests are made of a material that resembles cobwebs, fitting as the Eight-Legs are mutated spiders.
Additionally, the script also called for traditional Tibetan costumes to be worn by Kevin Lindsay and George Cormack as Cho-je and K'anpo. It's most likely that these were made by Rowland-Warne, due to the lack of depictions of Tibet (let alone accurate Tibetan costuming) in British film & television at the time.