Doctor Who - Season 12 (1974) & 13 (1975)

'Robot'

Costume Design by James Acheson

It was Acheson who was responsible for inventing Tom Baker's look as the new Doctor; as Acheson himself described it to the fanzine In-Vision; 'It was more eccentric, not flamboyant. Pertwee was very flamboyant, but whereas Pertwee was much more the sartorial, frilly, velvety, greying Doctor Who, Baker was this much more manic, scarecrow-like, slightly more dangerous Doctor Who.'

One inspiration for Acheson's vision of the new Doctor came from the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in particular his posters for Aristide Bruant's cabaret show. The bold red scarf and wide-brimmed hat influenced the look of Tom Baker's costume, which consisted of woolen trousers, a brown cardigan and a red shooting jacket.

Of course, an amusing and oft-repeated detail about Baker's costume is how one of its most iconic elements - the scarf - came about by accident. Acheson had Begonia Pope, a knitter, make a scarf for him, but she accidentally used up all the wool Acheson gave her, resulting in a massively long scarf. Baker and the production team loved the scarf, and so it remained part of the costume.

Costume Reuse note: There is a brief sequence where Baker sports costumes from the wardrobe stock; one of them is the King of Hearts costume from the 1971 film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. The clown costume and Viking costume were also no doubt from other productions, but which ones?

It should be worth noting that Acheson would revise the look of Baker's Doctor ever so slightly in 'Terror of the Zygons' the following season, where the cardigan was replaced with a Prince of Wales Check patterned waistcoat. This waistcoat remained a consistent part of Baker's wardrobe throughout most of his tenure.

'The Ark in Space'

Costume Design by Barbara Kidd

The crew of the 'Nerva' space station all sport white uniforms consisting of flared trousers and zip-up jackets. The jackets have a panel over the shoulders (a design trait Kidd was fond of in her futuristic costume designs) with coloured piping around the edges. The colour-coded uniforms were likely a nod to Star Trek.

'The Sontaran Experiment'

Costume Design by Barbara Kidd

The human astronauts wear zip-up jumpsuits with a cloth collar, indicating where a spacesuit helmet would go. Judging by one of the surviving jumpsuits, they were fabricated at the Morris Angel & Son costumiers.

Costume Reuse note: The Sontaran Styre's spacesuit costume is just a reuse of the Sontaran Linx costume made by James Acheson for 'The Time Warrior', albeit with a new collar and helmet.

'Genesis of the Daleks'

Costume Design by Barbara Kidd

This dystopian serial starts with an unnamed Time Lord sent to give the Doctor his mission, wearing an ominous high-collared black robe – apparently this costume design was inspired by the depiction of Death in The Seventh Seal.

Due to the setting, most of the cast are in uniforms with the Kaleds wearing buttonless black jackets and breeches; the design of the jackets feels slightly inspired by WWI Royal Flying Corps jackets, with a more sloping cut.

The rest of the Kaled Elite wear futuristic jackets with sloping zips and round collars; its very hard to see the zippers and collars thanks to the video quality and dark lighting. The rest of the costume components, such as the belts, riding breeches and jackboots, were no doubt bought.

At least two futuristic vinyl labcoats were made for Kaled Elite's scientists, as well as for Michael Wisher to wear as Davros; Davros' jacket seemingly goes down much longer like a smock, or possibly by a Howie-style surgical robe.

The opposing Thals meanwhile have green as their signature colour, but only the Thal leaders wear bespoke-made costumes consisting of smart wraparound green jackets (worn over turtleneck jumpers) and trousers.

I am fairly sure the radiation suits worn by the rocket silo guards were bespoke made - the shiny material doesn't match any real fire suit, and the shoulders are ribbed and cut to let the sleeves out.

All of the other Kaled and Thal performers just wear a variety of bought utilitarian clothes; overalls, dungarees, dentist scrubs, fencing jackets*, and British Army military surplus. The last of Kidd's costume duties went to making the tattered rags worn by the 'Muto' scavengers on Skaro's surface.

Costume Reuse note: *Perhaps these were the same fencing jackets that Kidd had earlier utilized for the Earth Empire soldiers in 'Frontier in Space' a few years earlier, but overdyed a thicker shade of green to match the dungarees?

'Revenge of the Cybermen'

Costume Design by Prue Handley

The costume budget of this serial went to the Cybermen (which, more in the realm of robot/monster costume design, ergo not covered here) and their enemies the 'Vogans'. The Vogan noble Vorus (David Collings) sports the serials flashiest outfit – the Vogans are associated with gold and this motif is plainly demonstrated by his chain-mail like underclothes and symmetrical chest piece.

Costume Reuse note #1: Vorus' tunic was reworn by a bit-part performer in the Blake's 7 episode 'Warlord'.

Costume Reuse note #2: The human spacestation crew just wear bought contemporary work shirts, though some wear the beige 'Ike'-style jackets supplied by Christine Rawlins for the UNIT soldiers in 'Spearhead from Space'.

The soldiers under Vorus’ command wear similar outfits to him, minus the more ornate patterns, but still keeping up a pleasant symmetry.

The Chief Councillor of the Vogans, Tyrus (Kevin Stoney) is opposed to Vorus, and this opposition is also demonstrated in his own dress, which is much less officious or ornate as Vorus, instead essentially being a mesh gown adorned with golden pieces.

The guards loyal to Tyrus also are in similar golden gowns, but with belts and no added pieces, with their commander only distinguished by his belt having more 'gem' pieces stuck on.

'Planet of Evil'

Costume Design by Andrew Rose

Set on another planet in a plot ripping off Forbidden Planet, the military detachment of the 'Morestrans' all wear blue bodysuits adorned with white hosing and shoulder pads, very much a 'space age' design.

Costume Reuse note: One of the Morestran uniforms was reused for an extra in 'Destiny of the Daleks' a few years later.

The scientists of the Morestran team are clad in more drab tan and brown jumpsuits, with padded lining around the neck.

'Pyramids of Mars'

Costume Design by Barbara Kidd

Kidd slightly altered the Doctor's look by designing a burgundy Edwardian frock coat made of velvet; this would continue to be worn in later serials, with Acheson's red shooting jacket never appearing again.

I don't know if the period dress worn by Elisabeth Sladen in this serial was designed and made for the production, or a costume reuse. I am fairly sure that the rest of the period costumes in the serial were reused wardrobe stock though.

This serial was a science-fiction spin on The Mummy. The alien Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf) sending to Earth a 'servant' wearing an all-vinyl black robe and ominous helmet; simultaneously feeling like a spacesuit helmet, but also ancient sculptures and canopic jars.

Sutekh is also served by robotic mummies, that were also designed by Barbara Kidd and handled by the costume department; due to their more abstract nature as designs, I decided to include them as costumes rather than 'monsters'.

The Osiran mummy costumes are segmented like armor, with a stylized helmet similar in design to the servant's black helmet. The mummies serving Horus have golden fabric strips.

More vibrant is Sutekh's regal robe of red and black, fitted with tubed material to give it a more futuristic feeling. The design of Sutekh's helmet is clearly inspired Ancient Egyptian headwear such as the red and white 'pschent' crown worn by rulers; Sutekh's species are known as Osirans, so naturally he should wear a helmet similar to how the deity Osiris is depicted in heiroglyhics.

'The Android Invasion'

Costume Design by Barbara Lane

Lane designed a new coat for Baker to wear, made of grey tweed with brown cuffs and shoulder patches - evoking the grey shoulder patches on the original red shooting jacket that Acheson originally designed.

I feel that Saran Jane's pink sailor costume was also designed and bespoke made by Barbara Lane; it looks like it was tailored to Elisabeth Sladen's figure, has a consistent colour-scheme and is a fairly odd design as is! The white beret was most likely bought though.

Lane's duties also went to designing the uniforms of the invading rhino-like Kraal; they wear odd outfits consisting of of brown underclothes and rectangular meshing - the commanding Kraal has a necklace over his mesh uniform, which has a slightly golden hue as well.

'The Brain of Morbius'

Costume Design by L. Rowland-Warne

This serial was a scifi spin on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and as such a lot of it is in dark and atmospheric lighting. This is rather irritating from a costume design perspective, as it results in a lot of the costume details to not be seen well, especially in the awful videotape quality that BBC TV shows were filmed in!

Sarah wears an outfit that was presumably bespoke-made by Rowland-Warne, consisting of a quilted vest and shirt made of the same brown material, and adorned with powder blue lining.

The mad scientist Solon (Philip Madoc) wears a green buttonless jacket with raised shoulders; Rowland-Warne, in an interview with the fanzine In-Vision, described it as looking like something from a Gerry Anderson production.

Rowland-Warne also made a tattered tunic and belt to be worn by Colin Fay as the thuggish Condo, worn over a no doubt bought and distressed jumper; the jumper had padding inside it to give Fay a more lumbering appearance.

The design highlight of this serial has to be, in my opinion, the robes worn by the Sisterhood of Karn, all clad in robes and gold and red with oranted lining around their headdresses and chest garments. The leader, Maren (Cynthia Grenville), sports a red robe with what looks like an ornate golden-lined vestment over it, as well as a flat-topped rounded headpiece.

Her deputy Ohica (Gilly Brown) wears a similar headpiece (with a red and gold striped band around it) and as well gold and red makeup on her face in the design of flames, keeping in line with how the Sisterhood are fire worshipers. Lesser members of the Sisterhood are dressed similarly, with some of them having slightly conical headpieces also covered in golden piping, as well as makeup similar to Ohica’s.

Rowland-Warne explained the process behind the Karn costumes, as quoted in the fanzine In-Vision #12; 'I wasn't told before we got into the studio that the Sisterhood* were going to carry genuine burning torches. So, I had to fireproof them on the day with a substance that could have caused skin irritation. They had hats which were made very cheaply and decorated with coloured latex. The skirt fabric was in two layers, and made ragged and sprayed with wood dyes to give it texture. They wore bodices which were fabric covered in latex, with plastic teaspoons from Winnie, the BBC tea lady, laid into it.'

Costume Reuse note: At least one of these costumes was reused and worn by an extra in 'Destiny of the Daleks' a few years later.