Out of the Unknown (1965 - 1971)

Many episodes of the anthology series Out of the Unknown were adapted from existing stories br writers such as JG Ballard, Phillip K Dick, Isaac Asimov and John Wyndham. Sadly, the series was a casualty of the BBC's 'junking' policy, a fate shared by many TV shows (with Doctor Who being the most famous).

Though most of the episodes (that are surviving at any rate) just had their cast in contemporary clothing, quite a few required their assigned costume designers to come up with futuristic fashions.

It should also be worth noting that, sadly, most of these episodes have their costume designers uncredited.

'The Dead Past'

The cast of this episode wore futuristic suits with no collars or lapels, worn over vests with a similar design. One cast member wears a buttonless jacket made of a hexagonal fabric pattern - a time when that wasn't a hoary old scifi visual design cliche.

'Thirteen to Centaurus'

This episode involved a space colonization team, with the civilian members all lined jackets with leather straps on the collars and sides of the jacket, the position of the straps reversed depending on the wearer's gender.

These uniforms would be regularly reused in other scifi productions such as; the Doctor Who serial 'The Ice Warriors', The Avengers episode 'The Living Dead' and The Tomorrow People serial 'The Dirtiest Business' - the latter two reuses were in colour, revealing the uniform's colour to be beige.

The military members of the colonization team wear vinyl-panelled tunics with large shoulders and a v-shape panel on the front - sometimes these uniforms are worn with a cap that seems to have been military surplus rather than made for the production.

'The Machine Stops'

Costumes by: Barbara Lane

This episode involved a society in thrall to 'the Machine' which cares for everyones needs under the ground, and had one of the more inventive costumes of the series yet, courtesy of Barbara Lane.

The underground humans such as Vashti (Yvonne Mitchell) wear wearing conical headpieces - Lane would design similar headpieces such as on the stone person Eldrad in the Doctor Who serial 'The Hand of Fear', or the headpieces worn by the Mutoids in Blake's 7.

There is a female attendant wearing a jumpsuit whose leg bottoms end in frilly flares, with differently coloured stripes going around the waist. The jumpsuit is worn with flat headpiece that is curved in a way to resemble hair almost.

Vashti's son Kuno (Michael Gothard) wears a jumpsuit fitted with a padded armor piece for protection when attempting to escape the underground society.

In other scenes, he wears a toga-like garment over a hexagon-patterned vest, worn with tights. Other men in this machine-controlled city dress similar, with the same diamond-like headgear as well.

'Too Many Cooks'

This episodes cast wore gowns with robes consisting of cross-crossing fabric stripes; the elder was only distinguished by their robe being in white rather than black.

'Immortality, Inc.'

The denizens of the future in this episode wear wide-shouldered tunics; one notable exception is the woman who wears a silvery dress with ornate jewellery around the collar.

'Liar!'

This episodes cast wear a variety of sleek futuristic jackets and jumpsuits; the jackets and jumpsuits tend to have vinyl lining around the cuffs and transparent patches on the chest, with one woman cast member wearing a jumpsuit with a colourful patterned v-neck panel.

'Beach Head'

Costumes by: Charles Knode

This episode involved a spacecraft crew on an alien planet, all clad in some of the most colourful uniforms ever worn in science-fiction, with the commander and his staff in striped tunics of grey and shades of pink, fitted with red pieces at the shoulders and worn with trailing bellbottoms. The security staff wear uniforms of the same pattern but are of a darker shade of grey and with yellow and brown stripes instead.

Just visible in the surviving production photographs is a security guard uniform consisting of an asymmetrically designed grey, yellow and orange uniform, with the same bell-bottoms as the other male crewmembers.

The women members of the crew are in less outfit colourful uniforms, though these still have the red shoulder straps, as well as being fitted with a see-through plastic piece around the skirt segment of the tunic.

For ceremonial duties golden vests with v-shape lapels are worn over the uniforms

'The Naked Sun'

Costumes by: Charles Knode

This episode again had its costumes designed by Charles Knode, though the futuristic uniforms this time were not as vibrant, being just grey shirts witn faux-pockets and blue panelling around the shoulders and collar.

The costume highlights were the denizens of the planet being investigated by space policeman Elijah Bayley (Paul Maxwell) - the women Gladia (Trisha Noble) sports two dresses, the first being an orange one with pieces on the top, and the second being a flowing pink one again. This episode is sadly lost and had to be reconstructed from surviving production photos like 'Beach Head' was.

The men of the planet are in simularly flowing garb, though in shades of stoney grey instead.

Some other striking outfits are worn by the robot humanoid servants; purple vinyl hooded outfits, with trailing silver skirt pieces that have purple stripes, and then being worn with sunglasses no less - absolutely one of the most striking designs of this serial in my opinion!

'1 + 1 = 1.5'

In this episode, the male scientists wear a variety of futuristic jackets, one of them appearing to have coloured panelling down the front and sides.

'Target Generation'

The future denizens of this episode wear a form of jumpsuit that is cut around the top half to resemble a tunic.

'Get Off My Cloud'

This was an episode of the third season that is, sadly, entirely lost, just only existing now as a couple of production photos.

The story involved a science-fiction author retreating into his own imagination, coming face to face with his own characters - these included a space princess in a silvery shiny dress (sadly, no photos of her in full) as well as two space warriors in amazingly cheesy perspex armor and pointed helmets.

The warrior costumes very much are a send-up of space opera comics such as Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers or Dan Dare. Who was the costume designer for this episode?

Out of the Unknown's fourth (and final) season would head off into more horror territory, with entirely contemporary settings; ergo, just all bought clothing on each episodes guest cast.