Doctor Who - Season 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 (1963 - 1966)

Costume Design by:

- Daphne Dare ( notable efforts: Kes (1969), Gumshoe (1971), Fall of Eagles (1974), Land and Freedom (1995) as well as a long career in theatre productions )

- Alexandra Tynan (aka 'Sandra Reid')

The long-running science-fiction show has been famed for its length running time (having lasted for 26 years!) - but from a costume design perspective however, what is really noteworthy are all the futuristic costumes that were seen during the course of its 26 year run. Whilst the show had serials that had both period and contemporary settings, I am going to neglect the costumes in these contexts for the most part; for 'contemporary', the vast majority of the outfits were no doubt just shopped due to the show's rather low budget, and no doubt the vast majority of 'period' costumes were just theatre surpluse as well. It is pretty justified in this case though; any costume designer on the show had to not just design whatever futuristic attire there was going to be, but also design the suits for 'monsters' played by actors - so naturally, with the costume budget often going to the creature suits and futuristic outfits, this is fairly justified! 

In short, the only 'period' costume in this series I will cover will be for particularly striking work that was clearly designed for the production (and in these cases, was usually done by designers who would later work in Hollywood, such as Barbara Lane, James Acheson and Ann & John Bloomfield). I'll also neglect whatever costumes the leading actors playing 'the Doctor' had to wear - whilst these were usually designed for the actor, these are so easy to see from any online searching that it's redundant to cover here!

'The Daleks'

‘The Daleks’ was the second ever story in the show’s run, and the first to introduce the evil Daleks, which were a smash with the British public to the point of that it was termed ‘Dalekmania’ (something that will be mentioned again later), cementing the show's reputation as well. This was also the first story to represent an actual alien culture, the Thals. The Thal costumes in retrospect do seem to owe something to the costumes of Things to Come, with designs blending Greco-Roman aesthetics with futuristic ideals, and in the case of the Thal, a fixation on hexagonal patterns (as a visual contrast to the rounded designs of the Daleks?). The synthetic fibre cloak worn by Alydon (John Lee) is in a hexagonal pattern, and the trousers the men wear all have hexagonal holes cut into them, with the Thal leader Temmosus (Alan Wheatley) is only distinguished by his black plastic ‘crown’.

The Thal women have lined cloaks instead of the polyester hexagon pattern cloaks of the men, which are worn over dresses made of a starched material, that also have hexagonal holes cut into the tail ends of the dresses. As can be seen in the colour photograph, the costumes of the Thals were all in a uniform colour scheme of blue and black, with the men's 'v'-cut tunics being blue as well.

'The Keys of Marinus'

The most 'futuristic' outfits of this one are seen in the serial's last few episodes, such as the dress worn by Kala (Fiona Walker) which has a triangular panel of ridged material on the chest.

Also present in this segment of the story are a group of judges, who sport large cylindrical hats with streaming fabric attached to them.

'The Aztecs'

One of the few 'historical' serials of the 60s to be notable for its costume design, thanks to Daphne Dare's stunning work which both does its best to be historically accurate (minus a couple of modern materials and slightly more chaste dress sense) and eye-catching (though, Mesoamerican fashion is pretty eye-catching already) - this becomes much more impressive knowing that the BBC did not have a wardrobe of period costumes to rent out like they would for other historical eras, meaning this was all made from scratch. This serial involved Barbara ( Jacqueline Hill) being mistaken for an Aztec goddess, and for this role wears a beautiful orange-feathered crown and cape - again, this doesn't come across thanks to the show being filmed in black and white, so thankfully there are several publicity photos showing it in its full glory.

Other historical costume design highlights include the robes worn by the priests Tlotoxl (John Ringham) and Autloc (Keith Pyott), the former in particular wearing a large headdress with his cloak and unitard (one of the costume design mishaps here - not sure the actual Aztecs covered themselves up that much!). There's something to be said about the unfortunate use of what I assume is makeup on some of the actors portraying the Aztecs, as well as the patronizing themes of a white person being worshipped by them and thus trying to make them 'civilized', but what can you do about old films and shows?

Also of note are the various warriors, who again are dressed far more chaste than actual Aztec warriors ever did, though I really do love all the shiny segments and snazzy headdresses that Daphne Dare realized for them here.

'The Sensorites'

This serial was set partly on a human spaceship, whose crew wear these fairly formal jackets that make them look a bit more like flight stewards than space explorers. The alien Sensorites themselves aren't really worth highlighting for their costumes, as they just are in spandex unitards.

'The Rescue'

This serial was set on a crashed Earth spaceship on the planet Dido, allowing more oppurtunities for futuristic costume design, with one the survivors, Vicki (Maureen O'Brien), sporting a dress with a zig-zag pattern collar.

The other survivor, Bennett (Ray Barrett), wears a jumpsuit with a panel over the shoulders, which feels slightly more modern a design in my opinion.

In terms of costume design, this serial is distinguished by its villain Koquillion, who is actually the human murderer Bennett in disguise, and is an amazingly ghoulish costume, with the spiky bug-like mask and claw gloves - along with the Voord in the earlier 'The Keys of Marinus', one of the first of the various ghoulish masked villains that would appear so much in the series.

'The Space Museum'

The villainous Moroks wear all-white tunics adorned with massive shoulder pieces, fitting their militaristic and arrogant nature.

'Galaxy 4'

The first story of the third season featured the Drahvin, a reversal on the cliche of the space-faring warrior race whose soldiers all happen to be women. Their costumes hint that the concept may have been played for laughs in just how much it goes against the image of a warrior species, resembling a nurse’s outfit if anything, especially when coupled with the hairdos. As with the previous two seasons, all the future stories had their costumes designed by Daphne Dare.

'Mission to the Unknown'

A one-part episode that was meant to be a prelude for the upcoming ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. I have to say here that due to a good deal of the stories from the 1960s being lost, I had to use reconstructions made by fans out of the few surviving clips, edited production photos and telesnaps they could find, but the editing for the humans was so unconvincing I doubt these were the actual costumes. However this story also featured the Daleks working with other aliens in a ‘Galactic Council’ who had promised to help them invade the Solar System. The aliens wear a variety of odd outfits and spacesuits, which thankfully can be seen better in the production photos below.

'The Daleks' Master Plan'

Costume Design by: Daphne Dare

The follow-up to 'Mission to the Unknown' where the Doctor and company ally with members of the 'Space Security Service' in order to foil the Daleks', well, master plan. The Space Security uniforms seem to be jumpsuits with the top half resembling old-fashioned buttoned uniforms, with a white sash worn over it. The jacket segment of the jumpsuit is differientated by gender it seems, as Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh and Bret Vyon (Nicholas Courtney) have their jackets in opposite directions.

The alliance seen in 'Mission to the Unknown' as a new benefactor in the form of the traitorous Mavic Chen (Kevin Stoney) and his various servants. Chen wears a white tabard with two sets of the pattern, whereas his deputy Karlton (Maurice Browning) wears a black one with only one set of the pattern (and his servants wear this uniform sans the tabard, so just jumpers).

This story also features a return to the evil aliens of the Galactic Council, who sport different outfits this time, with a lot of the same common design patterns, such as ribbed fabrics.

'The Ark'

Costume Design by: Daphne Dare

This serial was set at the end of the planet Earth’s future, with the humans (and their alien slaves, the Monoids) leaving it on the space ark of the title. All the characters are dressed in the same dress of fabric strips, the men and women being differentiated in that the women’s dress is in lighter hues and the neckpiece’s colour scheme is reversed.

'The Savages'

Costume Design by: Daphne Dare

The last story of the third season, fixated on the parasitical ‘Elders’ of an unnamed planet using their technology to turn the rest of the planet’s population into the savages, though the stories name is an implication that the Elders are the real savages. The Elders are dressed in robes with double neck chains attached to their collars.

We see (or as well as we can, thanks to being lost) other parts of Elder society, who wear no less officious robes and dresses, with the men wearing v-shaped garments over their clothes – also note the star symbol on the woman’s dress.

The soldiers of the Elders are a much more ‘futuristic’ design, with ridged helmets and large padded armor outfits, that actually makes them look fairly imposing as is.

'Power of the Daleks'

Costume Design by: Alexandra Tynan (aka 'Sandra Reid')

Hartnell was replaced by Patrick Troughton whose first serial involved him facing off the Daleks in a human colony with its own problems - the human colonists are all dressed in blue or beige double-breasted jackets with no collars or lapels, and cut with short sleeves. The one colour photograph here shows what they really looked like, as well as the colony's security force who are just in old-fashioned buttoned tunics like historical police officers, not worth noting.

The women colonists meanwhile, have single-breasted jackets with a curved cut around the bottom of the jacket, with Polly (Anneke Wills) wearing her jacket with shorts no less!

'The Underwater Menace'

Costume Design by: Alexandra Tynan (aka 'Sandra Reid')

This serial was set in a version of Atlantis led by the king Thous (Noel Johnson) whose residents’ fashion was underwater-themed, the most outlandish being what is worn by the priest Ramo (Tom Watson), his hat made of coral strands and seashells being a highlight.

Ramo’s superior, the high priest Lolem (Peter Stephens), wears the same outfit as him with the exception of his hat, which instead of a seashell has a fish’s head mounted on it. The lesser members of Atlantean high society wear cloaks made of what appears to be seaweed, and the servant girls wearing conch hats and seaweed dresses. The executioners for Atlantis’ ceremonies wear helmets carved out of shell.

As for other Atlantis citizens, the first episode (lost and so only existing as a reconstruction made from telesnaps) has a parade scene with the high priest wearing a fish mask and revelers dressed in more piscine outfits, such as the snail cone helmet seen in the second screenshot

'The Macra Terror'

Costume Design by: Daphne Dare

This serial was set on a dystopian human colony, the members are all dressed in a variety of double-breasted tunics with open collars, with their security officer having striped shoulder pads - whilst definitely meant to be dystopian, there's a bit of a more cheesy vibe to these costumes compared to most fictional dystopias.

There are also women dancers in more outlandish hats and striped shirts. It seems Polly also wore a variation with a deep collar and lining on the back of it as well.

'The Faceless Ones'

Costume Design by: Alexandra Tynan

Almost no trace of this particular serial exists, in particular of the titular grotesque aliens in it, who sport tabard-like garments with sleeves covered in threads that give it a slightly veiny look - ew!