Doctor Who - Season 13 (1975)

'Terror of the Zygons'

Costume Design by James Acheson

In addition to designing the monsters of the serial's title, Acheson also was tasked with altering Tom Baker's look. Acheson had a pair of waistcoats made, both with a checked Prince of Wales pattern.

This waistcoat would be worn again by Baker in almost all the following serials of his tenure, up until the eighteenth season, which was when June Hudson totally revamped his look.

'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 with the addition of a tailored burgundy Edwardian frock coat made of velvet. The new frock coat would be worn in many later serials.

(I am fairly sure that the period costumes in the serial, including the dress worn by Elisabeth Sladen, were all reused wardrobe stock.)

This serial was a science-fiction spin on The Mummy. The alien Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf) sends to Earth a 'servant' wearing an all-vinyl black robe and helmet. The helmet's design simultaneously evokes spacesuit helmets and Ancient Egyptian canopic jars.

Along with Sutekh's servant and the mummy androids (more in the realm of 'creature suits' and so not included here), Kidd designed Sutekh's costume, coming up with a space age spin on an Egyptian pharoah.

The helmet in particular was inspired by the 'atef' crown worn by the Egyptian deity Osiris. Kidd took liberties with having the crown double as a mask, to hide Sutekh's inhuman visage. The mask was sculpted by John Friedlander, the BBC Visual Effects Department's main mask maker.

Friedlander also sculpted Sutekh's 'true' face, which was fitted over a mannequin. The mannequin in turn was dressed in the Sutekh costume, completing the illusion.

'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.

Lane's duties also went to designing the uniforms of the invading rhino-like Kraal. The Kraal uniform consists of brown underclothes and rectangular meshing. The scientist Styggron's uniform has latex paint over the shoulders of his mesh vest, while his underling does not.

The Kraal commander's uniform differs slightly, as it has a golden hue and golden chains around the collar.

'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!

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

(I don't know if the tattered tunic worn by Colin Fay as the oafish Condo was a stock garment, or custom-made for this serial. Given that his costume consists otherwise of bought garments, I will assume the former.)

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 Sisterhood's 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.

Doctor Who - Season 11 (1973)

'The Time Warrior'

Costume Design by James Acheson

This serial was set in the Middle Ages; no doubt all the extras and bit-parts were all in reused wardrobe stock. While there are design drawings by Acheson for David Daker and John J. Carney's roles as the warlords Irongron and Bloodaxe, these could have been done after doing a wardrobe test from stock garments, to 'finalize' the look of the costume. Ergo I am only including the serial's futuristic costumes.

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.

Costume Reuse Note: I wonder if the futuristic costume worn by Carmen Silvar as Ruth, leader of the futuristic 'Golden Age' commune, was designed by Kidd for this serial at all? The costume's heavily futuristic design goes against the other guest cast's costumes seen in this serial.

Perhaps this costume was actually one of the costumes designed by Bobi Bartlett for the cancelled 60s serial 'The Prison in Space. To quote Bartlett, 'I’d already completed most of my designs for it. I’d even started making up a few of the costumes. The plot involved a race of dictatorial women, and I was going to have them in a lot of very nice leather wear.'

Made of leather, and designed for women? Doesn't that sound a bit like the costume worn by Silvar for 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs'? Have to wonder...

Costume Reuse note: Whatever its origin, Ruth's 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 Leslie 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 Leslie 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 giant spider ‘Eight-Legs’. The Eight-Leg's soldiers 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 the spider theme.

(Presumably, the Tibetan costumes worn by Kevin Lindsay and George Cormack as Cho-je and K'anpo, were cobbled up from hired wardrobe stock)