Costume index - season eighteen

© June Hudson

Beginning with Season 18, John Nathan-Turner took over as producer of Doctor Who.

One of the most immediately and noticeable changes he made was a redesign of the Fourth Doctor’s costume by the legendary June Hudson.

Although retaining the same overall concept, to start with nothing was carried over from previous seasons (though he did start wearing his leather cuff boots from halfway through the season), and a more co-ordinated plum colour scheme was introduced.

The early part of this season was produced out of broadcast order.
To start with The Doctor wears argyle socks and suede brogues. These appear in The Leisure Hive, State Of Decay and Meglos. From Full Circle onwards he reverted to his brown leather cuff boots.

PRODUCTION		BROADCAST
The Leisure Hive		The Leisure Hive
State Of Decay		Meglos
Meglos		Full Circle
Full Circle		State Of Decay
Warriors’ Gate		Warriors’ Gate
The Keeper Of Traken		The Keeper Of Traken
Logopolis		Logopolis

By screening them out of production order, The Doctor’s footwear appears to change week-to-week.

Season Eighteen

Costume index - season seventeen

There is very little new in the Doctor’s wardrobe this year, but if there was a fashion trend developing this season, it would be for a more casual look, with unbuttoned waistcoats; open-collar shirts and loose hanging scarves.

The mix-and-match on show plunders costumes originally designed for Terror Of The Zygons, The Deadly Assassin, The Image Of The Fendhal and The Power Of Kroll. None of these are worn as intended.

This season also serves to demonstrate an almost distain for his fedora hat. More often than not is relegated to his coat pocket. Last season he only put it on an average of one scene per episode - during this season it is barely one time per serial, and as the season progresses he doesn’t wear it at all.

The first half of the season was recorded out of order, with the Harris Tweed frock coat being his favourite coat of choice.

PRODUCTION		BROADCAST
The Creature from the Pit		Destiny of the Daleks
City of Death		City of Death
Destiny of the Daleks		The Creature from the Pit
Nightmare of Eden		Nightmare of Eden
The Horns Of Nimon		The Horns Of Nimon
Shada		(unaired)

Season Seventeen

Costume index - season sixteen

This week my Fourth Doctor costume index reaches season sixteen, the fifth year Tom Baker was in the role.
Last season the serials were run drastically out of recording sequence. This year, aside from the first two adventures, all serials were shot in their broadcast order.

Costume-wise things really settled down with this season, with only some variation coming in towards the end.

The extra wide scarf knitted in off-colours was ditched to be replaced by the two previous scarves crudely joined together to create a single one of monster length, along with the flamboyant cuff boots it makes the costume an exaggerated caricature of itself.

Season Sixteen

Costume index - season fifteen

This week I come to Tom Baker’s fourth season in the role.

From the point of view of the costume changes, this season is a bit confusing as it was shot drastically out of order. This was done to allow the permanent inclusion of K-9 after only intending to be a one-off character.

PRODUCTION		BROADCAST
The Invisible Enemy		Horror Of Fang Rock
Horror Of Fang Rock		The Invisible Enemy
The Sun Makers		Image Of The Fendahl
Image Of The Fendahl		The Sun Makers
Underworld		Underworld
The Invasion Of Time		The Invasion Of Time

However, this lead to some continuity anomalies, especially for Leela’s look which was updated for Image Of The Fendahl (see right). Since the following episode (The Sun Makers) was already shot with the original costume, a scene at the end was added with Leela returning to the old look (see far right).

The Doctor wore his grey frock coat for the first three serials to be recorded, then the velvet one for the rest. By flipping the third and fourth adventure before broadcast, it makes it look like he chops and changes.

The introduction of a different scarf for Image Of The Fendahl also becomes messed up when the already shot The Sun Makers is shown after it, using the older version.

Season Fifteen

Costume index - season fourteen

Tom’s third season in the role saw some developments to the costume and how it was worn.

At times it was more flippant with the scarf draped in differing ways, dependant it appears on his mood.

The trademark fedora hat was often left behind and at the end of the year he discards the costume all together.

Season Fourteen

Costume index - season thirteen

We come now to Tom Baker’s second season as The Doctor, and as the stories progressed we start to see his costume develop and expand into a wardrobe of clothes rather than a single set outfit.

By halfway through the season we shall see the emergence of the frock coat - an iconic look that will be followed through in subsequent regenerations.

Season Thirteen

Costume index - season twelve

A while back I took a look at the costume transition scenes that kick off the start each Doctor’s era.

One of the most bizarre has to be Tom Baker’s, where he repeatedly bursts out of the TARDIS in a series of inappropriate costumes: from a Viking; to the Knave of Hearts; through a clown outfit; before finally donning his future trademark fedora hat and scarf.

But what happened next?

Tom appeared in 42 adventures (counting Shada, the unfinished story from 1979). Here is my breakdown of the costumes he wore.

Season Twelve

It should be said that part of season 12 was recorded out of order compared to the broadcast.

PRODUCTION		BROADCAST
Robot		Robot
The Sontaran Experiment		The Ark in Space
The Ark in Space		The Sontaran Experiment
Revenge of the Cybermen		Genesis of the Daleks
Genesis of the Daleks		Revenge of the Cybermen

This gave rise to a continuity error with The Doctor’s scarf, which gets shorter for The Ark In Space before returning to its debut length for The Sontaran Experiment, only to loose it again for the rest of the season.