For “Doctor Who‘s” more than six-decade history, each lead has had their own uniform of sorts: Tom Baker’s scarves, Christopher Eccleston’s leather jacket and David Tennant’s tie-and-vest combo, for example. But with 15th Doctor Ncuti Gatwa taking the helm on May 10, the sci-fi series’ fashion is also getting a revamp — instead of having a signature look, Gatwa’s Doctor will consistently change outfits throughout the show.
To help initiate this change, returning showrunner, writer and executive producer Russell T Davies enlisted the help of costume designer Pam Downe, who had previously worked on the Sky series “Funny Woman” and historical drama “Mr. Malcom’s List.” Downe had actually interviewed to work on Davies’ first iteration of “Doctor Who” starring Tennant, but ultimately didn’t get the job.
“I got wind that it was going to be a much more ambitious endeavor — this new Doctor was going to have many more ambitious stories. And I’d never really done science fiction or anything like that,” Downe tell PvNew. “But I thought, why not go for an interview and see what comes up? And I got the job and I had no idea what I was getting myself into — every episode is a film, basically.”
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Downe says she was drawn to the fact that Gatwa’s Doctor was going to be changing his outfits regularly, but it was “terrifying at the same time.”
“There is the legacy of ‘Doctor Who’ that’s sort of with you and around you all the time,” she says. “But no, you just put your head down and go for it and then it becomes very exciting. And it is — there’s no other project I’ve been on where you can use your creative abilities as much as you can with this job.”
Below, Downe breaks down how she developed the unique style of Gatwa’s Doctor — including his affinity for kilts — and shares an exclusive sketch of a look from Season 2.
What was your overall vision for the 15th Doctor’s look and how did Gatwa play a role in that?
Russell was very keen for him to change his outfits regularly, which was another reason why I was interested in doing the project. I did lots of mood boards, basically, and showed them to everybody. It was very collaborative. And then Ncuti became involved as well.
Before I saw him, I was on Instagram looking at what he wears. I do that with all my actors. Of course, he’s a bit of a clothes horse and he’s on the red carpet with a lot of incredible outfits, so I knew I could push it a little bit. So we sat down and I came up with my images and he sort of responded to one or the other. The thing about Ncuti is, once he’s on board, he submerges himself in the outfit and he owns it and he wears it to its full potential. It’s a dream for a costume designer.
The first time we see Ncuti as the Doctor, he isn’t wearing any trousers because bigeneration caused Tennant’s clothes to split between the two of them. What was behind that decision and how did you divide up the clothes?
When I read about the bigeneration in the script, Russell had actually written that the new Doctor is in his pants — obviously, “pants” is the British word [for underwear]. I didn’t know who the Doctor was going to be, and I said, “Russell, are you sure you want him in pants?” And he said, “Yeah, I’m sure.” Because he knew who was going to be doing it — I didn’t. So obviously, when Ncuti arrived, I understood it. He has the confidence to play it.
But then we had to work out how to divide everything up. Now obviously, when I already knew that I had an actor that could be fine in pants, I knew that he would need a shirt so he has a little bit of decency. And then, who wears the Converse? And it was like, well I think Ncuti should wear that because he’s not wearing any trousers! But he rolled with it. I barely knew him, and he didn’t know me. And I’m going to put you in pants. It was that moment of, “Oh lord, I’m either going to make or break this relationship with my actor.”
In “The Church on Ruby Road,” we see the Doctor dancing in a club wearing a kilt. What inspired that look?
This was on my initial mood board, I had kilts on there and men in skirts. Russell sort of said, “It would be great for Ncuti to wear a skirt sometime.” But it was like, how do we introduce that? Do we wait a bit of time before we do that? Because it’s such a big jump from former Doctors.
And then we had this one little scene, which was this club scene, and I knew there was going to be a top shot and I said, “Russell, we have to have him in a kilt.” Because when he’s doing all this, it will just look amazing. And I gave him a jumper, rather than him just being in a vest, and Ncuti was like, “No! I’m just going to wear the vest with it.” And it was just a really lovely moment of things sort of coming together.
The style of Gatwa’s Doctor is a lot more colorful than others. In the Christmas special and first episode, “Space Babies,” we see him wearing a brown leather trench, striped polo and jeans. How did you put together that outfit?
I’m very keen on a slightly kind of ’70s vibe, which is where the leather coat came from. I just wanted that ’70s New York feel. I found an original ’70s leather coat which wasn’t his size, so I got that copied, dyed to the right color, broken down. once you’ve got the coat, you can kind of work around everything else. The over layer is quite important in “Doctor Who.”
I didn’t have time to knit him a top, so I bought that one, and that top sold out like that. As soon as it was on screen, all the Whovians bought it up and it suddenly went out of stock and they had to buy more in. The thing with Ncuti is he can wear color. He’s just brilliant with color, and so the joy of that outfit was that we could really pump the color up and he looks amazing in it. A lot couldn’t get away with that, and he can.
You’ve shared with PvNew an exclusive sketch from Season 2, which involves a red plaid jacket and denim kilt-over-pants look. Walk me through this outfit.
It’s a pinstriped denim kilt. Obviously he’d worn a kilt already, and I always knew I wanted to bring that back in, but I just wanted to make it baby steps for everybody just because it was a bit of a leap. I decided that if he’s going to wear a skirt, let’s make it kind of masculine. And there’s something masculine about a kilt, and the fact that it’s denim makes it a bit street as well. The tartan jacket was a bit like a Harrington, which is a jacket that the mods used to wear. And the denim skirt is also a little bit like what skinheads used to wear, so it was kind of a mixture of the two.
What can viewers look forward to for the rest of the season? I saw there’s a Regency-era episode…
I’d previously done a Regency movie, so I had that information quite fresh in my head. All the cuts they wear are accurate period cuts, but we wanted to push the colors. So my boards would be full of original paintings, but then there’d be a bit of “Bridgerton,” or some sort of contemporary colors or outfits that I’d mix for color. Ncuti’s never really done period before, and when he put that outfit on, I just thought, “only he could get away with wearing white britches and this velvet jacket.” His stance changed, he just stood up and looked regal. It was a joy to dress him in that.
How do you hope fans react to the costumes this season?
I think what’s going to come out a lot is about how often he changes, and it is already controversial because the fans, some love it and some don’t. I have to be aware of the legacy of “Doctor Who,” and now and again I did a hat here or something there that’s a little nod to past Doctors, but very subtle. And I’m hoping that will do them proud. I think this is very much the new. “Doctor Who” had to move on, it had to progress, and through wardrobe as well. That’s my view.
