12-days – day ten

Day Ten

Since it is day TEN of my Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas, I have something TENTH Doctor related.

My most popular entry, the Tie Index, sets out to document the ties worn by David Tennant.
I’ve spent a long time researching it and done my best to make it as complete and accurate as possible.

Fans have their favourite Tennant ties, such as Tie Four, The Swirly Christian Lacroix tie (see above); or Tie Seven, the Giorgio Armani (see left). These were used in four and eleven episodes respectively.
But a tie that is overlooked is Tie Nine (see below), which appears in a respectable ten episodes.

I’ve been searching for this one for a while with no luck. But then a few weeks back one of my readers sent me an email out of the blue with the info I needed – and this comes from a reliable source! Trust me.

I can now reveal its label is Kenzo.

12-days – day nine

Day Nine

Today on the Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas I have a look back in time to 1978 and how the Doctor Who production crew celebrated the festive season.

In the 1970s, before the rise of It’ll Be Alright On The Night, the technicians of the BBC’s VT department would collect together all the comedic outtakes from the corporation’s output over the year. These were then compiled and shown at the Christmas party to a select audience. As time went by special scenes were shot for specific inclusion in the tape, and in 1978 Doctor Who made its contribution.

It was while recording The Armageddon Factor that Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson filmed a brief improvised scene dubbed Doug Who?

Its a little risqué, with The Doctor and Romana apparently sharing an off-screen kiss before plying K-9 with vodka!

The tape did the rounds under the table for many years, until it was included under the title Merry Christmas Doctor Who on the final disc of the Key to Time DVD set released in 2007.

K-9’s Christmas wish for fewer sill irons is a reference to discreet metal bars which braced the bottoms of doorways on sets so they don’t drift apart. These would cause endless problems for K-9 as he couldn’t get over them when entering and exiting scenes.

I have also found one other BBC Christmas Tape which contains a Dalek patrolling the corridors and back rooms of BBC tv Centre.

I can’t see this one ending up on a DVD just yet though . . . . .

12-days – day eight

Day Eight

It’s day EIGHT on the Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas, so I have eight drawings to show you today.

I thought I’d take a look back at the surviving designs for The Doctor’s costumes.
The earliest Doctors were dressed as Edwardian gentlemen, and given the haphazard way parts of the series came together in the 1960s, it is unlikely a formalised drawn design was produced. If they were, they haven’t survived.
Jon Pertwee’s iconic Inverness Cape was allegedly his father’s, so it was Jon himself who provided the look of his Doctor.

Design © James Acheson

The earliest costume design I could track down was by James Acheson.
He had already created some of the most memorable costumes from the Jon Pertwee era, and it fell to him to crete a new look for a new Doctor in 1974.

You can hear his recollections of it on The Mutants DVD.

He explained how the scarf’s length came about by accident and how later designers put Tom in longer coats, so I don’t think this is the original design.

Either way it’s a nice drawing.

Design © June Hudson

With a change of producer (John Nathan-Turner) a notable change of look enveloped the series, and it was down to legendary designer  June Hudson to re-imagine Tom’s costume.

She was inspired by a Russian military greatcoat, long and flowing; added knee-length knickerbockers and a looser feel around the neck with an open top shirt.
And all in a co-ordinated plum colour.

June’s designs are always a joy to look at, and this is no exception.

12-days – day seven

Day Seven

Today on the Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas I have a supplement to my popular Costume Index.

Series Six may have finished, but we already have had a number of DVD exclusive mini episodes.

Night And The Doctor

On complete Series Six DVDs disc 3

Episode One: Bad Night

These night time between adventure tales kicks off with The Doctor arriving back in the TARDIS wearing his top hat and tales, previously seen in The Big Bang and Let’s Kill Hitler.

The costume recently sold at a Bonhams Auction for £2,625.

Episode Two:Good Night

For the next part, The Doctor wears his white tuxedo, previously worn for the Hollywood pool party scene in A Christmas Carol.

We do get an interesting glimpse of the jacket’s cuffs, which show it has an uncommon five button vent (see left).

Episode Three: First Night
and
Episode Four: Last Night

The final two parts form one story, with The Doctor continuing to wear the white pool party tuxedo.

At the end of part four, an alternate timeline Doctor and River arrive, with The Doctor in his top hat and tails again.

12-days - day six

Day Six

Since it is day SIX of my Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas, I have something SIXTH Doctor related, and hopefully raise a smile.

Over the past year Forbidden Planet have been releasing a series of exclusive t-shirts depicting the Doctor’s costumes through the years.

Some are better than others, and there has been particular criticism of the Colin Baker shirt, which in reality doesn’t look much like the publicity image. But never mind.

I’ve just been watch the Christmas edition of Come Dine With Me, which is a celebrity special. Amongst the ‘celebrities’ is none other than Colin Baker himself, and for part of the episode he was interviewed wearing one of the Sixth Doctor t-shirts!!

How’s that for celebrity endorsement!

12-days – day five

Day Five

Today on the Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas I have another eCard for you.

This one cracks me up! Hope you enjoy it too.

12-days – day four

Day Four

It’s day FOUR of my Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas, so I’d like to share a personal FOURTH Doctor memento with you, dating from my 1970s childhood as a Doctor Who fan.

It’s a snapshot between the end of the Jon Pertwee’s Doctor and the start of Tom Baker’s rein – but for me it encapsulated and defines my memories of the time and transports me back there in a flash.

In the mid 1970s I started keeping a scrapbook in which I stuck any Doctor Who photos (often taken from the Radio Times) or related memorabilia I found that interested me.

I eventually spanned three books, with a recurring theme of the two waves of in-packet giveaways from Weetabix in 1975 and 1976, as well as by Typhoo Tea, also in 1976.

12-days – day three

Day Three

Day Three of my Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas, and I have a flashback to the early days of New Who Exhibitions.

As I write, The Doctor Who Experience is still at Olympia, prior to moving next spring to its permanent purpose-built home in Cardiff Bay.

What we have now is a slick, well planned interactive show and substantial costume display, touching the whole history of the series.

But spare a thought for the early days of the exhibitions where things were on a more low key note.

I went to the first ever New Series exhibition, which was held over the summer of 2005 on Brighton Pier.

All of the displays were static, bar a spinning TARDIS with the lead’s costumes; and a single Dalek which moved its head, flashed its lights and barked some orders. It all seemed very exciting!

12-days – day two

Day Two

Day Two of my Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas, and I have a quirky Matt Smith costume for you.

This year’s BBC pre-Christmas trailer had a variety of personalities celebrating the festive season together, all wearing the garish knitted jumpers your Grand Mother insist on buying you for Xmas!

One shot shows Matt and Karen play a form of Twister with a Cyberman.

The jumper Matt wears may look like a one-off (and probably should have been!), but you can buy one for yourself!

They are available form The Christmas Jumper Shop.

12-days – day one

Day One

Today I’m launching my Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas. Between now and Twelfth Night I’ve got a series of special little treats for you.

Some have never been seen before – some are things you may have missed – others are from my archive.
The final day will be something very special. But more of that later.

To kick things off here is one of the eCards I have sent to some of my clients this festive season.  Enjoy!

Happy Christmas to all my readers!

Wow - another year has flown past - and what a year it’s been!

Photo by Scott Sebring

It started back in January with a once in a lifetime opportunity when I made the Ultimate Tennant Suit. To have the chance to put into practice the actual way the suit was made was an amazing experience. The timing was perfect, as I had a couple of months before started learning traditional hand-tailoring techniques, which I put to great use in making the suit.

Photo by Scott Sebring

I had to follow the suit, and with three days notice ended up going to Gallifrey One in LA!
There I met up with a number of my online friends and many of my readers who had no idea I was going. I also had the privilege of arranging a group photograph with four of my Tennant Coat clients, which was the highlight of the trip.

By the end of April news broke that THE Series Six Shetland Tweed fabric had been found, as well as the Series Five Donegal.

It was like the Tennant Suit all over again: making an iconic jacket in the exact fabric. I was lucky to find the correct buttons and elbow patches to finish it off.

In August the culmination of many month work came to fruition when I took delivery of  my rewoven Tennant Coat lining. I had been searching for years to find a suitable alternative, but finally took the plunge and commissioned my own recreation of it.

The past few months of the year have been taken up with making a popular new garment in my repertoire - the Green Greatcoat.

I spent a while carefully researching the pattern, fabric and construction until I got it just right.

Then in late November I attended Chicago TARDIS, where I entered the masquerade competition wearing a test version of the Colin Baker Six Frock Coat. I won Best In Show: Workmanship for my tailoring – for which I am very proud.

This was one of three coats I had made, the other two were for the wedding of some close friends which is due to take place just before Christmas.

Looking back it has been an exciting year, with more projects than I could have thought to have taken on.

And as the year comes to a close, an even more exciting development is breaking.

More on that in the New Year, but trust me, it’s gonna be worth the wait . . .

Bonhams auction - 15th December 2011 viewing and results

Today was the Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia sale, where some 39 Doctor Who items went under the hammer.
All bar two were from the new series, with a vast majority from Tennant’s era.

But the main point of note were the first ever items of Matt Smith era items to come up at a Bonhams auction, after the spectacular sale of Matt’s Doctor costume on eBay in aid of Children In Need.

This will be interesting.

Series Six - accessories

While I was at Chicago TARDIS I worn my on-off Captain Rory Williams outfit, complete with eye-patch (see right).

There were a number of Madame Kovarians around (see left), and I was asked a number of times where I got my eye-drive! Most had made their own from papier mâché, but mine was cast in latex.

I had bought mine through a member of the dw_cosplay community, and I thought it a good opportunity to trumpet his work, plus a few others I have bought things from recently.

Eye Drive

The seller on dw_cosplay makes two versions basic versions.

Version 1 - Doctor
Based on Matt Smith’s look, with the double bump in the middle

Version 2 - Generic
Based more on the Madame Kavarian, which has a smoother, flatter inner edge.

Each comes in a choice of finish.

The top row is black in colour and the bottom row is Shimmer on the left and Gunmetal on the right.

The seller recommends using spirt gum to attach the eye drive, but I’m not confident with that, so I used toupee tape! It’s easy to use and very sticky. Believe me, standard double sided tape doesn’t cut it.

The price is £15 each or 4 for £50.

P&P is free in the UK and £2 overseas. His paypal address is labanboldero@hotmail.com - Just make sure to add an address and which version / colour you want.

Dressing the Doctor - Mini Who

Recently I have had a number of emails from parents trying to find costumes for their Matt Smith obsessed children!

Although I can make jackets to order, producing a scaled version suitable for an eight or nine year old presents its own unique issues. The work involved in adjusting the pattern means the any saving on using less fabric is wiped out.

The actual construction part of making it is then exactly the same: it still has two sleeves; collar and lapels; breast, flapped and inside pockets; hand-stitched elbow patches – so there is no saving in time there.

As a result my price has to be the same as a full sized adult jacket.

Undoubtedly the BEST Matt Smith fan of a young age was Jack, who I featured last year. His superb costume was topped of with a great tweed jacket, which was a dead ringer for the season Five Donegal. He’s a very lucky boy.

So what are the alternatives?
The simple answer I would give is eBay!

Doing a simple search for Doctor Who Costume, I found a surprising number of tweed jackets or complete costumes in children’s sizes.

Here’s my opinion on what’s on offer, and the price range you can expect to pay.

Utah shirt

Well, I’ve been rumbled.

Now I’m back from Chicago TARDIS, a number of people have been on to me, asking about a shirt I wore for part of my many costume changes.

It’s a copy of the shirt first seen in The Impossible Astronaut during the Utah scenes.

I made it just in time to wear at Chicago, so only now do I have time to show it off.

Earlier this year I had the luck to get access to an original, screen-worn shirt, so have been able to crack the puzzling details that make this shirt unique.

The pattern is cut to a classic dress shirt design, just like the real thing, and I have perfected the unusual tabbed collar (see left), and distinctive mitred cuffs (see below).

I have matched the design of the fabric using Spoonflower, so after a few tests, I got it pretty much spot on.

If you want to order a
Matt Smith Utah shirt,
please drop me an email at tennantcoat@me.com 

and I can send you full details.