Sixth Doctor - Costume

Costume

Colin Baker wished to dress his Doctor in black, specifically black velvet, to reflect his character's darker personality. Producer John Nathan-Turner, however, opted for a deliberately tasteless costume with garish, clashing colours (later described by Colin Baker as "an explosion in a rainbow factory"). He also retained the question marks embroidered onto his collar, which Nathan-Turner had added to Tom Baker's costume in 1980 and had retained through Peter Davison's tenure. Baker added a cat badge to the ensemble.

The costume itself, however, mainly features the red frock coat, with green patchwork, and yellow and pink lapels. The Doctor always wore his white shirt with question marks on the collar. There were many variants on the waistcoat and cravat - the most recognized and earliest is the knitted brown waistcoat with a turquoise polka-dot cravat. The waistcoat was later changed to a red check one, and in the following story the cravat became red and polka-dot. An unseen incarnation of the Doctor would wear a yellow starfield cravat and purple, green and blue waistcoat. His trousers were yellow and striped, and his preferred footwear was a pair of green/black ankle boots with orange spats. He would always wear a cat badge, but there were many badges throughout his tenure, many based on Baker's own. However the most remembered is the plain white cat badge, based on no cat but generic.

In recent years, a blue variation of the costume has become a popular alternative. This outfit was used in the webcast Real Time, as the clashing colours of the original design were tricky to animate. It also has been used on the cover of some of the numerous audio drama stories from Big Finish Productions. Ironically, one of the few requirements set down by the designer of the costume Baker wore in his televised stories was that it not feature any blue at all, as this would interfere with some of the series' special effects. (However, the cravat used from The Twin Dilemma to Revelation of the Daleks was turquoise and the waistcoat in Terror of the Vervoids featured blue).