doctor who scarf

historys12s15shadas18tipsgalleryetclinks

A timeline of major scarf changes and a comparison graphic will be restored here soon. Thank you for your patience.

THE ORIGINAL
When Tom Baker was cast as the Doctor, costume designer James Acheson picked up a load of wool and asked a knitter Begonia Pope to knit a scarf for Tom. Perhaps legendarily, she inadvertently used all the wool Acheson had given her resulting in a scarf that was some twenty feet long. This unusual scarf was well received by the cast and crew, and after being shortened slightly, it was worn by Baker in "Robot." The scarf in its original form was only seen in "Robot" and "The Sontaran Experiment," which was recorded right after "Robot." This particular scarf continued to both stretch and lose stripes due to wear and stunts. A stunt duplicate was also created that was shorter and had subtle color and pattern differences.

SEASON 15
An alternate scarf was introduced and only used in "Image of the Fendahl," "Underworld" and "The Invasion of Time." The pattern seems to have been based on the stunt duplicate but is appended on the end with around 50 percent more stripes. The colors are similar but mostly darker than the original. It was used in lots of publicity photos including those from location work on "The Sun Makers" even though the stunt duplicate was used in recording of that story.

SEASON 16/17/Shada
The original scarf (with more sections removed) was attached to the stunt duplicate to create the longest scarf to date. This was worn for all stories in season 16 and 17, but received further transformation, including new tassels, sewn-on patches and one rearranged section for the untelevised story "Shada."

SEASON 18
Costume designer June Hudson created a new scarf design - and the longest - in the subtler guise of thicker chenille in a burgundy color scheme. It was worn for the remainder of Tom's tenure as the Doctor.