The Fashion Of Doctor Who

 Credit:BBC

Doctor Who, fashion icon

By Jackie Storer and Megan Lane BBC News A chic geek to save the galaxy He's been a dandy, an Edwardian cricketer and most famously wore a long scarf. Doctor Who's togs change as he regenerates. So what are the fashion tips from everyone's favourite Time Lord? Flamboyant. Garish. Bizarre. Seldom does Time Lord fashion make it to the High Street. Until now. When David Tennant takes over the role later this year, it will be in what he describes as "geek chic". Gone is his predecessor's tailored leather jacket. Instead Tennant will look like the type of man Kate Moss might date, with a just-got-out-of-bed, dragged-through-a-hedge-backwards, only-thing-I-could-find look. So what are the key points of the look, which was devised for the programme's makers by a freelance costume designer? Brown pin-striped suit: Gone are the days of Angus Deayton-inspired stigma for men wearing brown suits. And this is surely a sign that pin-stripes have been well and truly reclaimed from City bankers. White shirt, unbuttoned at the collar with loose tie: Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor wouldn't have gone near a tie, preferring Michael Douglas-style V-necked jumpers. A signal perhaps that the Tennant Doctor will be a slightly more erudite character than Eccleston's action-and-sarcasm hero? Skinny trousers and trainers: Converse trainers are white hot items this summer, selling out within hours of hitting the shelves in some shops. The trousers are skinny and crumpled - think Pete Doherty - and if they were much tighter, Norman Wisdom would be demanding royalties. Long brown trench coat: A cross between an old hack's Mac and flasher attire, with a twist of debonair gent. A lo-fi contrast to the high gloss trenchcoats Keanu Reeves swirled through The Matrix in? The look is Franz Ferdinand cum Kaiser Chiefs. But is it Time Lord? Does it have the gravitas, the power and the magic that goes with such an eminent position? Will it make the Slitheen, the Autons and the Gelth quake in their boots, or will it simply reduce the Daleks to helpless laughter? The Doctor's fashion icons? Only time will tell, but the new look should further cement the popularity of the series, says Mark Hooper, associate editor at men's magazine Esquire. The programme makers seem to be trying to move with the times, to catch a hipper demographic's eye, he says. "[The outfit] looks really good. Someone said to me it looks a bit Jarvis Cocker, kind of geeky but cool. It is a much younger look, like he's in an indie band. The pinstripe suit is quite tight-fitting, quite timely. It's a bit of an absent-minded professor look, but trendy with it. It's slightly eccentric." So how do Tennant's Soho-louche kecks compare with those of his predecessors? The original Doctor, the rather grandfatherly figure of William Hartnell, was fond of a black frock coat. His twinkly successor Patrick Troughton wore baggy trousers, while Jon Pertwee was a bit of a dandy with his capes and frills. But for Hooper, there is still only one Doctor Who outfit. "I still think the Tom Baker scarf is a classic - that's what I grew up with. Peter Davison's cricket outfit didn't do it for me. And I just remember Jon Pertwee having big cuffs." But there are risks from flirting with high fashion, as the new Doctor might find out when he comes on to TV screens after Christmas. Fashion - just like time itself - moves quickly, as any time lord should know. Add your comments on this story, using the form below. He looks like a child dressed by another child. Great for a companion, but awful for Doctor Who himself. Paul Williams, Cheltenham, England Even if you dressed Dr Who in a bikini and feather boa it wouldn't matter - he's much more about mannerisms and movement - as per the chaotic physicality of Sylvester McCoy's Who or the taut darkness of Chris Ecclestone. Shane Wexford, Uttoxeter, UK Where are the accessories? I remember a piece of celery on the cricket jumper and the question mark umbrella handle. Would be nice to have a badge on the jacket with a something like "Who were you expecting?" Okay - maybe not that, but you know something smart, playing on words - an in-joke kind of thing. Liane, Fleet Looks like someone popping down to the video shop after a long day as an admin clerk... Darren, Chelmsford UK David Tennant's Dr Who Indie-geek-chic costume maintains a look of eccentricity yet avoids looking camp. James Thresher, Putney, London A great costume. It has all of the flamboyance of early Doctors but is very contemporary and cuts quite a dash. It's nicely eccentric without being off-the-wall. Dalek Links Webmaster, Stockport UK ***Swoon*** Nia Williams, Liverpool It's Sherlock Holmes in trainers! Michael, UK Name WHO IS DR WHO?

A new Struggle for DWM comic artist

New challenge for Dr Who artist

Tom Bourton BBC Wales news website See more of Mike Collins' work Christopher Eccleston's decision to leave Doctor Who may have shocked most of the show's fans, but it also meant a pile more work for artist Mike Collins. As the man who draws the show's official comic strip, the switch to David Tennant sent Collins back to the drawing board. The Cardiff-based artist is currently preparing images of the new Timelord. It is the latest challenge for the man who has drawn everything from Superman and Star Trek to Harry Potter. As you might have guessed, Collins is a massive sci-fi fan, and he admitted he was shocked at Eccleston's decision to leave the Tardis after just one series. He has nearly finished his last story involving Christopher Eccleston "I had just got to the stage when I can draw Christopher Eccleston quite comfortably," he said. "But I have no problems, he has made a decision that was interesting for the show. "It is a fresh new broom - David Tennant has a great face, and I have to get it right as he is a big fan and is going to read it." Collins is currently waiting on his Tennant drawings to be approved, but said it helped that he has already started working on assistant Billie Piper, who plays the Doctor's assistant Rose. "Billie Piper is fine - it took me a little while until I was happy, but one day you just understand how their face comes together," he said. David Tennant took over the Tardis at the end of the last series "You are working with likenesses, and you have to be fairly accurate - it has to be [enough like the characters] to be recognisable, but different so they can work in a comic. "If you do a comic strip, you are the director, the lighting man and all the actors - you have to make it work." The monthly comic strips are mostly written by the same team who write the TV show, overseen by Russell T Davies, who Collins says is "very hands-on". "They take place with the same characters and you are supposed to believe they fit in certain gaps of the show," he said. Collins, who works with fellow artist David Roach on the strip for the Doctor Who magazine, said it was important to get everything right, or risk complaints from aficionados. "Doctor Who fans are very particular, they treasure the show," he said. Mike Collins sends work across the world from his Cardiff studio As a fan himself, Collins said he enjoyed Doctor Who, but admitted his favourite character to draw has been Judge Dredd. He always loved drawing as a child growing up in the Midlands, but before making a career of it, he had to overcome resistance from his parents who urged him to get "a real job". "I always doodled and did caricatures of teachers I didn't get on with. In the end, I thought this is what I wanted to do." He said he was one of a cluster of comic strip artists working in south Wales using the internet to send their work all over the world. But even though some people might think being a freelance artist is the best job in the world, his family has still needed some convincing. "My daughters never thought anything I do is cool, but finally I did some Harry Potter trading cards - they liked them."