Jodie Whittaker reveals how she helped to design her own Doctor Who costume
The new Thirteenth Doctor explains how she and costume designer Ray Holman helped bring the Thirteenth Doctor’s look to life
When new Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker’s costume was revealed last year it drew a lot of attention, from those who obsessively counted its apparent references to the classic series to fans desperate to work out how they could replicate it for their next comic-con trip.
And now, the Time Lord herself has revealed that she actually had a major role in designing the Thirteenth Doctor’s signature look, working closely with costume designer Ray Holman (who also put together costumes for Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi’s Doctors over the years) to nail the costume.
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“Ray and myself designed the costume from scratch,” Whittaker told Doctor Who Magazine in a new interview.
“We’re old friends, because we did five years of Broadchurch together, and it’s an incredibly collaborative relationship, really creative.
“He was able to take a sometimes bizarre explanation from me and then offer up exactly what I was trying to articulate. I’d have an idea and then he’d take it to the next level. My acorn of an idea would turn into an oak tree as soon as Ray got hold of it.
“We started in August, and it went on until October,” she continued. “The very first meeting we had about the costume was all very secret and incognito.
“As we were talking I was completely distracted by the colour of the wallpaper behind us. I told Ray I absolutely loved that colour, and that’s the colour of the trousers. It’s petrol!”
And Whittaker also had some bad news for cosplayers keen to pick up their own version of her outfit in the shops – despite its fairly normal appearance everything was custom-made, so fans may be hard pressed to replicate the look easily.
“For me, none of it is [high-street available],” she said.
“I did try on a T-shirt that was off the peg and I really liked it, but there were elements of it that didn’t quite work. It kind of went through so many forms in Ray’s workshop – he cut it to the right shape and put the print on the front.”
Oh well – these days, we reckon the fans are canny enough to make their own versions without TOO much difficulty.
Doctor Who returns to BBC1 this autumn, while the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine is on sale now
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
