Earlier this year, it was announced that Jodie Whittaker of Broadchurch fame, would be the 13th Doctor Who replacing Peter Capaldi. Whittaker is the first female Doctor and is under understandable pressure to do the franchise well – and I’m sure she will.
Part of the allure of the Doctor is the quirkiness of his costume and on November 9, 2017, the BBC unveiled the costume of the new Doctor and… I’m not a fan. In life you only get one chance to make a first impression and I think the BBC missed on this one…at least, with me.
I get that the costume is a callback to the previous incarnations of the Doctor. She’ll be wearing the long coat of the 10th Doctor (David Tennant), the suspenders and boots of the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) and the rainbow stripes of the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker). But in my opinion, she looks more like Robin Williams’ Mork of Mork & Mindy than a Time Lady (Lord).
I wish Chris Chibnall, the new showrunner of the upcoming series, had paid more attention to the vast and long history of Doctor Who and modeled Whittaker’s costume design on that of an already established Time Lady. No, I’m not talking about the psychopath Missy, the female Master. I’m talking about Romanadvoratrelundar – better known simply as Romana (pictured below).
Romana (portrayed by Mary Tamm for one year and Lalla Ward for 2 years) was a Time Lady who traveled with the fourth and eighth Doctor. To be blunt, she was somewhat of a clotheshorse, but make no doubt about it, she was as deadly and as serious as any other Time Lord we’ve ever seen. She was quick-witted, carried her own sonic screwdriver and ultimately became the President of Gallifrey.
Whether we like to admit it or not, we’ve grown accustomed to the Doctor being taken seriously by his companions and those who come in contact with him. In the past, regardless of what he looked like, the Doctor, whether tall, short, young, old, brash or deliberate projected unquestioned authority – because he was a man. I’m not saying that was right or wrong. I’m just saying that’s what it was and Whittaker, as talented as she is and as painful as it is to say, 
sadly won’t have that automatic acceptance going for her. She’ll have to command her authority by wearing what Dan Lawson, the much-lauded costume designer for the principal women of The Good Wife, the hit CBS series that’s now in its sixth season, calls power clothing.
Want to project power? “Your clothes have to fit you,” Lawson says. Period. To be a power dresser, he continues, “it has to look like you command the clothes, not that the clothes are commanding or wearing you.”
This new Doctor will have to project her authority as quickly as possible to the viewing audience or the audience will tune her out and turn her off. It won’t be Kate Stewart, the leader of U.N.I.T. (observe how SHE dresses), that the new Doctor will be trying to convince that she was at one time the President of Earth – it will be us. And that job is made harder if she looks like a Robin Williams cosplayer.
I’m happy that Jodie Whittaker is the new Doctor and I think she’s going to do a really great job. But I wish the producers had made her job easier by dressing her as a Time Lord (based on previous Time Lady apparel) and less like a Time Hitchhiker. I am; however, hearten because Peter Capaldi changed his outerwear twice before settling in on his current and final look. I hope Whittaker gets a chance to do the same and I personally hope she’ll pick one of Romana’s stronger costumes sets for the second go.
Doctor Who will return with a Christmas special on December 25, 2017 with Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker expected to appear at the end of the special.
