Summary
Despite being around for more than 60 years,Doctor Whois easily recognized by the trademark elements that emerged in its formative years. There’s the TARDIS, the Sonic screwdriver, and impeccable foes including Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, and Sontarans. All of these took root in the first 10 years of the show as it moved from black and white to color and shuffled through three Doctors.
By that point each Doctor wore relatively distinct styles, although their varying outfits were all spins on British Edwardian dress. That was all set to change in the mid-1970s. AnyDoctor Whofan, or anyone with a passing knowledge of the show will likely visualize the Doctor with a scarf. In the show’s second decade it became a defining feature of the Time Lord, and while it’s an item of clothing a few incarnations have picked up, only one Doctor can take responsibility for it becoming an icon.
Why Is The Fourth Doctor So Popular?
The Fourth Doctor arrived on TV screens in 1974 and stayed with the show for an impressive seven seasons, finally regenerating in 1981. In the show’s classic era, before the hiatus in 1989 and subsequent reboot in 2005, his was a record-breaking tenure. Some of the show’s best-regarded stories, companions, and highest ratings came during this time, making Tom Baker’s fourth incarnation of the Time Lord the Doctor to beat.
After the Third Doctor was exiled to Earth and attached to UNIT as scientific advisor for much of his time, the Fourth Doctor returned to exploring space and time. One of the many high points was the soft arc of his first year, during which he first encountered Davros, the creator of his greatest foes in “Genesis of the Daleks.” The Fourth Doctor was there at the gothic peak of the show, with adventures like “The Brain of Morbius,” “Talons of Weng-Chiang,“and “Pyramids of Mars,” the latter ofwhich introduced Sutekh, the big bad of the 15th Doctor’s first series.
The Fourth Doctor would later be paired with his first Time Lord companion, Romana, as the duo were caught up in the eternal struggle between the Black and White Guardians and sent on a quest to locate the Key to Time. They’d journey into E-Space, a parallel universe before the Doctor’s incarnation time was ended by the return of a reborn version of his old foe, the Master.
A charismatic, eccentric and hilarious incarnation of the Doctor, the legacy of the Fourth Doctor looms over the show over four decades since his departure. More than any other incarnation, each successive Doctor is measured against the larger-than-life Fourth Doctor. The Third Doctor may have described him as ‘all teeth and curls’ in “The Five Doctors"20th-anniversary special, but that’s to understate the role his flamboyant dress and inspirationally long scarf played in his popularity.
First appearance
“Robot” (4 episodes, 1974)
Original length
12 feet
Original colors
Purple, camel, mustard, rust, gray, green-brown, bronze (striped)
“Do you think I might attract attention?”
That’s what the Doctor says on the way to donning his scarf for the first time in “Robot.” The Fourth Doctor arrived on the floor of his laboratory in UNIT headquarters after the Third Doctor fell to the fatal radiation of Metebelis III. Although initially confused and disoriented, he soon escaped UNIT medical officer Harry Sullivan and tried to sneak off in his TARDIS after finding the key in his boot. Lively, mischievous, and unpredictable, he was quite different from his stylish but professor-like predecessor. Fortunately for UNIT, he listened to his companion Sarah Jane Smith and stayed to investigate the theft of top-secret plans for a disruptor gun in his first adventure.
First things first, though. The Fourth Doctor had the vital issue of a new outfit to sort out before he could venture outside. Raiding the TARDIS wardrobe, a comedy routine saw the Doctor try on several outfits, much to the Brigadier’s irritation. The Doctor dressed up as a Viking, Knave of Hearts, and Pierrot clown before busting out in a long coat, longer scarf and hat combination that the impatient Brigadier acknowledges is “much better.”
It’s this classic bohemian outfit that defines the Fourth Doctor’s look. During an exhibition a later exhibition in Ohio,costume designer James Achesonsuggestedthat he gained inspiration from posters of legendary French painter Toulouse-Lautrec to create a shambolic fuller costume than the Doctor was used to wearing.
Under a fedora, the Doctor wore a red fine corduroy jacket over a brown argyle patterned cardigan and a white dress shirt. A green, black, and white necktie was on top, and he also wore gray tweed trousers held up with braces over brown shoes. But the most distinctive feature was his impressive multicolored scarf. In the Fourth Doctor’s second story,The Ark in Space, the Doctor revealed that Madame Nostradamus had knitted it.
How Long Was The Fourth Doctor’s Scarf?
The scarf the Fourth Doctor emerged from the TARDIS earring measured around 12 feet, excluding tassels. The length of that scarf varied during the serials of the 12th season, although wrapped around the Doctor’s neck, that’s the definitive appearance in most fans’ minds.
Legend has it that the scarf was intended to be a standard length, but the keen knitter who took on the job of making it used up all the wool they were given, something the producers ran with. Of course, a perilously long scarf was a hazard and a shorter stunt version was used for action scenes. And like the changeable incarnation of the Time Lord who wore it, the Fourth Doctor’s scarf altered over the seasons, including design and length. The Fourth Doctor’s scarf reached an impressive 24 feet by the end of his era.
“The Leisure Hive” (4 episodes, 1980)
24 feet
Plum, rust, eggplant (striped)
Despite appearances, every Doctor has mixed up their outfits during their runs. It’s a relief to know they weren’t wearing the same thing in every adventure. Even if it seems the Fifth Doctor never altered his spin on cricket whites and the Sixth Doctor never added anything to his colorful costume, both did.
The same is true of the Fourth Doctor during his record-breaking seven seasons steering the TARDIS. The scarf was there in every adventure, but the fourth incarnation of the Time Lord changed his appearance with some noticeable changes to his iconic scarf. By the Doctor’s fourth year, Season 15, the scarf was noticeably different from the one that emerged from the TARDIS in Season 12.
The most significant change came in Season 18 when new show producer Jon Nathan-Turner was determined to update the show for the 1980s. In the season’s first episode, “The Leisure Hive,” the Doctor donned a new and more cohesive outfit, although one that was clearly a development of the original. As well as a white shirt with question marks on its collar, the Fourth Doctor’s costume was now red and burgundy.
Dwarfing the Doctor’s new costume was an incredible new scarf courtesy of designer June Hudson, striped with plum and purple. This was the incarnation’s final and longest scarf. As impressive as it was, the Doctor clearly couldn’t dispense with the old design — in the Season 18 serial “Warrior’s Gate,” the old scarf is seen hanging on a hat stand.
How Many Doctors Have Worn A Scarf?
The Fourth Doctor may be most famous for wearing a scarf, but he wasn’t the first. The First Doctor sported a silver and gray scarf throughout his time, including his first and last appearances. After a break, the Seventh Doctor showed a penchant for scarves, albeit of a much more conventional size. Early on, he wore a puce and black scarf and then a Tartan version. Most commonly, he wore paisley patterned variants.
Although fans didn’t see much of him, the War Doctor is the most notable scarf wearer of the modern era, although the Eleventh Doctor was known to wear one when dressing up. More recently, the 13th Doctor sported a distinctive rainbow scarf during her New Year’s Eve adventures.
Why Did The Fourth Doctor Wear A Scarf?
Despite the Fourth Doctor’s scarf having cameos in many other Doctor’s adventures, no other Doctor has benefitted from having such a useful and valuable piece of kit around their neck. It was more than a symbol of the character’s personality and eccentricity.
During his adventures, the Doctor used his scarf to defeat an automated sentry aboard the Ark in Space and tripped several foes, including Count Federico’s executioner (“The Masque of Mandragora”), Eldrad (“The Hand of Fear”) and the Master (“Logopolis”).
The Doctor also used it to pull run-downrobot companion K9(“The Invisible Enemy”), help Romana scale a cliff (“The Stones of Blood”), and clamber down a mine shaft himself (“The Creature from the Pit”).
The perils of a distinctive scarf were made clear in “The Leisure Hive"when the Doctor’s new crimson and violet scarf was planted on a corpse to frame the Time Lord. Despite that downside, it appears that the other incarnations of the Doctor missed a trick. The Fourth Doctor’s scarf is more than a fashion statement and a phenomenal piece ofDoctor Whomerchandise, but a crucial part of his armory in defeating intergalactic despots and alien invaders.
